Belize tender

[CrStllrd]

I have a non-carnival excursion booked while in Belize. We have no problem getting up early and being ready to go as soon as possible. Is it possible to get on one of the first tenders? And if so, what's the best way to go about it?

 

Thanks!

[SCUBA Mark]

I have a non-carnival excursion booked while in Belize. We have no problem getting up early and being ready to go as soon as possible. Is it possible to get on one of the first tenders? And if so, what's the best way to go about it?

 

Thanks!

 

Unfortunately for you, Carnival lets all of the early Carnival excursions off first and then everyone else. You will probably have to wait at least an hour before you can get off.

[B and C Blake]

I have a non-carnival excursion booked while in Belize. We have no problem getting up early and being ready to go as soon as possible. Is it possible to get on one of the first tenders? And if so, what's the best way to go about it?

 

Thanks!

 

Take 10 cruises and become Platinum VIP.

[golfadj]

Tell one of the social hosts you have an early tour and they will probably get you off early.

[RuthlessBoss]

As stated above. Another factor is ship size. On Dream, it took quite a while, had to go 1 place to get a tender boat ticket, wait somewhere else for the number to be called, deal with line jumpers etc. The ship was 4=5 miles out, so the ride to shore was not short.

[golfadj]

Will say that not waiting for tender is a great perk of platinum.

[MyDogRudy]

Perhaps it depends on the time of year, but we had no problems getting off in Belize quickly on the Valor last January. It seemed more organized than the last time - met in the comedy club about a half hour or so prior to the planned port debarkation time and got on the second tender easily - even with people jumping ahead a bit to get numbers assigned - but it wasn't a zoo or anything - people were pretty relaxed. The line wasn't terribly long once you were called to head down to the tenders and the tendering process was so much faster than the first time we had gone to Belize. This was also right during the time Carnival was haggling with the port regarding their tender service. Some ships were missing the port due to this problem, ours was lucky and we got off and on with no problems at all. The tender boats are bigger and faster now, so even if you aren't on the first tender, you aren't too far behind on the second tender. We met our guides quite early and they were thankful to us for getting off the ship so quickly, even though I think we ended up on Tender #2 instead of #1.

[CrStllrd]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not platinum and I can't change that. I understand that everything is working against me here. With that said, I would still like to give myself the best opportunity of getting off the ship as early as my circumstances will allow. So, what strategy would you use? How early would you be lining up, for example? (this is my first time tendering, so the whole thing kinda makes me nervous anyway)

[MyDogRudy]

You didn't mention when you will be sailing, but as long as it is not during the holidays, I would think if you are at the determined meeting point for the tenders (you also did not mention which ship you are sailing) at least a half hour or preferably hour prior to the time listed for debark in the Fun Times you should be fine. On the conquest type ships this spot is in the aft lounge or comedy club area. Very comfortable to sit and wait in the lounge until they come in to hand out tender announcements. Like I said, I think we only showed up a half hour early and were on a conquest sized ship (fairly large), and had no problems. If you are really concerned grab your coffee and breakfast from the buffet and bring it down to the lounge and get there an hour early, enjoying your breakfast while waiting. Sit in the middle of the room so no matter if the staff comes in from the main door the guests use or back doors used by staff you are pretty safe to get in line. There were very few people just sitting in the lounge early waiting when we sailed. But, hopefuly someone who might have cruised more recently might have more current detailed info for you? Might help if you state when you are sailing and which ship too. You could also check the port forums and go to Belize and look for threads on the tendering process.

[CrStllrd]

You didn't mention when you will be sailing, but as long as it is not during the holidays, I would think if you are at the determined meeting point for the tenders (you also did not mention which ship you are sailing) at least a half hour or preferably hour prior to the time listed for debark in the Fun Times you should be fine. On the conquest type ships this spot is in the aft lounge or comedy club area. Very comfortable to sit and wait in the lounge until they come in to hand out tender announcements. Like I said, I think we only showed up a half hour early and were on a conquest sized ship (fairly large), and had no problems. If you are really concerned grab your coffee and breakfast from the buffet and bring it down to the lounge and get there an hour early, enjoying your breakfast while waiting. Sit in the middle of the room so no matter if the staff comes in from the main door the guests use or back doors used by staff you are pretty safe to get in line. There were very few people just sitting in the lounge early waiting when we sailed. But, hopefuly someone who might have cruised more recently might have more current detailed info for you? Might help if you state when you are sailing and which ship too. You could also check the port forums and go to Belize and look for threads on the tendering process.

 

Thanks. We will be sailing on the Dream on Dec 10 of this year.

[astrofan4ever]

We had a non carnival tour the last time in Belize, we just lined up for a ticket at what ever time the started giving them out and really had no problem, ended up waiting for others who had signed up with our tour group who dawdled getting off the ship.

 

 

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[RuthlessBoss]

Thanks. We will be sailing on the Dream on Dec 10 of this year.

Okay.Did this in April. Watch the time you need to get your tender ticket, don't wait. There's thousands who want to get off! Even before general tendering, there will be volumes to get off first. If you have an excursion, you might get lucky and get off reasonably early. There will be MANY tenders, most are quite large. I had a cove balcony. At dawn, there must have been at least 5 arrive speeding across the water towards us, then they hovered near the ship. I jokingly felt like I was in Somalia with an imminent attack! It was a weird sensation!

[Anjanu]

Thanks. We will be sailing on the Dream on Dec 10 of this year.

 

Hi CrStllrd!

I'm on that same sailing. You should come on over to our roll call and get to know us!

