Kona tender for POA Cruise. How does it work?

[osandomir]

We are booked on the early snorkeling toor in Kona, not through NCL. Please tell me how the tendering system works on POA. How early can we get on the tender.

Thanks.:)

[Budget Queen]

I suggest you be up early and all ready to go, 1/2 hour BEFORE the posted time. In the past they have used tender tickets (haven't sailed since 1/08), so be in line early. The tickets then clear for loading.

[rpetrillo]

I just returned from POA and they still give out tender stickers. I had a ship excursion (my only ship one that cruise) and we met separately and were escorted to our own tender.

 

I agree that you should get there 30 min before they start giving out stickets.

 

What time is your excursion? We arrived in Kona before 7 am.

[mousey]

We were just on the POA a week ago. We purposely booked our Kona excursion through NCL so that we would have no problem with exiting the ship on time for our excursion. We did the Captain Zodiac Raft Snorkeling and Dolphin excursion. It was awesome!:D The tenders run all day so when it was time for us to leave we only had a very short wait to catch one back to the ship. I don't know what it was like at the very end of the day. The lines may have been longer. But, I'm just guessing. Loved the POA and it's crew!:D

[marym933]

Our excursion met on the tender pier at 11:20 a.m. so we got tender tickets on our own. We went to Pink's Champagne Bar about 9 a.m. We waited about 1/2 hour before they called our number. We came back to the ship about 3 p.m. There was a short line. We just had to wait for the next tender. They were running 3 lifeboats. The outside said the capacity as a tender was 109. The one we came back on had 85 passengers onboard. Don't sit way up front unless you want to get wet!!

[osandomir]

Thanks everybody for your replies. Anyone found it possible to get to the first tender if you are in line early, or it's all reserved for the ship tours partisipants?

More thanks.:)

[kwbound]

Thanks everybody for your replies. Anyone found it possible to get to the first tender if you are in line early, or it's all reserved for the ship tours partisipants?

More thanks.:)

 

 

I would like to know this too. We are taking a non-ship excursion and want to make sure we make it on time. We have no problem gettting up early to get in line.

[vbmom87]

Thanks everybody for your replies. Anyone found it possible to get to the first tender if you are in line early, or it's all reserved for the ship tours partisipants?

More thanks.:)

 

 

I did read someone's post who did get off on the first tender. However, I don't think you can ever be sure you will actually get off on that first tender. I have been doing a lot of reading on this because my DH and DD are considering an independent snorkeling tour. Sounds like you want to line up a half hour before they are scheduled to pass out the tickets. From what I have read, that would be 6:30 a.m. However, read your daily newsletter to get the most up to date information.

 

Someone did post that the ship sponsored excursions don't all use the first tenders. I know one snorkeling vendor we were in contact with said they have never had a cruise ship passenger miss their snorkeling tour because of a tendering issue. Another said that if my DH and DD were not in a taxi by 7:40 a.m. to give them a call and they could wait. (Obviously they can't wait indefinitely, but I think they mean they are willing to delay the tour for a short time.)

[PBJ123]

Hello everyone! Would it be unreasonable to think we could take a snorkeling tour, tender back to the ship to clean up, tender back to Kona to sightsee, and then tender back to the ship at the end of the day? Seems simple, but now I'm wondering. Thanks for any input you may have to offer.