Tendering question

[pricer]

We have not been on a cruise that had ports where the ship anchored and passengers were taken by tender to the port. Can someone please give a an idea of how this works? How many people do the boats hold? Is it just a large line to wait to go ashore (first come, first serve), or is it assigned by decks or some other method?

[Pam in CA]

We have not been on a cruise that had ports where the ship anchored and passengers were taken by tender to the port. Can someone please give a an idea of how this works? How many people do the boats hold? Is it just a large line to wait to go ashore (first come, first serve), or is it assigned by decks or some other method?

Each itinerary handles this differently but here are some general answers:

 

* Princess tours get preference on the tenders. They meet in one of the large lounges and are lead by tour group onto the tenders.

 

* Those not on Princess tours go to a lounge or desk and get a numbered ticket. They are called to the tender as space permits, generally after the Princess tours.

 

* In some ports, Princess uses their tenders; in other ports, they contract locally with boats that can take more people at a time.

 

I'm not sure how many people each tender takes but as your tour group or number is called, you are directed down to Deck 4 where you board the tender. It's not a large line that waits to board the tender although that's the way the tender boards to go back to the ship.

[gooch47]

I can't give you an exact figure, but the ship's tender boats probably hold nearly 100 people. The contracted ones from shore are usually just as large.

[pricer]

Thanks for your answers. My reason for asking is that our iternerary just changed. We will be on the 7 day coastal on Sapphire in May. Princess just changed one of the stops to Catalina Island. The thing is that the ship arrives at 7 am and departs at 1 pm. I am wondering if once you take out the time necessary to get ashore and then line up for a tender back, will there even be any point to going ashore for a look around. ( have never been there). Maybe this will be a day to stay onboard.

[Tom O.]

I recently was staying on Catalina and watched each day as different cruise ships arrived and tendered their passengers.

I think all of the ships used local tenders, but some used their own tenders as well. One ship, I think it was Carnival, hired some very large tenders that came all the way from Long Beach. They could handle probably about 200 people. Another ship hired local Catalina boats, probably could only carry 50 people.

The Sapphire is a big ship, I don't think a ship that big has ever gone to Catalina before. The population of Avalon, Catalina is about 2000 people. The Sapphire will offload about 2600 people. It will be crowded. After the cruise ships leave, it is like a ghost town. Avalon is a charming town though, you will like it.

I think you should get off and see the town. With the time alloted you, I wouldn't schedule any tours. Just get off the boat and walk around. You can see the whole town by foot. I guarantee you will be charmed.

[luv2cworld2000]

On my cruise in February, if you didn't take a tour, there was a 45 miniute to an hour wait between the time you got your tender ticket to leave the ship and the time you got on the tender. This was for both the Princess Cay's, where they used their own life boats, and in Cozumel, where they contracted out. My advice would be to get a tender ticket early if you plan on going to shore on your own. Going back to the ship, you just need to stand in line, no ticket required.

[GloriaF]

I've noticed a capacity of 150 printed on some of the Princess tenders. If you go ashore early, there is usually not much of a wait - if you sleep in like lots of other people, then the wait is longer. Once your tender tickets are called it is not a long time until you board usually.

[BJS]

Thanks for your answers. My reason for asking is that our iternerary just changed. We will be on the 7 day coastal on Sapphire in May. Princess just changed one of the stops to Catalina Island. The thing is that the ship arrives at 7 am and departs at 1 pm. I am wondering if once you take out the time necessary to get ashore and then line up for a tender back, will there even be any point to going ashore for a look around. ( have never been there). Maybe this will be a day to stay onboard.

If you are up and ready to go when tendering starts there should be plenty of time to go ashore. Most tender operations are very fast - they run multiple boats at one time so you don't wait very long.

[slappy1974]

In Cozumel, it was 400-500 person tenders that took about 45 minutes to load and 45 minutes to unload.

If you were lucky and were one of the last people on you didn't have to wait very long.

Back at the ship, people were racing to the door to get off, only to realize they went to the wrong door, and then went racing there...

I joked with the people sitting next to me that their time was clearly more valuable than ours.

[anonimoun247365]

When they list the arrival time of the ship in port, is that the time they start the tendering?

