Tendering Questions

[twingles3]

I want to know is it better to book an excursion on Grand Cayman because many cruise lines let you off early due to making an excursion on time. Does this apply to only the ships excursions or any booked excursions, even with a local operator. I will be on Navigator of the Seas in November and had wanted just to get off and do 7 mile beach but figured it might be worth the money to get off earlier. Also, I assume that you can't go back to the ship mid day to eat. Do they have boats going back and forth at all during the day? I only tendered once and it was the cruise lines own private island so there was no reason to think about this issue.

[Oompaland]

Twingles,

 

They have tenders going back and forth all day.

 

Also, we always book private. We try to get an early tender...FYI, the independent operators will wait for you - its their business. If you are going to Seven Mile Beach all you need to do is take a taxi. They are readily available.

[twingles3]

Twingles,

 

They have tenders going back and forth all day.

 

Also, we always book private. We try to get an early tender...FYI, the independent operators will wait for you - its their business. If you are going to Seven Mile Beach all you need to do is take a taxi. They are readily available.

 

Thanks.

Do you know approx. how long it takes on average to get from the port back to the ship during lunch time. We would like to go back to the ship for lunch and then go back again but I wonder if that would be too time consuming.

[MicksMom]

We had a short excursion & then did some shopping. Decided to take our purchases back to the ship & grab lunch on board. Trip back to ship was fast (10 min) but we waited a long time at the ship to tender back to the pier. Guess they want to fill up the tender as much as possible. We waited at least 15-20 minutes on the tender boat before going back to the pier. Definitely easy to do though.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Grand Cayman is beautiful.

[twingles3]

We had a short excursion & then did some shopping. Decided to take our purchases back to the ship & grab lunch on board. Trip back to ship was fast (10 min) but we waited a long time at the ship to tender back to the pier. Guess they want to fill up the tender as much as possible. We waited at least 15-20 minutes on the tender boat before going back to the pier. Definitely easy to do though.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Grand Cayman is beautiful.

 

I will,thanks for the info.

[Fourseventeen]

My personal experience with tendering there....took us over an hour to get back onboard with 2 ships running tender boats. it was a mess! It was also raining and pretty rough seas. I always book independant. Cruise lines wont let you priority debark as they would if you had an early excursion booked through them BUT as mentioned above most tour companies will wait if your not lagging behind to bad.

[twingles3]

Wow, it seems everyone has a different experience. We might wait until the day before to see the water conditions. That may possibly make a difference. This port seems to be my most difficult decision, I guess due to the tender issue. I don't think I want to do that type of port stop again.

[SANJOSEGAL]

We just returned and the tender issue is pretty bad. We had no problem getting on the tender from the ship. The problem was at the end of the day getting back to the ship. The line went on for miles under a very hot sun. There were 2 other ships also tendering so I think there was a shortage of tenders. I brought a small umbrella and it really came in handy.

[markadele]

We will be there Nov. 8th and there are 3 other cruise ships there at the same time. Think thats about 11,000 pepole tendering do they use different tenders for each ship? This is my first cruise and have never tendered wife is alittle nervous about it. If the seas are ruff do they still tender or do you just stay on the ship? We just want to check out the island maybe an island tour or something I see ship has island tour for about $30 pp. Dont want to reserve tour yet want to see about getting to shore ok. If you make a tour through the ship how late can you do this?(the day of tour)

[SANJOSEGAL]

We will be there Nov. 8th and there are 3 other cruise ships there at the same time. Think thats about 11,000 pepole tendering do they use different tenders for each ship? This is my first cruise and have never tendered wife is alittle nervous about it. If the seas are ruff do they still tender or do you just stay on the ship? We just want to check out the island maybe an island tour or something I see ship has island tour for about $30 pp. Dont want to reserve tour yet want to see about getting to shore ok. If you make a tour through the ship how late can you do this?(the day of tour)

 

They use different tenders for each ship otherwise everyone would be getting onto the wrong tenders. If the water is rough they will not tender you in though it probably takes quit bad weather to not tender in. Don't be nervous they tender thousands of people everyday. You can book your tour on board you can even do it through your TV in your cabin. I believe you will need to book it at least the night before. If you have anymore questions ask away.

[marshhawk]

I have read on Cruise Critic over the last year and a half, that if the seas are the least bit choppy in the Caymans ,they will not tender you in, and you remain on board. They will try another approach from the other side of the island, and if that fails, you have a nice time on board. We were lucky, we sailed from Tampa in two days of storm :(to arrive in the Caymans on a BEAUTIFUL morning! :D Crisp cool air, low humidity, great visability! I had warned my DH and my BF's that we may not tender in, if the weather did not get better, and it was the BEST!

We did the submarine, and the water was pristine!:)

[SANJOSEGAL]

I have read on Cruise Critic over the last year and a half, that if the seas are the least bit choppy in the Caymans ,they will not tender you in, and you remain on board. They will try another approach from the other side of the island, and if that fails, you have a nice time on board. We were lucky, we sailed from Tampa in two days of storm :(to arrive in the Caymans on a BEAUTIFUL morning! :D Crisp cool air, low humidity, great visability! I had warned my DH and my BF's that we may not tender in, if the weather did not get better, and it was the BEST!

