Tendering in Belize

[sunlover5]

How is Carnival with tendering in Belize. I have only done it with RC and it was painless, but hearing horror stories about Carnival. Please tell me some good stuff!!!

[Beth]

It took about 15-20 minutes and wasn't bad at all. Belize tho is not one of my favorite ports. Highly recommend that you book an excursion in Belize.

[judyzoo]

The tendering itself was no problem. The problem on the Valor was the crowds and lines on the stairways and by the elevators trying to get on the tenders first thing in the morning. You had to get a tender number unless you were on a ship's excursion, which by itself was okay, but then you had to wait forever for all the excursion people to leave before they even called tender #1.

[sstephy]

It took about 15-20 minutes and wasn't bad at all. Belize tho is not one of my favorite ports. Highly recommend that you book an excursion in Belize.

Somewhere in the Belize thread ..... somewhere.:confused: .... I read just a few days ago that it took someone 45 minutes to tender into the port in Belize - she said the area is shallow and the ships have to anchor so far out that it takes forever. :(

 

I'll find out first hand in about 10 days, but for now I can only pass along that info. It was in a thread regarding someone's cavetubing excursion.:)

[PaddleAddict]

No, it doesn't take 45 minutes--more like 15 to 20. Maybe it FELT like 45 minutes b/c they couldn't wait to get there!

 

I had no problems tendering on the Miracle. Walked onto the tender, no lines, got there quick, no problems.

 

I think the people who line up to be FIRST off the ship are the ones who get stuck in lines. We waited a little bit--which was no problem for our independent tour. Made it with lots of time to spare!

[sstephy]

No, it doesn't take 45 minutes--more like 15 to 20. Maybe it FELT like 45 minutes b/c they couldn't wait to get there!

 

Thanks for the info. I'm relieved as I didn't want to spend a whole day on a tender. She said she had a nightmare day there - starting with getting to the port because of the long tendering, but I'm relieved to know I'll only be on the tender for a few minutes. I can handle that.

 

Thanks again! :)

[judyzoo]

Somewhere in the Belize thread ..... somewhere.:confused: .... I read just a few days ago that it took someone 45 minutes to tender into the port in Belize - she said the area is shallow and the ships have to anchor so far out that it takes forever. :(

 

I'll find out first hand in about 10 days, but for now I can only pass along that info. It was in a thread regarding someone's cavetubing excursion.:)

 

No way that it takes that long. They do use a variety of types of boats for tendering, so some may take longer than others, but ours took max 15 minutes each way, and I can't imagine that it could possibly take anywhere near 45 minutes, no matter what type of tender you're in. Someone said the distance covered between ship and shore was 5 miles, someone else 3-1/2.

[Lard Greystoke]

It took about 15 min for me on Carnival Glory a month ago. There was a slight problem with confusion on the stairs, but I still got off plenty early.

 

Ships are not anchored all at the same spot, so it may take longer depending how far out you're anchored.

[marym933]

It took us about 20 minutes. Be ready for a fast exhilerating ride. The local tenders really move! I think they must be paid by the passenger!

[sstephy]

Oh, am I relieved that we're not going to have a 45 minute tender ride. The person who wrote that had definitely had a bad day. :)

 

Another question for you all. I know I've seen this posted everywhere I've looked, but I can't remember the info now that I'm writing a confirmation letter for an excursion for next week.

 

What timeline do the cruise lines recommend for being on the pier to be waiting for the tender back to the ship before it raises anchor and sails away? :confused: 1 hour before sail time? 1/2 hr before? :confused: (we're on RCI)

 

I'm sooo bogged down with other info and I greatly appreciate your help with this dumb question. Thanks so much! :)

[marym933]

When we were on the Carnival Miracle, the last tender left Belize at 4:00 p.m. The ship sailed at 5:00 p.m. They will let you know when you get off the ship what time the last tender will leave.

[racingraysswimmom]

We were told to get tender tickets for Belize at 8:30AM Tuesday located :onext to the Creams Coffee Shop. I was there at 8AM and was first in line and got 40 Tender #1 tickets. We did not wait for them to call us and went straight down to board the tender. We were let onto the tender right away. It took 20 minutes to get to the pier. It was a wonderful day and would do it all again.

[judyzoo]

We were told to get tender tickets for Belize at 8:30AM Tuesday located :onext to the Creams Coffee Shop. I was there at 8AM and was first in line and got 40 Tender #1 tickets. We did not wait for them to call us and went straight down to board the tender. We were let onto the tender right away. It took 20 minutes to get to the pier. It was a wonderful day and would do it all again.

 

Lucky you! It seems to depend on the ship. For Belize on the Valor, I was about 10th in line and got a #1 tender ticket. But the person in charge was watching and letting only people on the ship’s shore excursions board the tenders. After that -- 45 minutes later -- I was finally able to get a tender, with the other #1 tender ticket holders.

[DonMar]

If you need to a very early tender because you have an early excursion planned with an independent company, make sure you check with the Pursers Desk for ship tendering procedures. We were led to believe that only the ship sponsored excursions got the first tenders, but then asked the Purser and learned that we too could get off on an early tender.

