Tender in cabo - Discovery Princess

[travelmama06]

We are going to be on the Discovery Princess from Feb 3 -10 .

we would like to go to port in Cabo - what time would be a good time to catch the tender to avoid the long lines of passengers boarding the tenders leaving the ship (we are supposed to arrive at noon I believe ?)

[trbarton]

31 minutes ago, travelmama06 said:

We are going to be on the Discovery Princess from Feb 3 -10 .

we would like to go to port in Cabo - what time would be a good time to catch the tender to avoid the long lines of passengers boarding the tenders leaving the ship (we are supposed to arrive at noon I believe ?)

I’m on the same cruise as yourself & for myself  I will check to see how long the lines are & decide what I want to do. Remember that will be another day so that might make a difference in how long the lines are. 
 

Here’s our schedule. We arrive at 2 pm until 6 pm the next day. 

 

You’ll see that we are there the next day until 6 pm & last tender may be around 5 pm but they will get everyone back to the ship, from my experience, as I’ve been there many times, plus they may be using local tenders that can hold much more people. 
 

Tom😀

[wolfie11]

5 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on the same cruise as yourself & for myself  I will check to see how long the lines are & decide what I want to do. Remember that will be another day so that might make a difference in how long the lines are. 
 

Here’s our schedule. We arrive at 2 pm until 6 pm the next day. 

 

You’ll see that we are there the next day until 6 pm & last tender may be around 5 pm but they will get everyone back to the ship, from my experience, as I’ve been there many times, plus they may be using local tenders that can hold much more people. 
 

Tom😀

I was in Cabo a few days ago and both ships that anchored out used the ship’s tenders.

[karatemom2]

6 hours ago, travelmama06 said:

We are going to be on the Discovery Princess from Feb 3 -10 .

we would like to go to port in Cabo - what time would be a good time to catch the tender to avoid the long lines of passengers boarding the tenders leaving the ship (we are supposed to arrive at noon I believe ?)

We just did this same itinerary on Discovery over New Year’s and I will share that the line up for those getting tender tickets as we were coming into port was very long by 11:30 am - a full half hour prior to our port time. We are Elite so went to a different lounge for the priority tendering, but we passed the line of people heading into the Vista lounge for the regular tendering tickets and there were a lot of people. If you want to avoid the crowds and are flexible about when you depart the ship, you might wait until between 1 - 2 pm to allow the initial rush to subside and you will likely get off fairly quickly at that point. Last tender back will be 7 pm and just know the line to come back will be long as well. It moved quickly, but it still took us a bit of time heading back. 

[karatemom2]

6 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on the same cruise as yourself & for myself  I will check to see how long the lines are & decide what I want to do. Remember that will be another day so that might make a difference in how long the lines are. 
 

Here’s our schedule. We arrive at 2 pm until 6 pm the next day. 

 

You’ll see that we are there the next day until 6 pm & last tender may be around 5 pm but they will get everyone back to the ship, from my experience, as I’ve been there many times, plus they may be using local tenders that can hold much more people. 
 

Tom😀

I don’t believe you are on the same cruise as the OP. They are on a 7 day itinerary leaving Feb 3 and are only in Cabo for one day from Noon to 8. You must be on the 5 day cruise departing Feb 10 that overnights in Cabo. We did that itinerary last year and really enjoyed it. You do have a little more flexibility in timing getting off and on the ship since you are there overnight and people seem a bit less anxious about getting off since you are there for two days. The line will still likely be longest the first day on arrival though. 

[Outerdog]

39 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

I was in Cabo a few days ago and both ships that anchored out used the ship’s tenders.

 

Every single time I've crushed to Cabo they use the ships tenders in addition to the local tender services. The little white and blue boats that sit there and bob around in the water next to the ship waiting their turn...

[skynight]

Initial rush for tender tickets will start to line up as early as 11am. The 1st passengers to board will be those with Princess booked excursions that begin shortly after arrival. Excursion passengers have a separate meeting location. Passengers then board in the order of arrival at the tender ticket venue. Groups such as families that wish to board the tender together have to arrive at the tender ticket location together. One person can not pick up tender tickets for others that are not there. Passengers are mixed in with passengers with tender priority such as those with elite loyalty levels. It takes a few hours to clear initial passengers. Probably around 2pm there will be an announcement that you can go direct to the tender pontoon.

Port time is noon to 8pm. There will be long lines on the pier to return to the ship. Get there early.

[karatemom2]

6 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

Every single time I've crushed to Cabo they use the ships tenders in addition to the local tender services. The little white and blue boats that sit there and bob around in the water next to the ship waiting their turn...

That had been our experience as well, however, it may depend on what ships are in port with you. On our most recent trip last week we were in port with a Carnival cruise ship. It appeared they had exclusive use of the Cabo port tenders that day and Princess was only using its own water shuttles.

[HotRoot]

We are scheduled to arrive at 2 pm Monday.  If it takes 3 hours to get a tender - that is 5 o'clock.  Thanks for confirming my decision to not get off the ship.

[travelmama06]

I where do we pick up tickets for tendering - I don’t remember having to have a ticket to tender however we haven’t been on a cruise that has had a tender port for quite sometime as we try to avoid them lol

[travelmama06]

Or is a ticket required if they announce passengers can go directly to tender ??

[karatemom2]

22 minutes ago, travelmama06 said:

I where do we pick up tickets for tendering - I don’t remember having to have a ticket to tender however we haven’t been on a cruise that has had a tender port for quite sometime as we try to avoid them lol

 

6 minutes ago, travelmama06 said:

Or is a ticket required if they announce passengers can go directly to tender ??