I sailed on the Dream last December also and had a private excursion. We had to wait quite awhile before we could be taken to the tender. We had to wait until all of the people who had booked excursions with Carnival to tender first.

We got to the lounge early and got number 1 to get on the first tender after the Carnival excursioners. Our tour guide had no problem waiting for us. Unfortunately, they had no problem waiting for others who was scheduled to go with us who arrived close to an hour after we did.

Fortunately, this year we'll be platinum and won't have to go through that again.

[RuthlessBoss]

Dream carries an enormous amount of passengers. Those tenders take a while to fill up, travel the 4-5 miles to shore, drop off and come back. Not like any other tender port.

[Kelane]

Will say that not waiting for tender is a great perk of platinum.

 

Next week in Belize & Cayman will be our first Platinum "tender taking". Do we just walk up, flash our card and get on the tender or what? I'm still searching; but if someone would care to enlighten me, I'd much appreciate it. :D

 

Thanks in advance!

Karen

 

NOTE: Edge of sarcasm there. I wouldn't expect to jump in front of the folks who have been waiting...but still wonder what I DO do!

[yst347]

Next week in Belize & Cayman will be our first Platinum "tender taking". Do we just walk up, flash our card and get on the tender or what? I'm still searching; but if someone would care to enlighten me, I'd much appreciate it. :D

 

Thanks in advance!

Karen

 

NOTE: Edge of sarcasm there. I wouldn't expect to jump in front of the folks who have been waiting...but still wonder what I DO do!

 

Platinum guests are asked to go to the information desk/ From there Platinum guests will be escorted to the next available tender. :cool:

[Kelane]

Platinum guests are asked to go to the information desk/ From there Platinum guests will be escorted to the next available tender. :cool:

 

Thank you so much! I've been searching for this info but keep running into arguing boards that tell me nada!:confused:

[ninneman]

We had a non carnival tour the last time in Belize, we just lined up for a ticket at what ever time the started giving them out and really had no problem, ended up waiting for others who had signed up with our tour group who dawdled getting off the ship.

 

 

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On the Dream. Someone said they had to go to two places for ticket. Is that true? Can you please tell me where you went, etc.

 

Thank you

[KenMo]

I don't know exactly what day you'll be in Belize, but on 12/10/12 Belize is 1 hour behind ship time.

 

So if it's 8am ship time, it will be 7am Belize time.

 

You'll have an extra hour to get off the ship.

 

Here's a link for you: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converted.html?month=12&day=10&year=2012&hour=8&min=0&sec=0&p1=156&p2=2294

[Sargent_Schultz]

Instructions for tender tickets are given in the Fun Times left in your stateroom the night before. Some passengers will come earlier than the time listed.

 

The tenders these days are larger than in days gone by, and it doesn't seem to take as long as in the good old days.

 

On our November Conquest cruise, I didn't even use my Platinum benefit and went on an independent tour.

 

A sample Fun Times listing tender instructions:

http://www.zydecocruiser.net/CarnivalConquest2011/scans/ft_4_4.jpg

 

Pictures of some tenders and tendering from that day:

http://www.zydecocruiser.net/CarnivalConquest2011/04Belize/index1.htm

[sunny227]

I have a non-carnival excursion booked while in Belize. We have no problem getting up early and being ready to go as soon as possible. Is it possible to get on one of the first tenders? And if so, what's the best way to go about it?

 

Thanks!

 

Probably not. Carnival booked excursions go first.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Probably not. Carnival booked excursions go first.

 

Many cruise ship tours leave directly from the ship, and if the tour boat isn't there, others can tender.

 

The same is true of the cruise ship land tours - if the operator isn't ready for them, others can tender.

 

You just have to be ready when the opportunity presents itself.

 

Of course, nobody really checks that closely, so it is possible to mingle with ship tours - just make sure you end up on a tender going to shore and not a ship tour going to some island or other offshore location.

[Banditswife]

We were just on Legend Dec 2011, tendering process then was quite painless. we met in follies theatre, got our "I" sticker for independent tour. We then waited awhile, then they escorted us thru ship's hallways to tendering area, I think we ended up on 1st tender boat. The boat ride over is about 1/2 hour to tourism village & 1/2 again back to ship after your tour. This most likely does vary according to the ship you are on. But it appeared to us that Belize had several boats assigned to each of the 3 ships in port. Looking forward to this port again in Nov 2012.

[S Dakota]

We were just on Carnival Valor in January 2012 and in Belize from 8AM-5PM. It was announced that non-Carnival excursions would leave from the Eagles lounge starting at 8:00. We got there at 8:10 and were given group number 6. As we entered the lounge group 4 was heading out and about 1/2 hour later group 5 was called. We didn't leave until 9:00 and then by the time the boat loaded along with the 15 minute ride we didn't get ashore until 9:30. Moral of the story, if you want to get ashore quickly be at the meeting area by 8:00.

[SAPMAN]

I dont know about Belieze, but I just did Cabo twice. If you are independent, you go to a designated spot (where they sell future cruises) and they start handing out Printed Numbers (about 50? per group). People stated lining up about 20 min before to get low numbers and then many asked (and got) 4 or 6 or 10 numbers. When tendering began, I was group 3 (not sure what group 1 or 2 were). We met in theater and they took us in groups of about 50 to tenders. I think we were off about 20 min after tendering started. Of course, group 15 or so probably waited 30 minutes longer. After an hour or so, no lines.

 

Some saw the group leaving theater area and cut into the group (not sure they ever checked the numbers).

 

Of course, Belize may be different.