Juneau: A Tender Port???

[phillygwm]

I just booked a cruise for next August on the Encore.  On the website, it shows Juneau as a tender port.  On my trip confirmation, all ports show as dock, which is the way things were when I last did the itinerary, pre-COVID.  It wouldn't be super-important except a friend who is considering booking has some mobility issues and won't do a tender (I've seen some pretty frail people on tenders but nonetheless.)

 

Of course, information on the NCL website isn't always 100% accurate 🙂  I've told him to call his PCC but, again, their info isn't always correct either so I thought I'd pose the question here:  Does NCL generally tender into Juneau? 

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited December 2, 2023 by phillygwm

[SomewhereGirl]

Generally, no, NCL does not tender in Juneau.  The 2024 schedule doesn't have the docks listed listed yet but you can see them on the 2023 schedule.  Looking at August 2024, all the other non-NCL ships in port are already there before Encore arrives.  Bliss leaves before Encore arrives, just like on the 2023 schedule.  I'd expect the same for 2024.  AJD dock, further from town, but still a dock.  I've been to Alaska a handful of times on NCL, always to the AJD doc.

JNU-Juneau-2024.pdf (claalaska.com)

Edited December 2, 2023 by SomewhereGirl

[Sea saw 56]

September of '22 we arrived in Juneau on the NCL Spirit.  We anchored and had to tender in.

It will depend on how many ships are in port the day you arrive.

[bluesea777]

I think Encore is too big a ship to anchor and tender, so you should be okay as Encore will be docking. 
 

We were on Spirit and we anchored and tendered into middle of downtown and it was good!

 

 

[phillygwm]

1 hour ago, SomewhereGirl said:

Bliss leaves before Encore arrives, just like on the 2023 schedule.  I'd expect the same for 2024.  AJD dock, further from town, but still a dock.  I've been to Alaska a handful of times on NCL, always to the AJD doc.

JNU-Juneau-2024.pdf (claalaska.com)

I may be misreading but Bliss is in port (9/24/24) 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM.  Encore is in from 2:30 - 11:00.  FWIW, RCCL Radiance is in from 7:00 - 3:00.  So it would seem that Encore is the third ship in port that day.  Would there be no room at the inn?  Not sure how many ships can be accommodated at the dock.

[SomewhereGirl]

2 hours ago, phillygwm said:

I just booked a cruise for next August on the Encore. 

 

2 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

I may be misreading but Bliss is in port (9/24/24) 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM.  

 

Ah, the month may make a difference.  Sorry, wish I could say for sure.  I don't know if NCL is contracted to only use the AJ Dock.  If not, then odds are in your favor you won't tender with being 1 of 3 ships in port.  On the 2023 schedule, there were some days with 4 ships in port at the same time, including the huge Ovation of the Seas.  The schedule should get updated eventually.

[bluesea777]

4 hours ago, phillygwm said:

I just booked a cruise for next August on the Encore.  On the website, it shows Juneau as a tender port.  On my trip confirmation, all ports show as dock, which is the way things were when I last did the itinerary, pre-COVID.  It wouldn't be super-important except a friend who is considering booking has some mobility issues and won't do a tender (I've seen some pretty frail people on tenders but nonetheless.)

 

Of course, information on the NCL website isn't always 100% accurate 🙂  I've told him to call his PCC - don't bother calling the PCC as they are land based people and may not know -  but, again, their info isn't always correct either so I thought I'd pose the question here:  Does NCL generally tender into Juneau?  Yes - smaller NCL ships anchor (ACT) and tender to CT dock, only if the other 4 berths are taken.

 

Thanks in advance!

Open the above to see my msg in red. 
 

 

1 hour ago, phillygwm said:

I may be misreading but Bliss is in port (9/24/24) 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM.  Encore is in from 2:30 - 11:00.  FWIW, RCCL Radiance is in from 7:00 - 3:00.  So it would seem that Encore is the third ship in port that day.  Would there be no room at the inn?  Not sure how many ships can be accommodated at the dock. I had a look in the 2023 schedule and that happened on Sept 19th when the Bliss docked at AJD and the Encore docked at AS. 

 

Sept 2023

 

Sept 2024 only 3 ships, so it's likely Encore will dock at AS, if not either FKL or CT.

 

Here’s the photo taken on June 4 2023. NCL Sun came in afterwards and docked at FKL. 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by bluesea777

[CruiseMH]

On 12/2/2023 at 9:51 PM, bluesea777 said:

I think Encore is too big a ship to anchor and tender,

 

the epic is passenger wise  slightly larger and is tendering since almost 10 years dozens of times at the port of cannes,France.

So the size itself is not an exclusion criterion.

[shof515]

17 minutes ago, CruiseMH said:

the epic is passenger wise  slightly larger and is tendering since almost 10 years dozens of times at the port of cannes,France.

So the size itself is not an exclusion criterion.

 

when the epic tenders, do they use the ship lifeboat as tenders or do they contract it out to the port/shore excursions? that is a big difference from what i noticed.

 

if the ship has no lifeboat tenders like some of the newer class ships and there no other boats to use like the shore excursion boats then the ship can not and will not tender at all. tender ports will be avoided

 

if the ship has tender lifeboats, they can tender anywhere

[bluesea777]

Encore might be too big to tender given her short port times in Juneau. And I said last year Encore docked at AS last year when Bliss was docked at AJD, so it’s my speculation that Encore will dock at AS if the AJD is in use. 
 

 

[CruiseMH]

On 12/3/2023 at 11:06 PM, shof515 said:

 

when the epic tenders, do they use the ship lifeboat as tenders or do they contract it out to the port/shore excursions? that is a big difference from what i noticed.

 

they are using ship lifeboats as tenders.

If there are no tenderboats available then of course tendering is not possible.

But in this case the ship would not go to this port as you already mentioned.