 

We were in the theater (holding location for early tendering) before anyone and as soon as the ship crew arrived I was politely assertive about needing to get off on the first or second tender. Make sure you have a copy of your reservations with a meeting or start time on it. (They want to see this to make sure you really need to get off the ship.)

 

We got off the ship with no problem and got started on our excursion at 7:00am Belize time!

[sstephy]

We were told to get tender tickets for Belize at 8:30AM Tuesday located :onext to the Creams Coffee Shop. I was there at 8AM and was first in line and got 40 Tender #1 tickets. We did not wait for them to call us and went straight down to board the tender. We were let onto the tender right away. It took 20 minutes to get to the pier. It was a wonderful day and would do it all again.

Did you sail on RCI?

Can one person pick up tickets for the whole group on RCI or does each person have to show up to get tender tickets?

 

Thanks for your help. I'll be there next Tuesday.

[lmmn]

Oh, am I relieved that we're not going to have a 45 minute tender ride. The person who wrote that had definitely had a bad day. :)

 

Another question for you all. I know I've seen this posted everywhere I've looked, but I can't remember the info now that I'm writing a confirmation letter for an excursion for next week.

 

What timeline do the cruise lines recommend for being on the pier to be waiting for the tender back to the ship before it raises anchor and sails away? :confused: 1 hour before sail time? 1/2 hr before? :confused: (we're on RCI)

 

I'm sooo bogged down with other info and I greatly appreciate your help with this dumb question. Thanks so much! :)

 

I'm probably the person who wrote 45 minutes...because that is what it took. I did not have a bad day. Please note that once you're moving...it's 15 minutes, but it also takes at least 10-15 minutes to load and, and a several minutes to unload. I'm not counting the wait on the ship...if you do not have tender #1-3, you'll be waiting at least an hour, probably longer. The day we were in, a Carnival ship had just arrived in the same location...which made for a slower process.

 

If you're aware of this, you will not have a problem, because you will be on the first tender and be ok. I am only writing this so others don't make the same mistake as me!!

[judyzoo]

Hi DonMar from Totowa,

 

I lived for many years in Wayne, and my grandmother used to live in Totowa (I lived with her for a while), as did my aunt and uncle. Actually, the doctor who delivered me (decades and decades and decades ago!) had his practice in Totowa.

[sstephy]

I'm probably the person who wrote 45 minutes...because that is what it took. I did not have a bad day. Please note that once you're moving...it's 15 minutes, but it also takes at least 10-15 minutes to load and, and a several minutes to unload. I'm not counting the wait on the ship...if you do not have tender #1-3, you'll be waiting at least an hour, probably longer. The day we were in, a Carnival ship had just arrived in the same location...which made for a slower process.

 

If you're aware of this, you will not have a problem, because you will be on the first tender and be ok. I am only writing this so others don't make the same mistake as me!!

Thank you for the explaination of the time for each part of the tender process. I assumed the ride itself had taken 45 min since I'd read on another thread that the area is shallow and the ships have to anchor so far out. My mistake completely. I had read of your day's 'adventures' in Belize and remember that it was frustrating to say the least.

 

We're going to do everything we can to be on that first (or second) tender. We're supposed to arrive at 9:00 (8:00 Belize time) and Yhony says his tours begin at 10:30 and 11:00. By my calculations that gives us at least 2+ hours to get off the ship, tender into port, and find him (8:00-10:30 Belize time) - unless he's giving me ship time and not loocal. Perhaps it would be wise for me to ask him about that before we leave home! :eek: Since you've just experienced this - do you think we should be concerned about getting off the ship first thing or does that 2+hour time span give us a bit of a cushion and make any sense? :confused: Or should I not relax until I'm on a tender and see Yhony's sign? :)

 

Did your excursion try to run on basically that same schedule or am I looking at these times completely skewed?

 

Thank you so much for your help. Your actual experiences and tips are invaluable - we haven't done it ourselves and have to depend on the great information from people willing to share and help - like you. :)

[lmmn]

Thank you for the explaination of the time for each part of the tender process. I assumed the ride itself had taken 45 min since I'd read on another thread that the area is shallow and the ships have to anchor so far out. My mistake completely. I had read of your day's 'adventures' in Belize and remember that it was frustrating to say the least.

 

We're going to do everything we can to be on that first (or second) tender. We're supposed to arrive at 9:00 (8:00 Belize time) and Yhony says his tours begin at 10:30 and 11:00. By my calculations that gives us at least 2+ hours to get off the ship, tender into port, and find him (8:00-10:30 Belize time) - unless he's giving me ship time and not loocal. Perhaps it would be wise for me to ask him about that before we leave home! :eek: Since you've just experienced this - do you think we should be concerned about getting off the ship first thing or does that 2+hour time span give us a bit of a cushion and make any sense? :confused: Or should I not relax until I'm on a tender and see Yhony's sign? :)

 

Did your excursion try to run on basically that same schedule or am I looking at these times completely skewed?

 

Thank you so much for your help. Your actual experiences and tips are invaluable - we haven't done it ourselves and have to depend on the great information from people willing to share and help - like you. :)

 

You are not going to have an issue if you get on the first/second tender. Cavetubing.com goes by ship time (look on your confirmation), so any time difference will not be an issue. If you get off the ship early, you will be on .com's first bus...so I wouldn't even worry about it, you've got a plan, and you're all set!