Getaway Tendering in St. Lucia?

[FarreyFamCruzin]

I was doing a mock booking for the May 1 sailing of the Getaway to see how full my cruise would be. I noticed on the informational page for the cruise, that the website is showing Casteries, St Lucia as a tender port.  I checked my confirmation documents, and it clearly says that it’s a dock location. Which one should I trust?  Is it normal to tender into St Lucia?  The only reason I am asking, is that I have a private tour booked, and may need to let them know we may need a later start if it’s a tender port. 
 

https://www.ncl.com/cruises/10-day-caribbean-round-trip-orlando-dominican-republic-and-antigua-GETAWAY10PCVAMBSTTANUSLUPHISJUNPIPCV?sailMonths=4294934048&ships=4294959434&numberOfGuests=4294953449&sortBy=featured&autoPopulate=f&from=resultpage&itineraryCode=GETAWAY10PCVAMBSTTANUSLUPHISJUNPIPCV

Edited April 18, 2023 by FarreyFamCruzin

[Huntingdon1701]

I was there two weeks ago in MSC's Seaside, which is a comparable size. She docked, as did the Epic alongside her. But if there's a third ship there as well, Getaway may well have to tender as there wasn't much space left with the two of them there. 

 

I'd go with the confirmation documents for now. Most tour providers will be keeping an eye on ships and know if there are changes that need to be made. (Some of them know before the cruise line tells passengers!)

[fredflint]

It is very possible that something has changed as your docs could be static where as the booking page is dynamic.  If your ship gets in after the other ships then it will be tender, they schedule the stuff as best they can.  

As has been stated the tour operators know the people that run the port, so best to just let them know as a CYA.   I am sure the cruise ships probably prefer to dock but who knows how the fees compare with the cost of running a couple of tenders back and forth?  With how NCL is right now if they can save some money by doing the tender route I am sure they would!

[Laszlo]

10 hours ago, FarreyFamCruzin said:

I was doing a mock booking for the May 1 sailing of the Getaway to see how full my cruise would be. I noticed on the informational page for the cruise, that the website is showing Casteries, St Lucia as a tender port.  I checked my confirmation documents, and it clearly says that it’s a dock location. Which one should I trust?  Is it normal to tender into St Lucia?  The only reason I am asking, is that I have a private tour booked, and may need to let them know we may need a later start if it’s a tender port. 
 

https://www.ncl.com/cruises/10-day-caribbean-round-trip-orlando-dominican-republic-and-antigua-GETAWAY10PCVAMBSTTANUSLUPHISJUNPIPCV?sailMonths=4294934048&ships=4294959434&numberOfGuests=4294953449&sortBy=featured&autoPopulate=f&from=resultpage&itineraryCode=GETAWAY10PCVAMBSTTANUSLUPHISJUNPIPCV

Was there in January on the Getaway. Up unit about a week before sailing it send tendering which I knew was a mistake. We docked at 8am, and the EPIC arrived around Noon. Unfortunately we got the crappy dock which is usually used for cargo ships. Its the one next to the little shopping mall. Its a real cluster, everyone meets on the dock for excursions and their is not much room

Edited April 18, 2023 by Laszlo

[kitkat343]

2 hours ago, Laszlo said:

Was there in January on the Getaway. Up unit about a week before sailing it send tendering which I knew was a mistake. We docked at 8am, and the EPIC arrived around Noon. Unfortunately we got the crappy dock which is usually used for cargo ships. Its the one next to the little shopping mall. Its a real cluster, everyone meets on the dock for excursions and their is not much room

We were on that sailing too, and I wanted to add if you are docking in the cargo port please be careful because it is located in downtown Castries, and the Getaway docking there caused a massive traffic problems for the local streets (and I was born in Brooklyn so I am very familiar with traffic that doesn't move.)   If you are taking an independent excursion keep an eye on the traffic to ensure you have enough time to return to the ship.  

[Laszlo]

9 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

We were on that sailing too, and I wanted to add if you are docking in the cargo port please be careful because it is located in downtown Castries, and the Getaway docking there caused a massive traffic problems for the local streets (and I was born in Brooklyn so I am very familiar with traffic that doesn't move.)   If you are taking an independent excursion keep an eye on the traffic to ensure you have enough time to return to the ship.  

How could I forget about the traffic Lol

 

It was horrible, we ended up getting a full refund for our beach excursion. I've never seen so many angry people on a bus before. First we left 30 minutes late. Then it took us over and hour to go 5 miles, then they tell us you have 2 hours not almost 3.5. They told us we would be picked up at 2pm sharp. So everyone in our group.... about 35 people stood around in a parking lot until 3pm when they finally came back. I had just flagged down a cab when the bus pulled up. 

 

We were last in Casteries in February of 2018..... it has really turned into a dump. The amount of trash on the street, in the gutters in the small creeks is really unbelievable. We don't ever plan to go back

Edited April 18, 2023 by Laszlo

[kitkat343]

2 hours ago, Laszlo said:

How could I forget about the traffic Lol

 

It was horrible, we ended up getting a full refund for our beach excursion. I've never seen so many angry people on a bus before. First we left 30 minutes late. Then it took us over and hour to go 5 miles, then they tell us you have 2 hours not almost 3.5. They told us we would be picked up at 2pm sharp. So everyone in our group.... about 35 people stood around in a parking lot until 3pm when they finally came back. I had just flagged down a cab when the bus pulled up. 

