Tender operations from an O Class Ship

[CruisingWalter]

Hi all! We've been cruising nearly 20 years but new to Oceania with 2 cruises booked for December 2023 and just booked into a Group Alaska Cruise on Riviera in 2025. In Alaska we're going to have two tender ports and I wanted to ask how are the tender operations on the O Class ships? We've only experienced tenders on Princess and Holland America cruises in the past with 3000+ pax ships. I'm curious how smoothly they operate on the smaller ships and should we expect to be on land within an hour of tender operations starting?  Thanks so much! 

[AMHuntFerry]

6 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Hi all! We've been cruising nearly 20 years but new to Oceania with 2 cruises booked for December 2023 and just booked into a Group Alaska Cruise on Riviera in 2025. In Alaska we're going to have two tender ports and I wanted to ask how are the tender operations on the O Class ships? We've only experienced tenders on Princess and Holland America cruises in the past with 3000+ pax ships. I'm curious how smoothly they operate on the smaller ships and should we expect to be on land within an hour of tender operations starting?  Thanks so much! 

Which ports are tenders for you? We did tenders in Sitka and Skagway on Regatta this year, Catalina and Santa Barbara last year, and have tendered from Riviera in Belize City. Note that Skagway is a temporary tender (~2 minutes) due to a rockslide on the pier. For our trips they ran at least two tenders during busy times (morning and late in the day). We rarely waited long to board after getting our tender tickets but we are not first-off-the-ship people (my fault as a night owl). Tendering does suck up time but I can't imagine it's anything like larger ships. If you're on an O-shorex your wait time will be small.

[BrakeawayTakeaway]

Tendering was a sore subject on Marina earlier this month.  It was a s show to put it lightly.  If you’re not on an O excursion I would suggest getting there early to get your ticket.  o excursions get priority and it took several hours for some people to get ashore, some with privately booked excursions were NOT happy.  They had 4 tenders running. 

Edited October 13, 2023 by BrakeawayTakeaway

[Torquer]

If you happen to be staying in an Oceania, Vista, or Owners suite, be sure to ask your butler for special instructions to skip the line without a tender ticket.

[PinonNoir]

43 minutes ago, Torquer said:

If you happen to be staying in an Oceania, Vista, or Owners suite, be sure to ask your butler for special instructions to skip the line without a tender ticket.

Yep, our Butler got us to the head of the line in Edinburgh while we were on Riviera.  I think you can also get some preferential treatment if you have a private excursion, but you need to work that out in advance with the Shore Excursions crew.

Edited October 14, 2023 by PinonNoir

[jackdeb]

Hello Walter, Alaska has been done on the Regatta  an ‘R’ class ship. Not sure if things will change by 2025.

[AMHuntFerry]

7 minutes ago, jackdeb said:

Hello Walter, Alaska has been done on the Regatta  an ‘R’ class ship. Not sure if things will change by 2025.

Riviera starts the Alaska season in 2025...so excited as we love that ship! No CA coastals though 😞

[rbtan]

11 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Hi all! We've been cruising nearly 20 years but new to Oceania with 2 cruises booked for December 2023 and just booked into a Group Alaska Cruise on Riviera in 2025. In Alaska we're going to have two tender ports and I wanted to ask how are the tender operations on the O Class ships? We've only experienced tenders on Princess and Holland America cruises in the past with 3000+ pax ships. I'm curious how smoothly they operate on the smaller ships and should we expect to be on land within an hour of tender operations starting?  Thanks so much! 

Generally quite smooth. No massive crowds for obvious reasons. A lot has to do with sea conditions. If it's windy, it will be rougher. I advise to sit away from entry was due to water splashing in. If you're going to a beach excursion, That wouldn't really matter too much. Overall the tenders are pretty similar to those on other ships you've been on.

[Vineyard View]

5 hours ago, BrakeawayTakeaway said:

Tendering was a sore subject on Marina earlier this month.  It was a s show to put it lightly.  If you’re not on an O excursion I would suggest getting there early to get your ticket.  o excursions get priority and it took several hours for some people to get ashore, some with privately booked excursions were NOT happy.  They had 4 tenders running. 

I have read this on multiple O threads.  I’ve read it on larger ships as well.  It is concerning.
Yes, smaller ships but it sure can impact your port day if it does not run efficiently. Not everyone wants to book a cruise line excursion. 

[Vineyard View]

2 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

Yep, our Butler got us to the head of the line in Edinburgh while we were on Riviera.  I think you can also get some preferential treatment if you have a private excursion, but you need to work that out in advance with the Shore Excursions crew.

Concerning if you are not booked in one of these categories. But I do understand what your are saying about pre-planning. That may make a difference regardless of cabin category? 

[CruisingWalter]

14 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Which ports are tenders for you?

Sitka and Klawock. I'm really intrigued by the new port at Klawock, another partnership with NCLH and the Huna Totem Operation in Alaska 

[CruisingWalter]

13 hours ago, BrakeawayTakeaway said:

 If you’re not on an O excursion I would suggest getting there early to get your ticket.  o excursions get priority and it took several hours for some people to get ashore, some with privately booked excursions were NOT happy.

