Grand Cayman tender time

[mvh]

What time can I expect to be on the island if it says 8:00am arrival. I am looking to book my own excursion that starts at 9:00am from the cruise port. We are gold status and supposedly we get priority tender (whatever that's worth). Do they hand out tender tickets the prior day? 

[Lanierain]

Following cause I’m trying to figure out the same… in YC but husband to be scheduled a scuba dive from 9-12 🙈 

[CruisingFox27]

6 hours ago, mvh said:

What time can I expect to be on the island if it says 8:00am arrival. I am looking to book my own excursion that starts at 9:00am from the cruise port. We are gold status and supposedly we get priority tender (whatever that's worth). Do they hand out tender tickets the prior day? 

Although its been a while since we last visited,  we received priority tender tickets in our cabin the previous evening. You can then go straight to the tender queue point rather than having to collect tickets and wait in a lounge for your group number to be called. 

The wait time at the exit is hard to predict, no reason you couldn't get down there as soon as you can. They are usually pretty good as getting people on and off.

[mvh]

Also, our arrival is 8:00am ship time. Isn't that actually 7:00 in GC? If so, we'll be fine.

[morpheusofthesea]

We anchored at George town Grand Cayman around 8am. No time changes this Thanksgiving week. When we went in Sept 2023 only one gangway to the tender. This time 2 gangways, one for tender tickets, the other for MSC sponsored tours.  MSC hired 5 tenders to ferry guests to Grand Cayman. (these tenders are complimentary) All the MSC purchased tours would meet in designated lounges, no tender tickets needed. Tours and Yacht Club guests have priority getting off. All guests with private tours or on their own have to get tender tickets given out on a first come first serve basis  at Sports Bar. Tenders for tours and YC began around 8-8:30 and tender ticket numbers were not called until 11:30 (in Sept. with only one gangway) for everyone else. Getting back was another long wait. We also had another port change from Belize City to Cozumel. Something to look out for. Belize City requires tendering as well, only the ships must anchor farther away and regular tenders take an hour both ways. Our cruise, the ship got word from the tender company in Belize City that their larger capacity hydrofoils were having engine problems and could not reach speeds to keep the trip down to 20 minutes both ways. They could only provide tenders taking 1 hour both ways. We got a notice "Due to operational reasons, your cruise itinerary has been amended" and went to Cozumel instead. One time with over 5500 passengers, even our butler reported he had trouble butting to the front of the tender line with so many guests trying to get off. He said something about not being able to pick up a pencil should one be dropped. With 2 gangways operating tender tickets were called immediately 1 & 2 (about 30 per tender number called) took 13 minutes to fill and 20 minutes to shore. Tender # 56 was called at 11:50 am and 15 minutes later no longer needed tender tickets. All aboard at 2:15, leaving at 3:00.

[Lanierain]

@morpheusofthesea your cruise adventures are astounding! Thank you for sharing. Sounds like the trick for us is just to go when YC can go and hopefully we will be fine for Grand Cayman if it runs smoothly 

[morpheusofthesea]

7 hours ago, Lanierain said:

@morpheusofthesea your cruise adventures are astounding! Thank you for sharing. Sounds like the trick for us is just to go when YC can go and hopefully we will be fine for Grand Cayman if it runs smoothly 

If you are in the Yacht Club you must speak with your personal butler the night before and arrange with him/her to take you down on the first tender without waiting for your inconsiderate slackers, laggards, dawdlers, sluggards, shirkers and layabouts in the TopSail lounge. This is one instance where your time is very valuable. You can be frank with your personal butler and tell him/her what you are trying to avoid. They understand all too well the prima donnas they attend to that are always holding up the group because they are not yet ready when they are supposed to be.

