Please help me understand reluctance/fear of tendering

[cruisemom42]

Although I've had some interesting tender experiences over the years -- including seeing one of the crew members fall off the tender in glacial Alaska waters enroute to the ship -- the only fear I have of tenders is that rough weather will cause us to miss the port due to inability to operate them.

 

P.S. Tender waits are very minimal on small ships -- one more reason I like them.

Edited February 3, 2014 by cruisemom42

[spunkyhungry]

Tendering doesn't bother me at all. And it doesn't feel too inconvenient. I'm on vacation and have plenty of time. I grew up with boats, so I don't mind the movement. Sitting close to people doesn't bother me. It's just transportation.

[OCruisers]

There are some ports where we had rather tender. The tender dock is in the center of town where you want to be anyway. There are no long walks along the cruise pier to even get to the cruise terminal ... and then have to deal with where you're going.

[Wastegirl]

While I enjoy the convenience of stepping off the ship directly, tendering for me usually means a more interesting unspoilt place (usually tropical island). Whereas a port capable of taking a big ship is usually a container port and not directly adjacent the tourist areas.

[helenwaratahh]

I've read where people have waited so long to board tenders that they miss prearranged tours. If you book a shore excursion through the cruise line, do you receive preferential treatment when boarding the tenders? The only place we are not docked at port is Villefranche sur Mer and this is really the only "must do" shore excursion for us. Any hints for early disembarkation?

[sparky-elpaso]

I've read where people have waited so long to board tenders that they miss prearranged tours. If you book a shore excursion through the cruise line, do you receive preferential treatment when boarding the tenders? The only place we are not docked at port is Villefranche sur Mer and this is really the only "must do" shore excursion for us. Any hints for early disembarkation?

 

In general, yes. On the cruises we've been on folks taking the ships excursions gathered somewhere (usually in the theater) and then went by groups to join their tour - first off the ship for morning tours. For afternoon tours you just got your tender tickets and went when your number was called. We would go ashore in the morning anyway and look around, maybe stop in a local place for lunch, etc.

 

Check out the port in Google Earth to see what the town looks like, where the docks are, etc.

[ducklite]

On small ships it's easy and never a wait. On larger ones it can take several hours to get everyone to shore.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[LocoLoco1]

It isn't reluctance or fear.

It's a PIA.

Agreed. It is one more line, one more wait, one more place for a glitch. Some people are unrealistic in their own physical abilities..especially if they are infirm or elderly. Locomotiveman TOM

[hal lover]

Posts often appear here that clearly indicate a fear or serious reluctance to use a tender to get ashore and return to the ship.

 

I can easily understand mobility issues, although I did see someone come ashore in a wheelchair from a Disney ship the last time we were in Grand Cayman.

 

Is this something like fear of flying? What kind of worries arise when someone ponders a tender ride?

 

Whenever I go to the tender, I remember the first time that I did. It was at Half Moon Cay and I had NEVER seen water so beautiful! I am not a strong swimmer so of course I was scared that I was going to fall in! I managed but I always think about that time and I smile!:)

[Taxguy77]

Many folks who haven't done it, believe they will be in a small rowboat type of thing....they don't realize what a real "tender" on these cruiseships is all about!

 

I don't think many able-bodied folks who have tendered are fearful....it seems to be those who have never seen it done!!

 

And yes...it is an inconvenience compared to docking!

 

In Capri they have a strong union that won't let a ship use its own boats. The boats they use look like wooden rowboats, only quite a bit larger and with a motor.

[helenwaratahh]

In general, yes. On the cruises we've been on folks taking the ships excursions gathered somewhere (usually in the theater) and then went by groups to join their tour - first off the ship for morning tours. For afternoon tours you just got your tender tickets and went when your number was called. We would go ashore in the morning anyway and look around, maybe stop in a local place for lunch, etc.

 

Check out the port in Google Earth to see what the town looks like, where the docks are, etc.

 

Thank you for this information. All the more reason to book through the cruiseline.

[ducklite]

Thank you for this information. All the more reason to book through the cruiseline.