 

We did the submarine, and the water was pristine!:)

 

Grand Cayman was our favorite port on our last cruise the water is such a amazing blue/green color. The photo on top is us tendering over to the port.

[avvdixon]

cruise line? We are doing our own thing, but I'd like to get off as early as possible. Is it even possible if you don't book through the ship? My DH is an early riser so getting down to wait early is no problem. He HATES waiting in line so I was hoping if we got down early we could at least avoid some of the lines?

 

From what I'm reading here, coming back we probably won't be so lucky.:( Once on a tender, though, it seems 10 minutes is the amount of time it takes to get to shore?

[SANJOSEGAL]

cruise line? We are doing our own thing, but I'd like to get off as early as possible. Is it even possible if you don't book through the ship? My DH is an early riser so getting down to wait early is no problem. He HATES waiting in line so I was hoping if we got down early we could at least avoid some of the lines?

 

From what I'm reading here, coming back we probably won't be so lucky.:( Once on a tender, though, it seems 10 minutes is the amount of time it takes to get to shore?

 

I'm not sure which cruise line you will be on, we were on the Carnival Valor. In our daily newsletter there were instructions on how and where to get your tender tickets for the following morning. It said to meet at a comedy club at 8:30 AM for your tender ticket it did not matter if you had a excursion planned or not. People with Carnival sponsored excursions were told to meet in another location. We did have a excursion planned with a independent company. My husband got there around 7 AM along with many other people. No one from Carnival was there so everyone kind of kept track of who was first, second ect. The Carnival rep showed up around 8:00 AM walked to the back of the room and just said OK come get your ticket. Of course some people who just arrived rushed up and got their tickets. We still ended up with a #1 tender ticket. They told us to be prepared to go straight to your tender once you get your tender ticket and to have everyone in your group with you. One person could come up and ask for as many tickets as they needed for their group. So we had all of our stuff with us for the day in port. We immediately walked to the tender got on and were in port within 15 minutes. I hope this answers your question.:)

[avvdixon]

I figured we should get there early. Since DH is an early riser, I can send him down really early ;)

[SANJOSEGAL]

I figured we should get there early. Since DH is an early riser, I can send him down really early ;)

 

Yep my husband is the same way early riser. We brought some walkie talkies with us so he kept me updated. There was a house phone in the comedy club. Some people stopped at the buffet and ate while they waited for a ticket so tell your husband to grab some breakfast.

[cruisemainiac]

We've been to Grand Caymen 7 times over the years and never missed a visit because we could not tender. Once we had to use the alternative tender spot which is 20 minutes from town and frankly a pain. We usually try to get ashore aroung 9am and hit the beach or what ever, get back to town around 2pm and head to the ship by 3pm before the crowds kick in.

Don't forget at least 1 rum cake, it's a little pricey but makes for a fun "relive the cruise night" when you get home.

[twingles3]

We've been to Grand Caymen 7 times over the years and never missed a visit because we could not tender. Once we had to use the alternative tender spot which is 20 minutes from town and frankly a pain. We usually try to get ashore aroung 9am and hit the beach or what ever, get back to town around 2pm and head to the ship by 3pm before the crowds kick in.

Don't forget at least 1 rum cake, it's a little pricey but makes for a fun "relive the cruise night" when you get home.

 

What does it cost(taxi) to get to 7 mile beach and where(hotel) do you get dropped off? What about food and pick up? What you did sounds exactly what we want to do but the tendering issue is really throwing me off.

Thanks.

[cruisemainiac]

There are taxis(vans) that load up near the tender drop off, which is right in the middle of town. As I recall it's $4pp each way. There are usually 2 drop offs with the second being Sea Grapes where we've gone a couple of times. There are rest rooms, food, bar and chairs, umbrellas etc. for rent. Taxis will be there to run you back to town. About the time you're ready to go check with the drivers hanging out and they'll let you know if it'll be 5 or 15 minutes before they leave. They like to get enough folks to make it worth the trip, all of 10 minutes back to town.

Regarding tendering, as someone mentioned, it's not the actual boat trip but the waiting to get on and off the tender that takes time. You just have to go with the flow and be causual, after all you're on vacation in a tropical paradise. Chances are you'll meet someone on board that will be have been to Cayman before and will be able to fill in any gaps for you.

[twingles3]

There are taxis(vans) that load up near the tender drop off, which is right in the middle of town. As I recall it's $4pp each way. There are usually 2 drop offs with the second being Sea Grapes where we've gone a couple of times. There are rest rooms, food, bar and chairs, umbrellas etc. for rent. Taxis will be there to run you back to town. About the time you're ready to go check with the drivers hanging out and they'll let you know if it'll be 5 or 15 minutes before they leave. They like to get enough folks to make it worth the trip, all of 10 minutes back to town.

Regarding tendering, as someone mentioned, it's not the actual boat trip but the waiting to get on and off the tender that takes time. You just have to go with the flow and be causual, after all you're on vacation in a tropical paradise. Chances are you'll meet someone on board that will be have been to Cayman before and will be able to fill in any gaps for you.

 

Thanks for the info. We probably will go to the Westin hotel. We like the one day pass they offer.