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Now tendering in Santiago & Cienfuegos- any idea why?


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We are on Empress Nov 19, 2018, and just got changed from docking to tendering in all 3 ports, including Georgetown. We are only ship in port on all 3 days. Any idea why? We have private tours planned, and now with tendering not sure if we can make it to Cienfuegos & Trinidad. Is it worth going to Trinidad if our time is cut short by an hour or so? In port 7am to 5pm.

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We are on Empress Nov 19, 2018, and just got changed from docking to tendering in all 3 ports, including Georgetown. We are only ship in port on all 3 days. Any idea why? We have private tours planned, and now with tendering not sure if we can make it to Cienfuegos & Trinidad. Is it worth going to Trinidad if our time is cut short by an hour or so? In port 7am to 5pm.

 

 

 

I’m going on the Nov. 12 sailing so you’re getting on when we’re getting off! From what I’ve read, I think Georgetown is always a tender port. I also read that the port in Cienfuegos is too small, hence the tender. I could be wrong but seems that what I’ve read about both ports. Are you taking a private tour to Trinidad? I really wanted to do that but since it’s so far away I was a little nervous about taking a private car that far. We’re doing the RC tour to Jagua Castle which will probably be lame and not worth the money. Wish there was more information out there about highly rated private tours in Cienfuegos Until more people report back on their experiences I guess we’ll stick with the RC tour. What company are you using?

 

 

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I’m going on the Nov. 12 sailing so you’re getting on when we’re getting off! From what I’ve read, I think Georgetown is always a tender port. I also read that the port in Cienfuegos is too small, hence the tender. I could be wrong but seems that what I’ve read about both ports. Are you taking a private tour to Trinidad? I really wanted to do that but since it’s so far away I was a little nervous about taking a private car that far. We’re doing the RC tour to Jagua Castle which will probably be lame and not worth the money. Wish there was more information out there about highly rated private tours in Cienfuegos Until more people report back on their experiences I guess we’ll stick with the RC tour. What company are you using?

 

 

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In Cienfuegos using Fernando at FerTours. Also using them for Havana the following week (doing b2b to see it all). Our port times are 7am to 5pm. 6 in our group, plus 3 more cc, so using a late model ac van rather than an older "classic car" (heard the roads are bumpy). Going to Trinidad first (over 1 hr drive), then lunch & Cienfuegos in afternoon, so we are at the ship, not far away in the afternoon. Cost was 450c for 9 of us (not including lunch or mojito break, which is mandatory for me!) They are most responsive.

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In Cienfuegos using Fernando at FerTours. Also using them for Havana the following week (doing b2b to see it all). Our port times are 7am to 5pm. 6 in our group, plus 3 more cc, so using a late model ac van rather than an older "classic car" (heard the roads are bumpy). Going to Trinidad first (over 1 hr drive), then lunch & Cienfuegos in afternoon, so we are at the ship, not far away in the afternoon. Cost was 450c for 9 of us (not including lunch or mojito break, which is mandatory for me!) They are most responsive.

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the info! FerTours is very highly rated on Trip Advisor. I didn’t know they did tours in Cienfuegos, as well. Think I’ll email Fernando and see what he says. I’d much rather take a private tour with him than a ship tour.

 

 

 

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In Cienfuegos using Fernando at FerTours. Also using them for Havana the following week (doing b2b to see it all). Our port times are 7am to 5pm. 6 in our group, plus 3 more cc, so using a late model ac van rather than an older "classic car" (heard the roads are bumpy). Going to Trinidad first (over 1 hr drive), then lunch & Cienfuegos in afternoon, so we are at the ship, not far away in the afternoon. Cost was 450c for 9 of us (not including lunch or mojito break, which is mandatory for me!) They are most responsive.

 

 

 

Will be in Cienfuegos JAN. 10. Looking forward to hearing about your private tour.

 

 

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We just got back from the Empress on Sunday. Tendering in Cienfuegos was such a fiasco that they found a way to dock us in Santiago de Cuba two days later. I assume they let the Trinidad excursion leave first because of the length. Hopefully they will work out the problems before your cruise.

 

Then the ship tore out a mooring stone and nearly hit a building in Santiago. No one was hurt when the gangplank fell, although the cruise director had to move quick to avoid the broken rope.

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We just got back from the Empress on Sunday. Tendering in Cienfuegos was such a fiasco that they found a way to dock us in Santiago de Cuba two days later. I assume they let the Trinidad excursion leave first because of the length. Hopefully they will work out the problems before your cruise.

 

Then the ship tore out a mooring stone and nearly hit a building in Santiago. No one was hurt when the gangplank fell, although the cruise director had to move quick to avoid the broken rope.