 

 

Or sail on small ships where even with only 50 guests at a time inboard the tenders, it doesn't take long to clear 300 people off the ship.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

Edited February 5, 2014 by ducklite

[LadySam1968]

Tendering isn't so bad when you have small ships in port. But when you have 3 ships the size of carnival magic, a large rccl and Disney offloading 12000 plus passengers at the same, it makes for long delays in Grand Cayman. Our first time there the ships shore excursions started an hour late because of it and the line to get back on the tender stretched for almost a quarter mile over very hot pavement. People were very rude pushing and shoving to get ahead in line.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ducklite]

Tendering isn't so bad when you have small ships in port. But when you have 3 ships the size of carnival magic, a large rccl and Disney offloading 12000 plus passengers at the same, it makes for long delays in Grand Cayman. Our first time there the ships shore excursions started an hour late because of it and the line to get back on the tender stretched for almost a quarter mile over very hot pavement. People were very rude pushing and shoving to get ahead in line.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

When we were in Santorini it was the Wind Surf and the L' Austral, total passenger load about 550 between them that day. No waiting. As we were getting ready to leave, one of the large Pullmantur ships pulled into harbor. Two hours later their tenders were still coming in packed to the gills, and the line for the ride to the top was easily an hour or more long. It was a good time to be leaving.

[yayvacation!]

Posts often appear here that clearly indicate a fear or serious reluctance to use a tender to get ashore and return to the ship.

 

I can easily understand mobility issues, although I did see someone come ashore in a wheelchair from a Disney ship the last time we were in Grand Cayman.

 

Is this something like fear of flying? What kind of worries arise when someone ponders a tender ride?

 

I don't really care either way if we tender or not, but we had some REALLY rough experiences on our SE Asia cruise last year. We were the first group of X passengers in some of the ports so that didn't help, but trying to tender up to our ship in huge swells and slamming into it was awful.

 

Not to mention we couldn't even get the walkways lined up so you had to jump out of the tender boat and onto the ship in some ports. Crew was great though!

[donaldsc]

Posts often appear here that clearly indicate a fear or serious reluctance to use a tender to get ashore and return to the ship.

 

I can easily understand mobility issues, although I did see someone come ashore in a wheelchair from a Disney ship the last time we were in Grand Cayman.

 

Is this something like fear of flying? What kind of worries arise when someone ponders a tender ride?

 

The bottom line is that if you are at a tender port, you have 2 options -

 

1) Get on the tender and enjoy the port

2) Don't get on the tender and miss the port.

 

Simple choice. It is your problem if you decide to miss the port.

 

DON

[ldubs]

On small ships it's easy and never a wait. On larger ones it can take several hours to get everyone to shore.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

 

On which large ship have you experienced a "several hour" wait to get to shore? I've never had anything approaching this because of tendering.

[ducklite]

On which large ship have you experienced a "several hour" wait to get to shore? I've never had anything approaching this because of tendering.

 

 

I haven't, as on the largest ship I've cruised on had no tender ports and the other two large ships I was on ships excursions at tender ports. I have, however, witnessed this in ports like Grand Cayman and Santorini while watching large ships that were still running full tenders over two hours after the first one left the ship. Santorini is the worst, as after waiting two hours for a tender, passengers then must wait another hour plus to get up the cliff in the funicular. No thanks, I'll stick to the small ships with no lines.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[Happy ks]

While I don't fear tendering, I have a hesitation with boarding and re boarding. I was once injured when a tender boat dipped and quickly came back up while one leg was on the platform of the ship. Pulled a muscle in my hip area that took months before the pain went away. Even with doctor visits, pain meds and chiropractic, it just took time to heal.

 

Another time we couldn't get to the top of the tender and had to sit inside. The engine fumes were so strong, even with windows wide open, I thought I was going to lose breakfast.

 

These are just two examples of the many times we have tendered, both prior and after tendering at other times. I'm now more cautious and definitely allow the crew to hold both hands, plus if we can't get to the top of the tender, I'll wait for the next one. Unless, of course, the tender is nearly full and I don't have to sit in the aft area of the tender boat. If I can get to the middle, it's not so bad.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Happy ks
to correct "auto correct" spelling

[gra2172]

Posts often appear here that clearly indicate a fear or serious reluctance to use a tender to get ashore and return to the ship.

 

I can easily understand mobility issues, although I did see someone come ashore in a wheelchair from a Disney ship the last time we were in Grand Cayman.

 

Is this something like fear of flying? What kind of worries arise when someone ponders a tender ride?