Edited November 28, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[mvh]

10 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We anchored at George town Grand Cayman around 8am. No time changes this Thanksgiving week. When we went in Sept 2023 only one gangway to the tender. This time 2 gangways, one for tender tickets, the other for MSC sponsored tours.  MSC hired 5 tenders to ferry guests to Grand Cayman. (these tenders are complimentary) All the MSC purchased tours would meet in designated lounges, no tender tickets needed. Tours and Yacht Club guests have priority getting off. All guests with private tours or on their own have to get tender tickets given out on a first come first serve basis  at Sports Bar. Tenders for tours and YC began around 8-8:30 and tender ticket numbers were not called until 11:30 (in Sept. with only one gangway) for everyone else. Getting back was another long wait. We also had another port change from Belize City to Cozumel. Something to look out for. Belize City requires tendering as well, only the ships must anchor farther away and regular tenders take an hour both ways. Our cruise, the ship got word from the tender company in Belize City that their larger capacity hydrofoils were having engine problems and could not reach speeds to keep the trip down to 20 minutes both ways. They could only provide tenders taking 1 hour both ways. We got a notice "Due to operational reasons, your cruise itinerary has been amended" and went to Cozumel instead. One time with over 5500 passengers, even our butler reported he had trouble butting to the front of the tender line with so many guests trying to get off. He said something about not being able to pick up a pencil should one be dropped. With 2 gangways operating tender tickets were called immediately 1 & 2 (about 30 per tender number called) took 13 minutes to fill and 20 minutes to shore. Tender # 56 was called at 11:50 am and 15 minutes later no longer needed tender tickets. All aboard at 2:15, leaving at 3:00.

Are you saying some people only got 3 hours at port? What a joke. How can a company be so disorganized? We were on shore in less than an hour on the Oasis. So, gold status does nothing even though it states priority tender boarding? 

[morpheusofthesea]

27 minutes ago, mvh said:

Are you saying some people only got 3 hours at port? What a joke. How can a company be so disorganized? We were on shore in less than an hour on the Oasis. So, gold status does nothing even though it states priority tender boarding? 

In September 2023 it was a joke for sure with only one gangway. Do not know about how gold/diamond status works without a butler to guide one to the proper gangway. The Tour/YC gangway is not advertised and tours are guided down to this unadvertised gangway as are YC guests by butlers. The gold/diamond may in theory have priority at the advertised gangway, but with 5500 passengers not listening to instructions NOT to congregate at the advertised gangway one will find it extremely difficult to butt their way to the front of this gangway. As I stated above, with the only one gangway the butler could NOT butt their way in front of the congregated crowd to even pick up a dropped pencil. If tender ports are important to you stick to Oasis. Otherwise go Yacht Club.

P.S. The cruise line wishes to give Gold/Diamond priority, but it is the masses that do not listen to instructions and clog the stairwells so no one can get by. Tours and YC do not have the same problem at their gangway now.

Edited November 28, 2023 by morpheusofthesea
ps

[mvh]

3 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

In September 2023 it was a joke for sure with only one gangway. Do not know about how gold/diamond status works without a butler to guide one to the proper gangway. The Tour/YC gangway is not advertised and tours are guided down to this unadvertised gangway as are YC guests by butlers. The gold/diamond may in theory have priority, but with 5500 passengers not listening to instructions NOT to congregate at the advertised gangway one will find it extremely difficult to butt their way to the front of this gangway. As I stated above, with the only one gangway the butler could NOT butt their way in front of the congregated crowd to even pick up a dropped pencil. If tender ports are important to you stick to Oasis. Otherwise go Yacht Club.

Yeah, that makes sense. Spend 3 times as much so I can get an extra few ours on an island that I've been to 15 times. I've done yacht club, even though it is nice it in no way is 3 times as nice. I go for some warm weather and to party with some cocktails. We still end up at the same crappy islands no matter what class we are in. To each there own, I can afford it, I just can't justify it.

[morpheusofthesea]

5 minutes ago, mvh said:

Yeah, that makes sense. Spend 3 times as much so I can get an extra few ours on an island that I've been to 15 times. I've done yacht club, even though it is nice it in no way is 3 times as nice. I go for some warm weather and to party with some cocktails. We still end up at the same crappy islands no matter what class we are in. To each there own, I can afford it, I just can't justify it.

Or spend the few extra dollars to book a MSC sponsored tour. MSC caters more to the money. I was just like you for 50 years. When you hit 70 you will change. We do not bother getting off the ship anymore. We love port stops, gets everyone off the ship for a few hours.

[mvh]

4 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Or spend the few extra dollars to book a MSC sponsored tour. MSC caters more to the money. I was just like you for 50 years. When you hit 70 you will change. We do not bother getting off the ship anymore. We love port stops, gets everyone off the ship for a few hours.

