Tender question - early tour

[goscudder]

We are sailing on the Liberty and have a private tour booked with VIV tours in March. They said to meet at 9:30 (ships time). I'm sure there's a mad rush to get off the ship early, and I've read that the ship tours get priority getting off the ship first. We aren't supposed to get into Belize until 9am, so I'm not sure how we're going to meet be able to meet up with the tour guide at 9:30?? Any suggestions?

[MissCruiseAddict]

We had that same issue. Luckily we were able to get one of the first non carnival excursions tender. I recommend getting up early on that day so you are prepared to go and get your tender sticker that way you are on one of the first.

 

Normally they have 2 tenders going at once. However sometimes this is not the case. I just got off the Conquest and they were only doing one tender at a time because the other spot to get on the tender was near the back of the boat and we were told that since the waves were kind of choppy it wasn't as safe to get on a tender from there.

 

Also we had a tour booked through VIV and while we showed up on time 2 other people in the group did not. We ended up waiting 30 minutes for them before departing. This should help ease your mind knowing that they will wait a bit.

[crewsweeper]

First, contact VIV and let them know the ship isn't scheduled to drop anchor until 9AM (ship's time) and double check they are using 9:30 ship not 9:30 Belize (which is 11:30 ship if LOS stays on home port time). find out how long they'll wait for you. Unless the ship arrives at its anchoring spot early, it could be after 9AM beofre any tenders are cleared to load passengers.

 

Second, while all ships give ship sponsored tours first priority, most of the tenders are large (this will depend in part on how many other ships are in port with you) and carry a number of passengers and fill up one right after another. LOS may even have a separate waiting area for non-ship sponsored excursion departures. Get to that spot as early as you can (at least 15 minutes before time listed in ship's newsletter) so you can get an early number. All you party has to be there at that time to get a number.

[goscudder]

Great advice! Thank you!

[beckyjohns]

No that you probably want to count on this, but we rushed to get on the first available tender to meet our private tour. We got there right on time, then sat and waited at least 45 minutes for everyone else to arrive before we left. So, I would say, as long as you make a decent effort to get there, don't worry about being first, it won't matter anyway.

[ccemom]

We just returned from the Liberty on the February 16th. I will just forewarn you that tendering was somewhat of a nightmare. We got in line 30 minutes before tendering was supposed to begin, and we waited for 1 1/2 hours to get on the ferry. We were 40 minutes late for our 10:00 tour, but so was everyone else! There was a number of people in a panic because they had a 9:30 tour, but Royal was not concerned because it was not a ship's excursion. My advice to you is get in line SUPER early! Good luck!

[CENTEX CRUISER]

We have an independent tour in April. I wonder if it helps that we are the only ship there that day ?

[ccemom]

We were the only ship in port also.

[Jabbermom]

We were on Crown Princess. Get there early (with whole group) for first tender ticket. I thought I had allowed enough time and had to wait 50 minutes for a tender and then they brought a huge one that probably took 15 minutes to load it full. We missed our tour by 15 minutes with Viv Tours. Fortunately we were able to find a taxi driver willing to take us to the same place. Cost slightly more but at least we hadn't paid out any money ahead of time.

[goscudder]

We just returned from the Liberty on the February 16th. I will just forewarn you that tendering was somewhat of a nightmare. We got in line 30 minutes before tendering was supposed to begin, and we waited for 1 1/2 hours to get on the ferry. We were 40 minutes late for our 10:00 tour, but so was everyone else! There was a number of people in a panic because they had a 9:30 tour, but Royal was not concerned because it was not a ship's excursion. My advice to you is get in line SUPER early! Good luck!

 

 

Oh gosh, that's what I'm afraid of. We'll definitely get in line very early. Thanks to everyone for all the feedback. I'm traveling with some impatient people (not me!) so I will warn them ahead of time.

[Travel Mom]

we were one of the first in line for a tender ticket and got tender #7. but we went down when we saw tenders arrive and got on #2 when it didnt' fill up. They say not to go down, but we chanced it and glad we did.