 

Ive been on 2 cruises that tendered (and one coming). Let me just say I dont have a fear of it, it just all around sucks. When you dock, you stand in line and file off the ship as you please and can come back on when you like. When you tender onto (hopefully) a ferry, you file in by however many it can hold, then stand and wait for the next ferry to come. It can take quite awhile. If the sea is wavy (not rough, but lumpy enough to throw you around), you have to wait for a lull before they let you on or off the ferry.

 

In Hawaii, they used the lifeboats. I have no idea why since we passed a ferry boat on the way to the pier. Let me just say that tendering in a lifeboat is just as awesome as it sounds. First you wait in line for about an hour on the stairs for 3 decks, then you cram in with 50 other people and jet over to the pier. As you can imagine, lifeboats were not designed for a smooth enjoyable ride. We also had the joy of watching the pilot fight with the guy who was to tie her up to the ship and pier. He just couldnt get her instructions, so they yelled at each other. When you want to come back to the ship, you now have to stand on the pier with several hundred (now smelly) people, and cuddle up with them for the ride back.

There was an old man who needed a wheelchair and really couldnt manage getting off the lifeboat and onto the ship on his own (the ferry has a ramp, lifeboats have steps) and people were yelling at the crew to help him. Eventually they did, but someday Im going to be that guy and would hate that. Overall it was not a good experience which leads to my dislike of tendering.

 

Having said all that, our excursions and overall experience way made up for the tendering. So I wont avoid a cruise just because it has it.

[Frenchlu]

A couple of years ago I tendered at La Spezia. We should have docked at Livorno for Florence but the weather was so bad that the captain decided on La Spezia instead. ( someone said he decided to do that as he was not good at parallel parking!) It was getting really rough and we got onto the tender whilst it was pitching violently. Apparently they postponed any further tenders for about an hour due to the weather. That evening the people on our table did not turn up for dinner(late sitting) so we carried on. They eventually turned up an hour late and the MDR had stayed open to cater for all of those coming back from the excursion. They were soaked to the skin having waited for an hour for the tender, in the downpour on the floating dock with no protection. They were very unhappy bunnies.

[New2cruise1483]

My BF can't swim, so therefore doesn't like water and the smaller boat made him nervous because of how much they bob on the water.

[Kartgv]

Tendering is not our favorite thing, but we aren't fearful of it. We've probably tendered close to 60 times, and only had 1 bad experience. That one, in Cabo san Lucas, was fine leaving the ship, but big waves came up unexpectedly and getting back on the ship was treacherous. Because the tenders were going up & down about 8-10 feet with each wave, 2 crew members were at the foot of the stairs on the tender, another 2 on the ship platform. They timed each wave, and when the time was right, physically lifted each passenger (4 hands on the buttocks!) up to be pulled up to the platform. One crewmember went off the ship platform and was briefly caught between the platform and the ship, but was quickly pulled out unharmed. Re-boarding all the passengers took a LONG time and we left port quite late. Yes, it was dangerous, but the ship had procedures for getting all the passengers back onboard safely. We have learned that it pays to pay attention to sea conditions when we're in a tender port; if the seas start to get rough, get back to the ship as soon as possible.

 

Every other time has been uneventful. No one needs to wait in long lines to get off if they follow instructions and get a number and wait their turn somewhere in comfort. To play it safe, we stick to ship's tours or just walk around on our own in tender ports. Getting back on the ship can involve long lines, so make sure you have water and head covering if you're in a hot climate with no shade. If you are in line prior to the time specified on your ship's bulletin, you won't get left behind, even if the line is long.

 

The tenders do bounce around but it's usually a short ride and we've never seen anyone get sick on one. A couple of people have mentioned the fumes - yes they can be annoying, so try to sit near the front of the tender. On the plus side, the views approaching your ship are often spectacular, and we've sometimes been surrounded by dolphins, seals, lots of curious sea birds.

Edited February 7, 2014 by Kartgv

[okgirl]

I still tender but I don't like it........I particularly dislike the huge queue in Grand Cayman trying to get back onto the ship.....

 

Only one bad experience was coming back onto the ship in GC after a storm had blown up.......the ship and the tender were pitching in opposite directions, the crew "helping" us onto the ship literally grabbed us by both arms and tossed us like a sack of potatoes onto the ship.........We both had huge handprint bruises on our upper arms.........it was the safest way to do it, but still a bad experience.........