Help...first cruise with a tender port...advice on tendering in the Caymans please!?

[cowgrlkirby]

Sent from my VS840 4G using Forums mobile app

[pungo3]

What would you like to know? If you purchase an excursion through Carnival, they will give you a time and place to meet, and will take everyone down to the tenders at the same time. If you are 'doing your own thing', you will have to wait until they give the 'general' boarding of tenders. If you are Platinum or purchase FTTF, you go to the Service Desk and will be escorted down to the tenders.

[Ehpride]

You'll go down early to get a tender ticket. Those with Carnival excursions get off first so plan accordingly. Then, wait in that area until they call your group or tour. Someone will lead you to the tender and then you climb onboard the tender boat for a short ride. It's maybe 5 minutes. Since it's a tender port, there's a chance you'll miss the port due to weather and it being unsafe to tender so I wouldn't book any excursion that won't get refunded if the ship can't come in. Then, make sure you're back an hour before the ship leaves to catch the last tenders back to the ship.

[cb at sea]

Just so you know, a tender is a pretty big boat....seats about 150 or more....it's not a rowboat!

 

If you don't need to be 1st off the ship, just wait 20-30 mins, until the "mad rush" is over...then get in line, board the tender and go! Easy!

[adaptabl]

Have everyone go first thing in the morning to get a tender tag. Then go for breakfast. After breakfast you will have an low tender number and walk right on the next tender with no waiting.

[cowgrlkirby]

This is all such great advice! First time to the Caymans for us us going to be a snorkel/beach day for us...we sail January 25th and I am all about finding a great place to snorkel there! You just read so many horror stories about tenders that it just intimidated me a little. We have only done cruises going to Nassau, freeport and key west. :D

 

Sent from my VS840 4G using Forums mobile app

[awhcruiser]

Why do they tell you that everyone in your party must be present when you get tender tickets? Why can't one person go and get tickets for everyone? :mad:

[Thoie]

Why do they tell you that everyone in your party must be present when you get tender tickets? Why can't one person go and get tickets for everyone? :mad:

 

I'd imagine it's to prevent sun-lounger shenanigans. If they let one person get them, the others might still be in bed, and may be late for their slot, causing disruption. If everyone has to be there, they at least know you're all up and dressed, thereby reducing the likelihood of messing around.

[JohninDC]

This is all such great advice! First time to the Caymans for us us going to be a snorkel/beach day for us...we sail January 25th and I am all about finding a great place to snorkel there! You just read so many horror stories about tenders that it just intimidated me a little. We have only done cruises going to Nassau, freeport and key west. :D

 

Sent from my VS840 4G using Forums mobile app

 

In GC it takes longer to load the tender boat than the trip from the ship to port.

 

For great snorkeling on the reef try a snorkel/stingray city tour - we've been twice with Moby Dick! Great service, smaller boat, kid sized snorkel gear if you need it - can't say how much we enjoyed this tour and the reef snorkeling was great (one of the crew even "played" with his "pet moray eel" :eek:)

 

Good luck! :)

[Ehpride]

Plus, if I'm up and in line early and the person ahead of me gets a bunch of tender tickets for people who are in bed, I'm bound to be a little annoyed!

[RWolver672]

And try to get back onboard a little earlier than when the ship is about to pull out. The last 45-60 minutes before the ship leaves usually has tons of people waiting in line to get back onboard at the last minute.

[CheapieD]

How early does Carnival start passing out tender tickets?

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Have everyone go first thing in the morning to get a tender tag. Then go for breakfast. After breakfast you will have an low tender number and walk right on the next tender with no waiting.

 

Unless you have something planned I'd wait until the crowd clears. Even as platinum with an escort there is still a bit of a wait. Going back is a breeze since everyone is not trying to go back at the same time.

[cowgrlkirby]

We have no excursions planned, just wanted to get off of the ship drop my stuff and snorkel and explore a little. So I have no problem hanging back around a table with Starbucks under my nose watching everyone else fight their way off the ship...lol I just wish our times in port were different...8-3 just stinks! Well...the 8 am part of it...lol:D

 

Sent from my VS840 4G using Forums mobile app

[mustardgirl]

Just because you book an excursion with Carnival doesn't mean you'll get first or even second tender. We booked with Carnival for our Belize excursion and were given tender 7 I think, we spent an hour or more waiting for our tender. :eek: Not cool. We had no time to shop or anything straight to the bus line and then when we got back straight to the last tender... So when we were doing GC we waited in line early, really early in the morning. Got the first tender! now with that said still couldn't do any shopping before our private excursion started cause all the shops hadn't opened...lol

[elcuchio24]

If you get down early enough, you wont even have to go through the whole ticket process....

