Priority Tender - How Does it Work?

[waltd]

Do I understand correctly, that since I've scheduled all our shore excursions through Princess and we are staying in a full suite, we have a choice in how we leave the ship to go ashore for our excursions?

 

We can either go directly to deck 4 to disembark or join the others who also have Princess excursions at their meeting location for the excursions? :confused:

 

I think the answer is no. In your case you should go to the location allocated for your tour and exit with the group. At the meeting place they give you stickers to wear so they can keep track of you while on tour. If you were to leave on your own you would not get those stickers.

[pablo222]

Unfortunately there are such people everywhere who feel the rules are for others & not for them.

 

Yes! Just read cruise critic for a while.

 

There are hundreds of posts like: "I know the princess policy is <whatever>, but do I have to follow it?"

Edited September 27, 2014 by pablo222

[Cruisin' Chick]

We deliberately joined the tender que late and both times made the next boat with minimal waiting. If u enjoy a leisurely breakfast you should be fine! The ports weren't the highlight for us, and as we had nothing planned on shore we just did our own thing once we arrived!:)

 

We were given the letter for tender priority for our last cruise. But I think we did the leisurely breakfast thing and just went to the end of line (which wasn't too long IIRC) with the tickets. We weren't in any great hurry as we were just going to catch a taxi in Lahaina to Whalers Village and figured that wouldn't take too long.

 

A couple of cruises before, we had an excursion for the same port and just followed the instructions on those tickets to meet up in Princess Theater at the time indicated. A crew member escorted us to catch our tender so that everyone on that excursion would be on the same tender.

[susiesan]

Since you have an independent tour booked they will be waiting for you at the dock. Just take the tender that the rest of your group is on.

 

The problem will be if we have to take a later tender with the 2 non priority sibs. I can only imagine that it takes hours and hours to get 3000 people off of a ship and tendered to shore with only 2 tenders running. We need 5 hours to take the tour. The ship is in port from 7:00-5:00. How do I know what time to tell the excursion operator to meet us? I doubt they will wait too long for us.

[Pam in CA]

We were in line to disembark in Greenock last week. Not a tender port. The line was all around the Piazza and we were pretty close to the front. A group of people came up and started to push ahead of us, flashing one black Elite card, saying, "We have priority." We happily flashed our black cards right back and explained that they better get to the back of the line 'cause it was getting longer and longer. They argued but it was a lost cause with us.

 

Rude people everywhere who think they're entitled.

[OCruisers]

We've always gone to the tender area and joined in the tender line. When it was our turn to get on, all we had to do was show our Black Card. No need to wave it around in advance. ;)

LuLu

[JimAOk1945]

I think the answer is no. In your case you should go to the location allocated for your tour and exit with the group. At the meeting place they give you stickers to wear so they can keep track of you while on tour. If you were to leave on your own you would not get those stickers.

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer and explaining about the stickers.

[Corfe Mixture]

If there are two tender ports on the cruise, there is one way susiean could use her suite priority tendering tickets for her two family members on ONE day, by giving up their rights on the other day.

 

This is because suite passengers don't get a single priority tendering ticket for the cruise but instead get x tickets where x is the number of occupants multiplied by the number of tender ports delivered the evening before the first tender port. So, if the suite occupants don't use them on one day, or go on an ship's tour, they can pass the unused tickets to their family member at the second tendering port.

 

Cheating maybe, but not to the same extent as misusing the laundry perk.

 

Just for the record, I have not done this myself, but I do have a growing collection of unused tender priority passes, all of which have the issuing ship's name on them.

[susiesan]

If there are two tender ports on the cruise, there is one way susiean could use her suite priority tendering tickets for her two family members on ONE day, by giving up their rights on the other day.

 

There is just the one tender port, Belize. The other two ports are Cozumel and Costa Maya where the ship will be docked.

