Solstice Alaska tendering nightmare

[marci4tony]

Beware...there is a real issue here that needs addressed. If you have an independent excursion that is scheduled early you may want to contact the company and delay and hour or two if you can. Dear Celebrity Managenent...I expected more from the "Premier? Line.

[wallie5446]

What?

[MLinFL]

Beware...there is a real issue here that needs addressed. If you have an independent excursion that is scheduled early you may want to contact the company and delay and hour or two if you can. Dear Celebrity Managenent...I expected more from the "Premier? Line.

 

 

Could you elaborate on what the problem was? Thanks!

[Keith1010]

As others have said, more details, please.

 

Keith

[dln929]

My brother and his family are on the Solstice next month so I'd love some details so they will know what to expect. Also, you might want to write a letter detailing your concerns to Celebrity--it would help a lot of future cruisers out if you did.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Is this about Solstice tendering in Juneau? There is a thread from May 24 that addresses this in great detail:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1850218

[POPDISPLAY]

Beware...there is a real issue here that needs addressed. If you have an independent excursion that is scheduled early you may want to contact the company and delay and hour or two if you can. Dear Celebrity Managenent...I expected more from the "Premier? Line.

 

Love the attention to detail.

[marci4tony]

Sorry for the lack of detail it was posted from my phone. If you are tendering and not docking in Juneau it could bee an issue if you have booked an independent excursion. They still have some big time logistic issues to work out there. Our ship was to start the tendering process at 1.30 pm and the ship didn't even drop anchor until 2.30 pm with absolutely no explanation or notice. A little communication would have gone a long ways. However, all I'm trying to point out is a little peace of mind if you cannot get off the ship in a timely fashion. If our independently booked fishing excursion wouldd have been booked for 4.30 rather than 2.30 it woulndt have mattered how late they were to anchor. A simple announcement by the CD that there was a delay would have gone a long ways rather than telling us they started when they hadn't even stopped the ship.

[ORV]

As stated if your cruise is one that tenders in Juneau then you would be well advised to either book your excursion through the ship or make it later. If you have a tour booked independently and pay in advance you could risk being a no show if you have an early tour. We talked to one party on land that had a Sea plane prepaid that missed out on it, with no refund. I gave my priority tickets to another passenger as they had an early tour booked. We had no big plans for Juneau, we arrived around 1:30 and got to the dock on the tender around 4pm.

 

I'm not sure of the problem but it appears there is only room for 2 tenders at the dock. I think the problem could be helped if X would have more tenders in the water. It's a valid issue.

 

Other than that it was a great cruise.

[curtdesilets]

.. .or a nice Scuba Dry Suit and some flippers.

 

I was reading earlier about the tendering issues in Juneau. It is one of the reasons why we chose the 684 passenger Regatta this year for our Alaska cruise. Independent tours should always be booked at least an hour or 2 after docking, just in case of delay. I hope you did not lose any money!

 

Does anyone here, Host Andy perhaps, know if Celebrity can pay extra next year to get docking only privileges in Juneau, or is it always 1st come 1st serve. Solstice is the biggest ship going to Juneau, i believe, therefore it makes more logical sense to have her docked. I do believe the OP is correct...the Tendering of Solstice in Juneau is a BIG PROBLEM.

[curtdesilets]

.. .or a nice Scuba Dry Suit and some flippers.

 

I was reading earlier about the tendering issues in Juneau. It is one of the reasons why we chose the 684 passenger Regatta this year for our Alaska cruise. Independent tours should always be booked at least an hour or 2 after docking, just in case of delay. I hope you did not lose any money!

 

Does anyone here, Host Andy perhaps, know if Celebrity can pay extra next year to get docking only privileges in Juneau, or is it always 1st come 1st serve. Solstice is the biggest ship going to Juneau, i believe, therefore it makes more logical sense to have her docked. I do believe the OP is correct...the Tendering of Solstice in Juneau is a BIG PROBLEM.

 

Maybe it is a size thing, but the much smaller Holland America had 2 ships docked while Solstice was tendering. Politics or priorities or what is going on here?!

 

From another board:

 

Where I was most bothered was Holland had two of the berths. If we could have docked at the last position (where Zuridam (spelling)) was docked it would have worked. And one of the Holland ships could have tendered. (Of course, they probably would not be happy with that.)

[uktog]

Interesting our Oz cruise on Solstice was also plagued with tendering issues as was the cruise before ours in different ports

[igraf]

I normally cruise with Holland America. If getting off the ship quickly at the ports is important to you, then I strongly suggest that you do cruise on a 1500 passenger HAL ship rather than a 3000+ passenger ship.

 

You can also look at the Alaskan port calendars (use google) to see how many ships are scheduled to be in port on a given day, and then use this information to select your cruise. I just returned from a HAL Alaskan cruise where we were one of two ships in Juneau and the only ship in Skagway. Makes for a BIG difference in the port experience.

 

I just can't imagine waiting hours to get off the ship. We just got ready for our day and then walked off the ship!

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it is a size thing, but the much smaller Holland America had 2 ships docked while Solstice was tendering. Politics or priorities or what is going on here?!

 

From another board:

 

Where I was most bothered was Holland had two of the berths. If we could have docked at the last position (where Zuridam (spelling)) was docked it would have worked. And one of the Holland ships could have tendered. (Of course, they probably would not be happy with that.)

[silentbob007]

On my Alaskan voyage, there were a ton of green cruisers ... besides the other issues, I wonder if that is adding to it. They had to announce many times as we docked and went through customs in Victoria that people needed to stop queuing in the stairwells but it was to no avail ... everyone seemed to expect to be ashore the minute the ship was listed to arrive.

[gw2fll]

I'm saddened to hear that Solstice has not figured out a way to improve the situation.