[serene56]

Have everyone go first thing in the morning to get a tender tag. Then go for breakfast. After breakfast you will have an low tender number and walk right on the next tender with no waiting.

 

 

I can not imagine such a thing. We went to the show lounge-- got a tender number sticker and they told us in what area we will sit.

 

They take the groups off as a whole.

 

How would you get one person to get the sticker then go eat?

it took us less then 15- 20 minutes from the time we got the sticker til the time we left

[Roz]

What horror stories have you heard about tenders? Are you afraid of the tender ride, or getting in or out of the tenders, or are you concerned about the wait?

 

Roz

[okgirl]

The real problem is getting back on the ship. There are usually 2 or 3 other ships in port at the same time. You need to make sure that you are in the correct line for your ship.

 

You should plan an extra hour to get back on the ship, so if you have to be back on 30 minutes before sailing you need to be back at the tender pier at least 1.5 hours before sail time.

 

Also, the traffic is horrible so take that into account also.

 

I've been to Grand Caymen at least 10 times, so I don't get off the ship there anymore unless I need something from the pharmacy.

[Budget Queen]

Why do they tell you that everyone in your party must be present when you get tender tickets? Why can't one person go and get tickets for everyone? :mad:

 

Because, if they just issue a bunch of tickets to someone, they can have extras, and the boats would have more vacant space. Also they want you to be ready to go. You are taking a chance, with the going before breakfast advice, unless this is before the ship has cleared etc. I have personally seen, people who are denied boarding the "next" tender, if their tender number has already gone, and then given the current issuing ticket.

[Gemynii]

OP - I see you're going to be sailing on the Paradise. When we took our cruise in July of last year, Paradise did not have tender tickets, we just went down to the appropriate deck to wait in line. We got there right when they started tendering and were off the ship in about 15 mins. If you'd like, you can check out the review in my signature. There are time stamps on the pictures, so you're able to see the exact time it took for us to get from Lido after breakfast until we were on the island.

 

Have a great cruise!

[okgirl]

We came close in Belize. Nearly missed the last water taxi from Cay Caulker. If we had missed it we would have missed the last tender.

 

In Grand Cayman we arrived back at the pier 30 minutes before last tender and there were over 500 people in line. There were 3 ships tendering at the same time and it was a madhouse. If memory serves, we had to wait for 4 tenders before we returned to the ship. The ship was over an hour late for sailing.

 

This is how GC is almost all the time.

[cowgrlkirby]

What horror stories have you heard about tenders? Are you afraid of the tender ride, or getting in or out of the tenders, or are you concerned about the wait?

 

Roz

 

What I am worried about is the getting off and getting back to the ship. I have never been a pier runner...my biggest fear is to be waiting on a tender back and find out that it is the last one and it is full...lol :eek:

[cowgrlkirby]

OP - I see you're going to be sailing on the Paradise. When we took our cruise in July of last year, Paradise did not have tender tickets, we just went down to the appropriate deck to wait in line. We got there right when they started tendering and were off the ship in about 15 mins. If you'd like, you can check out the review in my signature. There are time stamps on the pictures, so you're able to see the exact time it took for us to get from Lido after breakfast until we were on the island.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

FANTASTIC!!! Thanks and I will be checking out your review right now. :D

[adaptabl]

I can not imagine such a thing. We went to the show lounge-- got a tender number sticker and they told us in what area we will sit.

 

They take the groups off as a whole.

 

How would you get one person to get the sticker then go eat?

it took us less then 15- 20 minutes from the time we got the sticker til the time we left

 

Everyone has to go to get the tender stickers. Just go in and exit at another door. After you come back from breakfast they will call for the next group of ticket numbers and say anyone with a tender ticket number under XX proceed to the tenders. You are good to go as soon as you go back after breakfast.