 

This tendering thing was one of the reasons I have never cruised on such a large ship with thousands of other people. I chose this one as the only reasonably priced cruise that 2 of my sibs flying in from Europe could meet up with. Houston is very easy to get to from Europe and alsofor where the rest of us 3 sibs in the US are coming from.

[waltd]

The problem will be if we have to take a later tender with the 2 non priority sibs. I can only imagine that it takes hours and hours to get 3000 people off of a ship and tendered to shore with only 2 tenders running. We need 5 hours to take the tour. The ship is in port from 7:00-5:00. How do I know what time to tell the excursion operator to meet us? I doubt they will wait too long for us.

 

First of all the Princess procedure is not perfect. Just be aware that if it is a tender port there is always the chance that they might not make it in if the weather or sea conditions are bad. Hopefully you have not paid for the tour or it is fully refundable. If you cannot have the rest of your group join you since you are in a suite then you will need to find out what location they are handing out tender tickets and what time. It should be in the Patter the evening before. You will ALL have to go together to get the tender tickets. They will not give one person tickets for your whole party. If you are worried about having time to complete your tour I would be the first group getting the tender tickets. It may or may not be crowded. Not everyone will be on tour or want to get off early. As I said this system is not perfect and yes it is hurry up and wait. Depending on the port the ship has more then 2 tenders running.

[hazand]

I have been looking at private tours for tender ports in Hawaii. They quote 'book your tender reservation 24 hours in advance'. Is this possible? Thanks

[rkmw]

I have been looking at private tours for tender ports in Hawaii. They quote 'book your tender reservation 24 hours in advance'. Is this possible? Thanks

 

you cannot book the tender in advance, you have to check the patter the night before for the times and to get them in the dining room

[Astro Flyer]

We were in line to disembark in Greenock last week. Not a tender port. The line was all around the Piazza and we were pretty close to the front. A group of people came up and started to push ahead of us, flashing one black Elite card, saying, "We have priority." We happily flashed our black cards right back and explained that they better get to the back of the line 'cause it was getting longer and longer. They argued but it was a lost cause with us.

 

Rude people everywhere who think they're entitled.

Good for you! Self entitled bullies should never get their way & abuse the system. The letter each elite member receives in their cabin clearly states the tendering procedure for departing the ship (join the BACK of the TENDER line) which does not include when at a pier. :mad:

[rkmw]

when we cruised around australia last year when we were tendering at Lombok all elites wanting to get off early to meet up with private operators had to meet in Jammers and be escorted to the tender area by the CC host

Edited September 27, 2014 by rkmw

[Astro Flyer]

when we cruised around australia last year when we were tendering at Lombok all elites wanting to get off early to meet up with private operators had to meet in Jammers and be escorted to the tender area by the CC host

And with over 1200 elite on the Royal's inaugural TA last October for the tender port of Cannes we had to meet in a separate part of the dining room for group tickets so the procedure can vary. That also happened on another cruise with 500+ elites.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Astro Flyer

[CruisenOne]

We were in line to disembark in Greenock last week. Not a tender port. The line was all around the Piazza and we were pretty close to the front. A group of people came up and started to push ahead of us, flashing one black Elite card, saying, "We have priority." We happily flashed our black cards right back and explained that they better get to the back of the line 'cause it was getting longer and longer. They argued but it was a lost cause with us.

 

Rude people everywhere who think they're entitled.

 

A "GROUP" flashing "ONE":confused::confused:

[Astro Flyer]

A "GROUP" flashing "ONE":confused::confused:

 

That's not a surprise to me with a black card ringleader who ignored the clearly stated rules that it applies only to joining the end of a tender line so it's not a surprise they'd try to take a group with them. :mad:

[CruisenOne]

A "GROUP" flashing "ONE":confused::confused:

 

That's not a surprise to me with a black card ringleader who ignored the clearly stated rules that it applies only to joining the end of a tender line so it's not a surprise they'd try to take a group with them. :mad:

 

Doesn't surprise me either:(

 

Ring leader probably tried to get free laundry for his "group" also.:rolleyes:

[rdsqrl]

The problem will be if we have to take a later tender with the 2 non priority sibs. I can only imagine that it takes hours and hours to get 3000 people off of a ship and tendered to shore with only 2 tenders running. We need 5 hours to take the tour. The ship is in port from 7:00-5:00. How do I know what time to tell the excursion operator to meet us? I doubt they will wait too long for us.