 

We were last in Casteries in February of 2018..... it has really turned into a dump. The amount of trash on the street, in the gutters in the small creeks is really unbelievable. We don't ever plan to go back

Oh dear - I actually wrote in my review that if more than one large ship is in port, cruisers might want to consider going to a beach instead of traveling to the highlights of the island.  The volcano and waterfall are absolutely stunning, but if two cruise ships are in port, it's really crowded and harder to appreciate and given the 90 minute drive each way, the waterfall/volcano might be saved for a land vacation or another cruise.  But if the beaches are a problem, I'm not sure what to recommend.  It does look like there are some days where only one cruise ship is in port in St. Lucia, and although each individual cruise line cannot control their competitor's schedules, hopefully NCL and other lines will avoid putting two of their own ships in St. Lucia on the same day and creating this massive gridlock (Picture a gridlock alert day in NY in Xmas when it takes 10 minutes to clear a single traffic light.  St. Lucia looked just like that because NCL docked two ships there in one day.)

[Laszlo]

4 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Oh dear - I actually wrote in my review that if more than one large ship is in port, cruisers might want to consider going to a beach instead of traveling to the highlights of the island.  The volcano and waterfall are absolutely stunning, but if two cruise ships are in port, it's really crowded and harder to appreciate and given the 90 minute drive each way, the waterfall/volcano might be saved for a land vacation or another cruise.  But if the beaches are a problem, I'm not sure what to recommend.  It does look like there are some days where only one cruise ship is in port in St. Lucia, and although each individual cruise line cannot control their competitor's schedules, hopefully NCL and other lines will avoid putting two of their own ships in St. Lucia on the same day and creating this massive gridlock (Picture a gridlock alert day in NY in Xmas when it takes 10 minutes to clear a single traffic light.  St. Lucia looked just like that because NCL docked two ships there in one day.)

If the excursion heads south of Casteries your good, going north thru the city and beaches is a bear especially on a weekday

[kitkat343]

43 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

If the excursion heads south of Casteries your good, going north thru the city and beaches is a bear especially on a weekday

Oh good - there are parts of St. Lucia that are really beautiful, so hopefully people will be able to find a way to appreciate the island.  I've never seen Castries and it sounds like I should skip that.

[AstoriaPreppy]

We were there a few years ago on the Gem out of NY, and absolutely tendered into Castries. There were multiple ships in port that day, so we were out in the harbor. 

[mking8288]

We're on the Getaway (after Laszlo's - which we're following "live") in late January with St. Lucia scheduled as a stop ... turned out we're the only ship destined to be there, and wasn't necessary to tender ashore (as originally listed) but - after we're onboard, gangway pulled & underway - we're THEN notified that St. Lucia will be skipped for "unforeseen reasons" and another port (docking) being substituted.   Taxi/tour drivers on this "new" island said or told us, stories being that NCL didn't want 4,000 pax tendering ashore at SL as apparently, a substantial # of pax with mobility issues and ... 

[kitkat343]

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

We're on the Getaway (after Laszlo's - which we're following "live") in late January with St. Lucia scheduled as a stop ... turned out we're the only ship destined to be there, and wasn't necessary to tender ashore (as originally listed) but - after we're onboard, gangway pulled & underway - we're THEN notified that St. Lucia will be skipped for "unforeseen reasons" and another port (docking) being substituted.   Taxi/tour drivers on this "new" island said or told us, stories being that NCL didn't want 4,000 pax tendering ashore at SL as apparently, a substantial # of pax with mobility issues and ... 

Our tour provider in St. Lucia said he was really surprised we'd docked at the commercial port because it is located in downtown Castries and that's what caused all the traffic problems.  I wonder (and have absolutely no idea) if the Getaway is too big to dock at the normal cruise ship port?  Hopefully someone else would know, but if not the OP might want to repost this question in the St. Lucia board, where they might be more familiar with the restrictions (if any) on the cruise ship port.   the cruise timetables website can let the OP know if multiple ships are docked in St. Lucia that day, which can at least help identify if some ships might need to tender because too many ships are docking there at one time.

Edited April 19, 2023 by kitkat343

[BirdandBaby]

Just off Getaway - no tendering at St. Lucia. Only tender for my cruise (10 day eastern Car) was private island (Stirrup Cay).

[eileeshb]

On 4/19/2023 at 10:01 PM, kitkat343 said:

Our tour provider in St. Lucia said he was really surprised we'd docked at the commercial port because it is located in downtown Castries and that's what caused all the traffic problems.  I wonder (and have absolutely no idea) if the Getaway is too big to dock at the normal cruise ship port?  Hopefully someone else would know, but if not the OP might want to repost this question in the St. Lucia board, where they might be more familiar with the restrictions (if any) on the cruise ship port.   the cruise timetables website can let the OP know if multiple ships are docked in St. Lucia that day, which can at least help identify if some ships might need to tender because too many ships are docking there at one time.

I was at St Lucia last year on Norwegian Epic and we docked but it was definitely a tight docking manoeuvre to make it. I’d suspect if there was another large ship there at the time it would have been marginal at best.