Tried to book an excursion from the ship, but of course MSC's tremendous website has no excursions for Grand Cayman. They disappeared about a month or two ago and no one can help when I called. Plus when you book with the ship it is usually jammed packed with over 100 people. The same tour off the ship is only 15 people. I have sailed MSC 3 times (once in yacht club) and they have all been fine with no complaints. However, there is no doubt they are by far the worst run company at sea.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, mvh said:

Tried to book an excursion from the ship, but of course MSC's tremendous website has no excursions for Grand Cayman. They disappeared about a month or two ago and no one can help when I called. Plus when you book with the ship it is usually jammed packed with over 100 people. The same tour off the ship is only 15 people. I have sailed MSC 3 times (once in yacht club) and they have all been fine with no complaints. However, there is no doubt they are by far the worst run company at sea.

I just called my travel agent yesterday about a tour we booked for an upcoming Explora 1 cruise. Never get off the ship, but DW is a fan of "Death in Paradise" TV series. Read that there was a morning 8:30 am or  afternoon tour on a previous sailing. The poster recommended the morning tour as the Caribbean gets too hot in the afternoon. I called TA to get the morning tour. She got back to me within hours that there is only going to be one tour now at 10:30 am.(must not be that popular $330). Another poster said to beware of Explora "forgetting" to let passengers know if their tour is cancelled leaving them with nothing to do that day. So MSC is charging more for Explora and giving the same problem service? Will be interesting.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 11/27/2023 at 9:22 PM, morpheusofthesea said:

Tours and Yacht Club guests have priority getting off. Tenders for tours and YC began around 8-8:30

Last week our MSC tour was scheduled for 9:30 and was over an hour late. Other tours started 2 hours late. People were very upset.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Last week our MSC tour was scheduled for 9:30 and was over an hour late. Other tours started 2 hours late. People were very upset.

Yes. From your posts I would follow your advice. There is no way a ship with 5500-6000 passengers and 2 gangways, with 5 tenders working together taking 13 minutes to fill one tender with 2-3 tender ticket groups, say 100 guests each tender, can unload so many in a timely manner. There were 56 tender tickets called. First tender called 8-8:30 am, last #56 was noon (11:56 am I made notes as we stayed on board). All aboard at 3:30pm. The conclusion...Take cruises with tender ports, on ships with fewer passengers.

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[mvh]

15 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Yes. From your posts I would follow your advice. There is no way a ship with 5500-6000 passengers and 2 gangways, with 5 tenders working together taking 13 minutes to fill one tender with 2-3 tender ticket groups, say 100 guests each tender, can unload so many in a timely manner. There were 56 tender tickets called. First tender called 8-8:30 am, last #56 was noon (11:56 am I made notes as we stayed on board). All aboard at 3:30pm. The conclusion...Take cruises with tender ports, on ships with fewer passengers.

 

 

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Last week our MSC tour was scheduled for 9:30 and was over an hour late. Other tours started 2 hours late. People were very upset.

Do you know if they gave I time and a place to line up for tender tickets? Was it the night before like NCL?

[morpheusofthesea]

23 minutes ago, mvh said:

Do you know if they gave I time and a place to line up for tender tickets? Was it the night before like NCL?

Instructions are in the Daily Program on your bed the night before. But the problem may be guests actually following these instructions.

Edited November 30, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[mvh]

17 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Instructions are in the Daily Program on your bed the night before. But the problem may be guests actually following these instructions.

Thank you, this helps a lot. You are correct about following directions. We will be sure to be one of the first in line for the tickets for whatever that's worth.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, mvh said:

Do you know if they gave I time and a place to line up for tender tickets? Was it the night before like NCL?

yes, they made loud announcements about it as well.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, mvh said:

Thank you, this helps a lot. You are correct about following directions. We will be sure to be one of the first in line for the tickets for whatever that's worth.

There are two entrances to the Sports Bar. Facing the Sports Bar a right door and a left door adjacent to the Effy Boutique. Should one get there too early to pick up tender tickets before staff come to set 'the scene'; the left door adjacent to the Effy Boutique is the EXIT. Begin standing or go into the Sports Bar using this right door. Nothing is more aggravating than being first and finding one is standing in the wrong line. Also go to the side of the bar facing the windows.

Edited November 30, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[NoBeaches]

My wife and I had plenty of tender time in the specialty restaurants.