Call me crazy... are there new tenders?

[LolaWiz]

I thought i "saw" somewhere on this board that HAL/CCL has new tenders for HMC?

 

Is this right or was my dreaming about our upcoming cruise just too vivid? :p :D

 

Are they still using the life boats or do they have new tenders that stay on the island?

 

Thanks for answering a stupid question. I could not find a lot when i searched.

[Copper10-8]

I thought i "saw" somewhere on this board that HAL/CCL has new tenders for HMC?

 

Is this right or was my dreaming about our upcoming cruise just too vivid? :p :D

 

Are they still using the life boats or do they have new tenders that stay on the island?

 

Thanks for answering a stupid question. I could not find a lot when i searched.

 

Yes, they apparently have/are using larger tenders that are home based at HMC. They are using these instead of the ship's tenders. They apparently hold more pax so more folks can be "off-loaded" in one trip! Somebody, Ziggy??, had a pic of one

[BumperII]

Yes indeed HMC is using land based tenders, a big, big improvement. They are roomier, hold about 300 passengers and they use two at a time, one going and one coming back. This is a terrific improvement, as they can get everyone ashore that wants to go ashore in less than 45 minutes! These tenders are a whole lot easier to get in and out of too!

 

The last time we were there in late October, we didn't arrive until 11:00 a.m., so they served the barbque on the lido deck by the pool. We just had an early lunch, and by noon they announced open tendering.

[LolaWiz]

Whew... i am a bit kooky but not going crazy!

thanks so much, i will search for the photos of the new tenders.

 

Thanks again everyone!

Please send good "vibes" my way as we depart a week from this Sat. I do hope we will be able to stop at HMC. :)

[diboja]

This must be a photo of the new tenders??!!

http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Half-Moon-Cay/

[Copper10-8]

Yep, great pic!:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

The names of the tenders are:

 

Henry Hudson and Anne Bonny

[LolaWiz]

OH@!!! that is what i was lookinf for :)

thank you so much!

[arzz]

I love the concept of the new tenders for both speed and safety -- a couple of times I have seen the ship's crew raising our own tenders during rather high winds that developed during the day and I have issues watching our loyal and hard working crew members risking injury or worse to get those tenders up or down just so that the passengers can enjoy a day at the beach.

 

When we were at HMC in October the land based tenders were working for the passengers of the Westerdam and it appeared that the Volendam passengers were left with the old system, our ship's own tenders.

[LolaWiz]

so, may i ask another question?

 

 

:)

 

It seems as though these new tenders would make it more likely to stop at HMC since they are largers, safer and quicker?

Or no?

[Chivalrygirl]

While in Hawaii in October I noted that RCL seemed to have tenders that were much larger than the tenders on my ship, do the larger HAL vessels have larger tenders ?

[arzz]

I am not an expert on this at all -- but one of the reasons the stops at HMC are cancelled is because of the swells -- the swells cause the ship and tenders especially to bob up and down unpredictably in the water. When the swells are really large it becomes difficult to dangerous to cross from any tender to the small tender dock on the ship -- picture it as crossing from one moving target to another and they are not moving together, and they may be oscillating by as much as plus or minus one or two feet.

 

So....I am not sure whether or not the new tenders will change that situation at all -- short of docking (which is currently not possible at HMC) swells may still prevent passengers from enjoying an incredible beach.

[Copper10-8]

I am not an expert on this at all -- but one of the reasons the stops at HMC are cancelled is because of the swells -- the swells cause the ship and tenders especially to bob up and down unpredictably in the water. When the swells are really large it becomes difficult to dangerous to cross from any tender to the small tender dock on the ship -- picture it as crossing from one moving target to another and they are not moving together, and they may be oscillating by as much as plus or minus one or two feet.

 

So....I am not sure whether or not the new tenders will change that situation at all -- short of docking (which is currently not possible at HMC) swells may still prevent passengers from enjoying an incredible beach.

 

You're pretty much right on with that one!