No, the problem is that you're focusing on the wrong thing. What would you do if none of you were Elite? Do that.

 

The tour operator should be quite familiar with how long the process takes, unless it's his/her first day on the job; let them tell you what time to meet.

 

[Pam in CA]

A "GROUP" flashing "ONE":confused::confused:

Yeah. There were four people. The ship was docked, not tendering, yet they still thought they could cut in line ahead of everyone else. So wrong on many levels... they were duly educated. :)

[pablo222]

Just for the record, I have not done this myself, but I do have a growing collection of unused tender priority passes, all of which have the issuing ship's name on them.

 

Maybe people can beg for them, like the BOGO coupon for

coffee cards.

[pablo222]

Good for you! Self entitled bullies should never get their way & abuse the system. The letter each elite member receives in their cabin clearly states the tendering procedure for departing the ship (join the BACK of the TENDER line) which does not include when at a pier. :mad:

 

This is what princess says:

 

"As a well-traveled guest with Princess, you have the opportunity to travel ashore quickly and without waiting in line in our tender ports. Simply present your Elite cruise card directly at the tender embarkation area. You will then join any remaining passengers and board the tender as soon as it is clear to embark, and will not need to wait with other passengers in the lounge area."

 

No where does it say you can jump the line, nor that you go to

the back of the line.

 

In my opinion, what one does depends on their level of respect for others.

This varies wildly.

[shepp]

The problem will be if we have to take a later tender with the 2 non priority sibs. I can only imagine that it takes hours and hours to get 3000 people off of a ship and tendered to shore with only 2 tenders running. We need 5 hours to take the tour. The ship is in port from 7:00-5:00. How do I know what time to tell the excursion operator to meet us? I doubt they will wait too long for us.

 

Handing out tender tickets is first come, first served, except for those with priority boarding. Get there early, even before the official distribution starts, be totally ready to leave the ship, and you will get on an early tender. But, as someone else pointed out, the whole tendering process can be delayed.

 

And look at it this way: whenever you are traveling - even in a highly controlled, risk-averse environment like a cruise ship - there are no guarantees. I'm an inveterate worrier, but I nevertheless enjoy the fact that travel is more of an adventure than a trip to the supermarket.

 

Where did you get the idea there are only two tenders?

[Corfe Mixture]

Like all of these things it is a matter of how polite you are and how you approach things.

 

Last Christmas in San Juan del Sur, a tendering port, we had a party of 10 on a private tour and we had been asked to disembark as soon as possible.

 

The party consisted of two Elite members, two passengers travelling in a suite and six others. We simply went to the Elite/suite desk, explained our problem, and asked if it would be possible for us all to disembark as a group.

 

At no time did any of the Elite or suite passengers ask if the others could immediately go with them to the tender queue.

 

The result was that we were asked to wait together, as a group, in the atrium area and told we would be collected. After about five minutes a crew member came and asked us to follow him and we were all taken down together to join the queue waiting to board the tender.

 

Clearly the four people with priority could have gone directly to join the queue, but by choosing to stay with the group, it would appear that the whole group got some priority.

[jammen]

On our cruise a couple of weeks ago, there was only one line for the tenders. A few passengers who were behind us (Elite & Suite guests) were asking where the Priority line was. They did not get an answer and had to wait in the line with the rest of the regular passengers.

 

How is Priority Tender supposed to work?

 

Thanks.

 

Whenever they clear the ship go to the tender location.