[cadburysmom]

First of all, I'm not very fond of tendering. Having tendered to Princess Cay on both the Caribbean Princess and the Grand Princess, I decided the best way to handle that morning is to enjoy a nice long breakfast while the "tender rush" is going on, then leisurely make my way down to the gangplank around 10am when there are no more lines and the tenders aren't nearly as crowded. Never had a problem getting a chair either and have plenty of time on the island to relax and enjoy :)

[chasetf]

First of all, I'm not very fond of tendering. Having tendered to Princess Cay on both the Caribbean Princess and the Grand Princess, I decided the best way to handle that morning is to enjoy a nice long breakfast while the "tender rush" is going on, then leisurely make my way down to the gangplank around 10am when there are no more lines and the tenders aren't nearly as crowded. Never had a problem getting a chair either and have plenty of time on the island to relax and enjoy :)

Unless we are on a tour and need to be ashore early, that is what we do. We normally time it so it is about the time they quit giving out tender tickets, which means we can board the next available tender. You also avoid the madhouse at the port when all the tours are trying to get collected and board their buses....

[MCManders99]

Another question regarding tenders. After a tour is it possible to get back on the ship, have lunch, then go back on the tender and enjoy the port, of course time permitting. I will be on the Star, W Caribbean, in April and am curious on how these tenders operate. We are thinking of taking an early tour, then have lunch on the ship, and then go back to the island to shop, etc. Thanks.

[2pbears]

We are new to cruising and have never done this before. Is there a way to know in advance which ports will be tender ports?

[LonghornKJK]

Just back from the Dawn Princess last Saturday. In Ketchikan, the only port where we had to tender, the Dawn actually used tenders from a larger Princess ship that was docked. I can't remember which one it was but it was a Grand class so they have bigger tenders.

 

We were a bit paranoid about getting off the ship in time for our private excursion because we had a horrible experience in Grand Cayman on the Grand Princess last year, and that was after we had waited to supposedly let the lines get smaller. This time, we got up early and decided to eat breakfast in town. We didn't have to wait at all and the trip was quick, too. They were tendering from two gangways on the ship. There was a pretty good line coming back but if you're in line by the deadline, you'll get on the ship. And the line was always moving because it split to two different boarding areas.

[Pam in CA]

When they list the arrival time of the ship in port, is that the time they start the tendering?

The arrival time is approximate. Tendering doesn't start right away -- they have to complete the clearance procedures with the country, embark the tenders and set up the embarkation site in the port, etc. All of this takes time and the length of time depends on the port set-up and distance to the dock, not to mention the number of ships anchored at the port that day. If you have an independent tour, plan on at least an hour to an hour and a half after the approximate time the ship gets to port before scheduling an independent tour.

[Pam in CA]

We are new to cruising and have never done this before. Is there a way to know in advance which ports will be tender ports?

Your cruise itinerary should have the info on which ports are tendered. If not, they'll be listed in your cruise documents. As an FYI, they'll also be noted in your pre-cruise documents with the Princess tours available.

[Pam in CA]

Another question regarding tenders. After a tour is it possible to get back on the ship, have lunch, then go back on the tender and enjoy the port, of course time permitting. I will be on the Star, W Caribbean, in April and am curious on how these tenders operate. We are thinking of taking an early tour, then have lunch on the ship, and then go back to the island to shop, etc. Thanks.

Yes, you can absolutely, positively come and go from the ship on the tenders. Just keep track of the time and be alert to the time the last tender is scheduled to go back to the ship and make sure you're there ahead of that time. If ya miss the tender, ya miss the ship. The Princess Patter will have all of the tendering times, including the time you must be back onboard the ship which is usually at least 30 minutes before sailing.

[mississauga]

Thanks for your answers. My reason for asking is that our iternerary just changed. We will be on the 7 day coastal on Sapphire in May. Princess just changed one of the stops to Catalina Island. The thing is that the ship arrives at 7 am and departs at 1 pm. I am wondering if once you take out the time necessary to get ashore and then line up for a tender back, will there even be any point to going ashore for a look around. ( have never been there). Maybe this will be a day to stay onboard.

 

We were on the Dawn in April and did not rush to get off. We had our breakfast, got our tender tickets and did not have to wait long to go to Catalina Island. It's nice to get off the ship and just walk around on Catalina Island. When you get off the tender, there is a little strip of beach, some shops and restaurants. I think we only stayed about 2 hours. ( or less) If you don't wait until the last tenders, there is usually not a line up to go back to the ship.