 

We were on the 05/17 ("inaugural" Alaska) sailing and experienced the delays that was frustrating. I figured it was partly due to it being the first time she has used the port so the crew was "learning". Guess my assumption was wrong.

 

Thank goodness we booked with the Celebrity for our excursion as we were late which negatively impacted the rest of our day. I know of several passengers we interacted with that did not bother getting off the ship due to the delays tendering.

 

We experienced delays reboarding the ship also. My advice is to be careful with your specialty restaurant reservations in Juneau to allow time to reboard the ship. The delays can take an hour to catch a tender. (Or wait until after 8:00 and the lines are reduced.)

 

From what I understand, the issue is driven by the docks can only handle two tenders at a time. Since the ship is using her lifeboats for the tender operation, the boats can handle approximately 150 passengers at a time which means it would take 13 trips to move about 2,000 passengers to shore.

 

Not sure what else they can do, unless they drop Juneau and pick-up another port in her place - perhaps Icy Strait?

 

All-in-all we had a good cruise.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

FYI, we just got off the Millie and we docked in Juneau. Smaller ship, of course. The only place we tendered on the cruise was Icy Strait. It was Vancouver to Seward, Inside Passage. So, those of you who are considering Alaska might consider the Millie if you are concerned about the tendering issue.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Apparently the only ship that tenders at Juneau is Solstice.

 

Don't know if that's because it's the largest ship, or the newest one, but any other Celebrity, Princess, HAL, etc. ship docks there.

[Nancyquilts]

Apparently the only ship that tenders at Juneau is Solstice.

 

Don't know if that's because it's the largest ship, or the newest one, but any other Celebrity, Princess, HAL, etc. ship docks there.

Our Grand Princess cruise in September will be tendering too.

[Northern Aurora]

Apparently the only ship that tenders at Juneau is Solstice.

 

Don't know if that's because it's the largest ship, or the newest one, but any other Celebrity, Princess, HAL, etc. ship docks there.

 

Actually, other ships have also tendered in Juneau.

 

If tendering is an issue there really is no reason to subject yourself to a smokey Holland America cruise to avoid the smoke. While I haven't looked at all of the Celebrity Alaska itineraries, Celebrity has three ships deployed to Alaska this summer. From the itineraries I've seen, only the Solstice ever tenders. The Millennium and Century are docked in Juneau.

[marci4tony]

I dont know of any other ship/company that I have been on that used its own lifeboats.

 

My biggest issue here was the fact that we were over an hour late in the process and no one elected to announce the delay to anyone. In fact, I had a young lady handing out shopping brochures that assured me they had started when in fact, we had NOT anchored and they had just barely dropped the first life boat. Broad faced lie from where I was raised. Just saying a little communication would have been my expectation from a "LUXURY" company.

 

And unfortunately, Celebrity did not offer the type of trip we had come to Alaska for. Booking independent was our only option.

 

With the exception of a few other snafus - it was a nice trip. But hopefully Management will take heed - I wont think twice about booking another company without such issues. Repeat on Celebrity may be a stretch for my party.

[ghstudio]

While we have been almost dedicated Celebrity cruisers for the past few years, we sailed on Princess to Alaska. That's one area of the world where Celebrity does not excel.

[floridatravelersforlife]

I dont know of any other ship/company that I have been on that used its own lifeboats.

My biggest issue here was the fact that we were over an hour late in the process and no one elected to announce the delay to anyone. In fact, I had a young lady handing out shopping brochures that assured me they had started when in fact, we had NOT anchored and they had just barely dropped the first life boat. Broad faced lie from where I was raised. Just saying a little communication would have been my expectation from a "LUXURY" company.

 

And unfortunately, Celebrity did not offer the type of trip we had come to Alaska for. Booking independent was our only option.

 

With the exception of a few other snafus - it was a nice trip. But hopefully Management will take heed - I wont think twice about booking another company without such issues. Repeat on Celebrity may be a stretch for my party.

 

Solstice is no better with subontracted tenders. On our Queensland cruise this past April, two tender ports were disasters, reboarding the ship.

[curtdesilets]

While we have been almost dedicated Celebrity cruisers for the past few years, we sailed on Princess to Alaska. That's one area of the world where Celebrity does not excel.

 

They have a docking problem in Juneau, that I'm sure will be addressed. Celebrity does a fine job in Alaska.

 

And they have never killed a whale! Yes, Princess has, twice, on Alaska cruises. :mad:

[STPETE1]

I was on the Solstice last week as well. It was suggested to go to deck 4 for tender tickets at 1:30. A celebrity worker told me that the line was to get off, not for tickets. He stated that you do not need tickets for the tender. If you didn't have an early excursion just come down later. My nephew went to the front to ask what the procedure was. The line was for tender tickets! I asked the young man why he was giving wrong information and he said that it was all he knew and that if I wanted to I could report him. It was a mess. We were not too far back in line. Our tender number was 22. We were called at 3:10 and almost missed our 3:30 tour. It was independent of celebrity. The celebrity tours were taken off first. Many people missed their tours. The ship was also 45 minutes late in Victoria. They announced for the Canadians with visas to come to the lounge for 1 hour. People lined up at the stairs because they were afraid they would miss their tours. Some of my family went on Celebrity's whale watching tour in Victoria and they missed 45 minutes of their tour. We went to Alaska 6 years ago on Princess and it was superb. Everything was perfect. I did not find this on the Solstice last week. I would definitely go back to Princess if I did Alaska again. There were 20 of us on Celebrity for the first time and they did not wow us although the Solstice is a beautiful ship.

[POPDISPLAY]

They have a docking problem in Juneau, that I'm sure will be addressed. Celebrity does a fine job in Alaska.

 

Despite current first hand reports to the contrary (with regard to tendering)