Tendering in Kona on PoAm

[seansmum]

Our ship arrives in Kona at 7 am. I just wondred how much time we need to allow to get ashore and back since we are taking a fishing charter. All advice is appreciated. Thanks .

Sue

[melika091900]

do you mean what time you should be onshore???

if you get on one of the 1st tenders i would say by 8 or so ,, they have to get cleared 1st to start tendering and all of that, so if they are running behind, i wouldnt book the charter any earlier than about 830am just to be safe..

then you have to consider if youre going to eat first ? or room service or whatever... also

 

 

and coming back on the ship theres usually no line.. its about a 10 min or less tender in kona ..

i think they require you are back on at least 1 hour before sailing ,,

 

 

hope this is what you were asking..

 

Melissa

[daWoods]

Hi Sue. It's a relatively short tender at Kona, especially if there's only one ship in that day. The key is not to book your excursion too early and make sure you get on one of the first boats.

[seansmum]

Thanks so much!!! So if we book our charter for 9:00 or 9:30 we should be fine. I really appreciate how helpful everyone is on this board.

Sue

[CruisinMinnie]

FYI - the 6/30 PoAm cruise had to skip Kona because of waves causing them not to be able to tender. Be sure to check any cancellation policies of any independent (not booked through NCL) tours. :)

[beachchick]

do you mean what time you should be onshore???

if you get on one of the 1st tenders i would say by 8 or so ,, they have to get cleared 1st to start tendering and all of that, so if they are running behind, i wouldnt book the charter any earlier than about 830am just to be safe..

then you have to consider if youre going to eat first ? or room service or whatever... also

 

 

and coming back on the ship theres usually no line.. its about a 10 min or less tender in kona ..

i think they require you are back on at least 1 hour before sailing ,,

 

 

hope this is what you were asking..

 

Melissa

 

Actually, we had quite the opposite on PoH. Most people wanted to have a fair amount of time ashore, so hundreds of us (yes, hundreds) were all in line around the same time between 4 and 5 pm for a 6 pm departure. We were in line about 4:15 and waited for 25 minutes. By the time we got on a tender, the line was even longer and snaking down and around the road. They were running the full complement of tenders, so they really couldn't have gone any faster. Those last in line had to wait quite a while.

 

beachchick

[KeystoneCruiser]

and remember on NCL ships, those in suites and those on NCL sponsored shore excursions will have first priority for tenders. Most of the early tenders fill with these people. A half hour after arrival may not be enough time unless you are in a suite.

[joyce155]

I ditto the person who said check your cancellation policy we had booked only one excursion through NCL the snorkel trip last week because I was thinking the tender boarding may be an issue, turns out we couldn't get to kona due to waves so we were refunded by ncl, not sure if we had booked independently that we would have gotten a refund... I didn't really think about that when I booked but retrospectively I was glad...