 

That's true of all cruise lines to be honest. If you're not on a shipboard excursion, you're going to have to wait until they have all left the ship. That's one of our major pieces of advice for friends and family, book cruise line excursions at tender ports if you want to exit the ship early. Thanks for the input! 🙂

[CruisingWalter]

9 hours ago, jackdeb said:

Hello Walter, Alaska has been done on the Regatta  an ‘R’ class ship. Not sure if things will change by 2025.

 

The Riviera is sailing 14 itineraries in 2025, it's the first O Class ship to Alaska. We're booked in a Group Cruise for June 2025, 12-nights. O just added free upgrade to the Prestige Select drink package as part of groups now so that was a pretty cool perk for joining. 🙂  

 

[CruisingWalter]

10 hours ago, Torquer said:

If you happen to be staying in an Oceania, Vista, or Owners suite, be sure to ask your butler for special instructions to skip the line without a tender ticket.

 

Not yet, one day, but not yet. 🙂  We're in a Veranda for this one. 

[CruisingWalter]

8 hours ago, rbtan said:

Overall the tenders are pretty similar to those on other ships you've been on.

 

I appreciate all the input!  

[Vineyard View]

5 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

That's true of all cruise lines to be honest. If you're not on a shipboard excursion, you're going to have to wait until they have all left the ship. That's one of our major pieces of advice for friends and family, book cruise line excursions at tender ports if you want to exit the ship early. Thanks for the input! 🙂

We did not experience that on SB. Majority of ports were tender in May. No tickets, no having to be there early. And we generally do not book ship excursions. Likely because the ship is a max 458 pax. 

[ORV]

22 hours ago, BrakeawayTakeaway said:

Tendering was a sore subject on Marina earlier this month.  It was a s show to put it lightly.  If you’re not on an O excursion I would suggest getting there early to get your ticket.  o excursions get priority and it took several hours for some people to get ashore, some with privately booked excursions were NOT happy.  They had 4 tenders running. 

Tell us more. Did you go early with your whole group that was going ashore and request tickets? Frankly I've never had a real problem with getting on a tender, but I don't mind waiting a bit to get on them. I've never expected to just walk in, get a ticket then go to the tender early in the day. 

[AMHuntFerry]

9 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Sitka and Klawock. I'm really intrigued by the new port at Klawock, another partnership with NCLH and the Huna Totem Operation in Alaska 

Both places have limited resources if you want to do anything (e.g., hire a guide) other than DIY, so that may be another motivation to book O shorex. If I'm looking at the correct cruise, you'll be in Sitka on July 4th so some of the DIY activities may be closed. You may be the only ship in Klawock since it is so small, although there may be a Lindblad or similar tiny ship in port.

The Sitka tender does not take long and Individuals were allowed to fill empty seats on the early tenders that were mostly O shorex.

[PinonNoir]

20 hours ago, Torquer said:

If you happen to be staying in an Oceania, Vista, or Owners suite, be sure to ask your butler for special instructions to skip the line without a tender ticket.

I have an update on this.  We had to tender out today for BS reasons, which I won't go into on this thread, but we had a private excursion I needed to tender in for while they were still issuing tickets.  All I had to do was tell the staff in the lounge that we had a private excursion and they gave us some tickets to get off ASAP.

[LHT28]

usually you go to the lounge get a tender ticket  then wait for the colour/number to be called

 

sometimes it may take a few  tenders before independents get to go  but  IME  if you are there  &  they have space  on the tender they will call the tickets for independents 

They usually have a certain head count per tender so if ships tours do not fill the tender  then independents  get called

 

[PinonNoir]

10 hours ago, LHT28 said:

usually you go to the lounge get a tender ticket  then wait for the colour/number to be called

 

sometimes it may take a few  tenders before independents get to go  but  IME  if you are there  &  they have space  on the tender they will call the tickets for independents 

They usually have a certain head count per tender so if ships tours do not fill the tender  then independents  get called

 

It was interesting that the tender we took in with the ships shore excursion attendees was maybe 60% full.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, PinonNoir said:

It was interesting that the tender we took in with the ships shore excursion attendees was maybe 60% full.

probably more comfortable than 100%  full 🙄

 

[AMHuntFerry]

6 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

It was interesting that the tender we took in with the ships shore excursion attendees was maybe 60% full.

There are capacity limits for the life/tender boats' two purposes. The tender capacity is less than the lifeboat capacity; I can't remember the ratio, but it's somewhere around 1/2 to 1/3 which matches your 60% estimate. Next time someone is near a tender, maybe they can let  us know what the two capacities are.

[PinonNoir]

1 hour ago, AMHuntFerry said:

There are capacity limits for the life/tender boats' two purposes. The tender capacity is less than the lifeboat capacity; I can't remember the ratio, but it's somewhere around 1/2 to 1/3 which matches your 60% estimate. Next time someone is near a tender, maybe they can let  us know what the two capacities are.

When we tendered in from Corner Brook the tenders were pretty much full, a lot more full than 60%.  My point is they are restricting people from using the tenders until the ships excursions get off, when they could be taking on another dozen or so.

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, AMHuntFerry said:

There are capacity limits for the life/tender boats' two purposes. The tender capacity is less than the lifeboat capacity; I can't remember the ratio, but it's somewhere around 1/2 to 1/3 which matches your 60% estimate. Next time someone is near a tender, maybe they can let  us know what the two capacities are.

I did not know this. I have been on some pretty crowded tenders, but that may be just my perspective vs an emergency real life capacity.