On our cruise last week the Vista lounge was being used for regular ticket distribution. The tickets are numbered and you and your full party need to remain in the lounge as they call out number sequences in groups to let you know when you can proceed to the gangway. 
 

We were off the ship by the time it had slowed down, but I would imagine if they announce there is no more waiting and you can go directly off the ship you would not need to stop to get a ticket. 

[karatemom2]

1 hour ago, HotRoot said:

We are scheduled to arrive at 2 pm Monday.  If it takes 3 hours to get a tender - that is 5 o'clock.  Thanks for confirming my decision to not get off the ship.

It will not take three hours to get a ticket. It’s up to you if you don’t want to get off and enjoy the ship instead, but likely at most you would wait for an hour to 90 minutes max. They were moving pretty quickly and they usually have two gangways with two tenders running at all times. 

[skynight]

1 hour ago, travelmama06 said:

I where do we pick up tickets for tendering - I don’t remember having to have a ticket to tender however we haven’t been on a cruise that has had a tender port for quite sometime as we try to avoid them lol

The day before there will be an announcement in the daily events listing. The location varies by ship. Examples are the Vista Lounge, one of the DRs. The announcement will also mention timing details for last tender back to the ship and information regarding those passengers that can receive priority tendering.

At some point during the tendering service there will be an announcement that tickets are no longer required. At that time you can go directly to the pontoon.

[Aquaticdreams]

We’re on the January 20th sailing. Port time was changed to 2:00 - 9:00. We’re exploring on our own with an ambitious wish list of things to do. What’s the best strategy for getting off as early as possible? We don’t mind a long wait as long as we can be in the right place at the right time to get off early. 

[wallyj]

2 hours ago, Aquaticdreams said:

We’re on the January 20th sailing. Port time was changed to 2:00 - 9:00. We’re exploring on our own with an ambitious wish list of things to do. What’s the best strategy for getting off as early as possible? We don’t mind a long wait as long as we can be in the right place at the right time to get off early. 

I will assume you do not have status(elite) to provide priority, so you will need someone to get in line to get tender tickets, as soon as possible, for your party at the venue the tender tickets are being distributed.
 

It will be in the patter/event listing, announcements on board, where and what time tender tickets will be handed out.

 

Passengers will be lining up at the venue easily 1/2 to 1 hour before they start handing out tender tickets. 

[skynight]

5 hours ago, Aquaticdreams said:

We’re on the January 20th sailing. Port time was changed to 2:00 - 9:00. We’re exploring on our own with an ambitious wish list of things to do. What’s the best strategy for getting off as early as possible? We don’t mind a long wait as long as we can be in the right place at the right time to get off early. 

Line up early to get your tender tickets. It is my experience that it is one tender ticket per person. Everyone in your party that is going ashore has to be present. Experience is that one person will not be issued tender tickets for their entire group as mentioned in post 16. The first tenders will be filled by those that booked Princess excursions. After those tenders depart there is a mix of priority and non priority passengers in the tenders. Priority passengers usually, but not always have a separate meeting location. In Cabo it isn't only ship's tenders, local tenders also operate which makes tendering quicker.

Watch the time for the last tender back to the ship and make sure you are in line at the pier.

[Cruise Raider]

We just disembarked the Discovery a couple of days ago and the cruise was sold out.  
There were tenders from both the port and ship being used.  We anchored pretty much on time, which was 2PM.  There were people still waiting to be called at about 3:45 PM, so they probably got onshore by 4:15 PM.  I’m not sure how much longer the process of calling people by number took, as we weren’t really paying attention after that.  
 

If you are really anxious to get off in early and don’t have priority status, you may want to book one of the first excursions.  We only had an hour to spend in Newport one as we had no status at the time.  We no longer tender unless it’s a port we really have to experience because it is a long arduous process.  

[karatemom2]

12 hours ago, Aquaticdreams said:

We’re on the January 20th sailing. Port time was changed to 2:00 - 9:00. We’re exploring on our own with an ambitious wish list of things to do. What’s the best strategy for getting off as early as possible? We don’t mind a long wait as long as we can be in the right place at the right time to get off early. 

Do any of the things on your wish list align with a ship excursion? Maybe even something as simple as a water taxi tour to Arch Rock and Land’s End. The nice thing about Mexico is that the ship excursions aren’t quite as overpriced and if you booked one scheduled at or near your arrival time, you can guarantee being in the first groups shuttled off the ship. Otherwise, plan to be in line at the lounge at least 45 minutes to an hour prior to the announced ticketing time with your entire party. If you are toward the front of that line you should get shuttled fairly expediently. 

[joetop2467]

We were just in Cabo last week on a land trip. We saw two Viking ships anchored in the harbor and the tenders running back and forth. The distance is not far and they seem to run pretty quickly. There is plenty to do right there at the dock. We paid $20 each for a 45 minute boat ride to the arch and some other spots around the bay. There are people all over selling these boat rides. Just stay clear of the timeshare sellers.  We were staying in San Jose del Cabo. We hired a driver to take us to Cabo San Lucas. It took about 45 minutes. I don’t know what excursions your cruise ship is offering but my point is you can do everything you want on your own and pretty cheaply.  

[Aquaticdreams]

Thanks for all the suggestions! We almost had to cancel the trip but thankfully it’s back on. We’re en route to LA. We were hoping to do the arch, Medano beach, shops, and dinner. Hopefully we’ll be able to fit most of it in. It’s too late to pre book so we’ll check out the early tours once on board.