Margaret51

On 10/18/2018 at 7:29 AM, Margaret51 said:

" according to yesterday's Solstice visit to Paihia, the first passenger tender wasn't due to leave until 7.45am "

Thanks for the comments. I'm still not sure that we would make a 9am trip, but as you say, there may not be too many people who want to get off the ship that early. Explore, the firm we were looking to book with told me: Most of the time people do not have issues with making it to the Paihia wharf in time for the 9:00 am departure if the first tender to Waitangi is from 7 am however if you are worried you may not make it in time you can book the "Discover the Bay Cruise" in our Paihia office on the day but this will be dependent on availability.  So that is a possiblity.

I have also emailed Celebrity who said: If you would like to do your own tours this is absolutely fine, two hours will be enough time for you, however I would suggest making sure you are ready to disembark as early as you can, so that you can be off the ship as early as possible and not held up in the queues. They also added: Be aware that the port agencies can change the port times at any time, however we will update you of this if there are any changes prior to your cruise.  So will need to check up on that. If we book in advance, we can cancel up to 24 hours.

Thanks for the reassurance. 🙂

Thanks. 🙂

Thanks, both. Feel a lot happier now that I have an idea about what might happen. 🙂

Thanks, MicCanberra. Am hoping that it won't be too choppy in the Bay of Islands. 🙂 Will bear in mind that we both need to be there, but my question is: in order to be on one of the earliest tenders, how early should we start queuing for tickets? Don't the ship tours have priority? Then the Elite club, etc? It will be our first port of call, so unfortunately, we won't have any prior experience to fall back on. 😞

7 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Try and get an early tender ticket if you can.

Thanks. What is the best way of getting a tender ticket? We anchor at 7am, but according to yesterday's Solstice visit to Paihia, the first passenger tender wasn't due to leave until 7.45am and I'm aware that cruise tours and Elite status , etc will have priority. What time should we think about queuing? Have only tenderd once before (Bar Harbor) as we try to avoid them!

5 hours ago, kiwichick62 said:

Hi Margaret, are you sailing on Celebrity Solstice January 17th?  If so, we have an active roll call with lots of info shared if you are interested.    Sorry I can't answer your question but I would think two hours should be plenty of time to get ashore.

Hi kiwichick62! Yes we are on the Solstice on the 17th. Can't wait for our Kiwi adventure - although there's the little matter of Christmas to deal with first! Am trying to get our plans in place early so the two don't clash - and the excursions sell out! Will check out the roll call soon.