 

 

 

Wow. I guess there are some disadvantages to being on one of the first cruises to a new port. I hope by the time we arrive in Cienfuegos they get some of these kinks worked out.

 

 

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We just got back from the Empress on Sunday. Tendering in Cienfuegos was such a fiasco that they found a way to dock us in Santiago de Cuba two days later. I assume they let the Trinidad excursion leave first because of the length. Hopefully they will work out the problems before your cruise.

 

Then the ship tore out a mooring stone and nearly hit a building in Santiago. No one was hurt when the gangplank fell, although the cruise director had to move quick to avoid the broken rope.

 

 

Wow- thanks for the information. Now i guess i have something else to worry about! How long did it take to tender in Cienfuegos?

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Originally, the excursion was supposed to be at 9:00. They reissued tickets the night before that said to meet in the Royal Theater at 9:45. They didn't call our group until after 11:00.

We had to wait on the tender while they got an engineer to come look at it. He decided we could take the tender but an engineer should go with us just in case, but he couldn't go and we waited for another engineer. Supposedly they were concerned that the engine might overheat before we reached shore, but none of this was explained to us.

We finally reached the shore at 12:03 and the tour guide had been waiting for us since 9:00 with no notice or explanation. Our tour guide was excellent and did the best she could. She even helped bus tables so we could eat lunch. Too much of our tour was spent waiting on lunch because 3 buses of the tour showed up at one time because of the delay in starting the tour.

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Wow. I guess there are some disadvantages to being on one of the first cruises to a new port. I hope by the time we arrive in Cienfuegos they get some of these kinks worked out.

 

 

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Not first by a long shot. Scan this forum for "Cienfuegos" and you will find discussions two years back. We were there in April of last year. We did not tender, but the Pearl Mist was tendered when we arrived. We were told that they had been at the pier the day before but moved out so we could come in. This suggests capacity for one ship at a time. For what it's worth, the ship we were on held about 700 passengers and the one that was tendered was smaller yet.

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How is that relevant to the discussion of how Royal Caribbean screwed up tendering to the port?

 

It was Royal Caribbean's first cruise to that port. We had 1063 passengers for this trip.

 

 

 

Which is what I was referring to in my post. I guess I should have said RC’s first Cienfuegos port stop.

 

 

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Not first by a long shot. Scan this forum for "Cienfuegos" and you will find discussions two years back. We were there in April of last year. We did not tender, but the Pearl Mist was tendered when we arrived. We were told that they had been at the pier the day before but moved out so we could come in. This suggests capacity for one ship at a time. For what it's worth, the ship we were on held about 700 passengers and the one that was tendered was smaller yet.

 

Thanks for the info. Again, I'm confused why we are tendering when everything I see says we are the only ones in port. Unless RCI found out the Empress is too large to dock? If that is the case and the ship excursions tender first I wonder what time we'll get off the ship?

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Cienfuegos is not a city designed to be a port for "mega ships" but due to way too many ships calling on Cuba and Havana ports being completely over loaded they have taken many to Cienfuegos...just not equipped for this much traffic and people. Last year one line promised passengers Havana...could not get proper papers to dock there so came to Cienfuegos and bused people to Havana. On any trip to Cuba...expect things to not go as scheduled. The guides know this. Hopefully it will get better as the years go along.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Kathy is that line Viking? We are in Cienfuegos for three days with optional tours to Havana. According to cruisett we are the only ship there but no times are listed so I'm afraid we are tendering all three days. Our ship is only 900 passengers so I don't know why we couldn't dock.

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4 hours ago, jamscckmc said:

Kathy is that line Viking? We are in Cienfuegos for three days with optional tours to Havana. According to cruisett we are the only ship there but no times are listed so I'm afraid we are tendering all three days. Our ship is only 900 passengers so I don't know why we couldn't dock.

I find that the online cruise schedule sites like cruisett or cruisemapper are not accurate.  We are on a December cruise and https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/cienfuegos-port-1385?month=2018-12#schedule shows our ship is leaving the same day we arrive whereas we are actually staying overnight.  http://ports.cruisett.com/schedule/Cuba/1368-Cienfuegos/December_2018/ shows the dates correctly but it doesn't have our arrival or departure time.

Our cruise line's website shows our arrival and departure time correctly.  

 

When is your cruise?  Viking should let you know when you are arriving and departing so you can plan your excursions?  May be it doesn't matter as much since Viking provides included excursions?  Did the cruise line tell you that you will be tendering?  Havana excursion from Cienfuegos is a pretty long one.

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