Tender at the ports

[Donna573]

Ok, all of you seasoned cruisers are going to get a laugh out of this one, but....what does it mean when someone asks or talks about tender at the ports? I've seen this word used in a few posts, but can't really understand what they're talking about. We will be visiting Nassau, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. :confused:

[Ykgorbie]

It means the ship can't get in close enough to a dock likely because the water is too shallow as is the case in Cabo San Lucas; the "tenders" are actually smaller boats which take you from the gangplank of the ship to shore. They are free and supplied by the cruiseliner.

Don't feel bad, before I read about it on these boards, I had no clue what it was either !:p

[Wennfred]

Some of the ports do not have a pier for large ships to dock, so the ships have to Anchor out at sea. Then the ships will drop a few of their small boats to shuttle over the passengers to land. Some ports provide their own boats to help off load all of the passengers and also bring them back to the ship.

 

 

Fred

[hstrybuf]

FYI, Grand Cayman will be a tender port. ;)

[Donna573]

It means the ship can't get in close enough to a dock likely because the water is too shallow as is the case in Cabo San Lucas; the "tenders" are actually smaller boats which take you from the gangplank of the ship to shore. They are free and supplied by the cruiseliner.

Don't feel bad, before I read about it on these boards, I had no clue what it was either !:p

 

Oh, ok - - glad I asked. Thanks so much for your response. I seem to learn something new every day :)

[vacruizer]

I had a hard time picturing the tenders until I saw them - hope this helps. They vary in shape and size from port to port. This one is in Cozumel and you can see two more at the ship to give you a size reference.

 

[chandom]

Here is one from Cozumel in December of 2005.

 

View some what up close of the Inspiration on the tender.

[NEMMRRC]

Here is a photo of one of the tenders in Grand Cayman coming up to the Valor to take passengers ashore. The tender ride in Grand Cayman only lasts about 5 minutes. In Belize the tender ride lasted about 20 minutes.

[JenSDCA]

Dumb question from me, but how easily accessible are the tenders? We have 2 in our party with mobility issues (one elderly, one w/an artificial leg), and that was something my DH asked that I couldn't answer...

[kellywhitehills]

First of all it sucks....secondly make sure you get up early and get your Tender stickers..the longer you wait the longer it will take you to get off the ship..When we tendered in Ketchikan it took us 4 hours to get off the ship because we waited to late to get our stickers..

[woodey]

Dumb question from me, but how easily accessible are the tenders? We have 2 in our party with mobility issues (one elderly, one w/an artificial leg), and that was something my DH asked that I couldn't answer...

My wife has a Scooter in the past they have very kind they even carried the scooter on the boat for us. we took a HC exit to get on the tender and they let us board first... we had to wait for our Number to be called first but when our turn came we boarded first, also we were the first off.when you get on board ask at the pursers desk.