Recent experience needed with tendering (Zaandam) on Falklands.

[Alphen]

Recent experience needed with tendering (Zaandam) on Falklands

 

I would like to have recent experiences with tendering to the Falklands from this seasons Antarctic cruise(s) of the Zaandam.

 

We are looking at booking our own excursion and would like your experiences regarding tendering.

 

How hard is it to get on the first or one of the first tenders to shore, to have as much time on Volunteer point as possible. I understand that the best way would be to take an Hal excursion, but I know they can be at least twice the price of do it yourself excursions.

 

We are looking to book the Volunteer point excursion based on earlier reviews on CC and tripadvisor, but experiences with the speed of tendering is limited. I have also read on a blog about an Antarctic cruise on Veendam, that sometimes tenders from the island itself are used?

 

Also, tips to keep in mind to have the best chance to get in the tender as soon as practicable, would be appreciated. :D

[wander]

I cannot help you with most of your questions, but I do have a thought. Tendering in the Falklands is tricky and iffy..

 

Would your tour be refundable if you did not make it? If not, then I would seriously think again about it. (I know others will disagree with this.) I have been to the Falkland Islands four times from a cruise ship, or shall I say two times as it was cancelled twice due to sea conditions. Conditions there can be very difficult and very unpredictable.

 

The following was not "recent" but it easily could have been. On one of those successful two times we landed we were called back to the ship after about 2 hours ashore due to worsening wind and sea conditions. For those of us in town, cars with loudspeakers drove around telling us to get back to the tender dock immediately and the cruise ship tours were called back. If there was anyone on a private tour they would have been left behind as no one would have know how to contact them. Refundable or not would not have matted in this case. This experience was before doing private tours became so popular so that was not a problem that time. Just my experiences.

Edited February 9, 2014 by wander

[QueenGlassHalfFull]

We just returned from a cruise on the Zaandam that was able to stop at the Falklands. All tenders were ship tenders; there were no local tenders used at Port Stanley. It took about 20 - 25 minutes to tender in from the ship. Since we were in a Neptune Suite I can't tell you how long of a wait there was to board the tenders after all of the ship's tours had boarded. We boarded about an hour after the ship's tours started boarding and general boarding tickets were still being collected. A local tour guide may have a better idea about how long it will take for you to get from the ship to shore once tendering begins.

 

We felt very fortunate that the weather cooperated and we were able to stop at the Falklands. It's my understanding that it is usually a 50/50 chance of being able to tender to the port.

 

If you plan on booking local tours at ports where you tender, you may want to have your cellphone enabled for international calls. If you are delayed getting off the ship, you can call your local tour guide and explain your situation.

 

While we didn't use any local guides on this cruise, many others did and to the best of my knowledge, had no problems. Of course, there are no guarantees and if there is a problem and you miss the ship leaving, you are on your own.

 

 

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[boulders]

We were on the Zaandam over Christmas. We too were in a Neptune Suite, so we had priority tendering. We had a private shore excursion to Volunteer Point. There is not much to do here unless you have a shore excursion. They started tendering before they announced it on board. I counted at least 5 tenders being used. Even though I intended to be off on the first tender, I think we might have been on the second through fifth. There were several people on shore who were trying to book Volunteer Point with our private tour company. I'm not sure how many were successful. No payment was due to the tour company until we were at Volunteer Point. There were about 40 vehicles at Volunteer Point, each with 4-6 people, both the ships' tours and private tours. All the vehicles left at the same time, and travelled in convoys, so it would be pretty impossible for a private tour to miss the tender, even if their vehicle broke down, one of the other vehicles in their convoy could pick up their passengers. The cars for our private company communicated with each other via radio. I have no doubt that if the ship decided to leave early, they would know.

 

I had arranged a private tour with a group from our roll call at Puerto Montt which is also a tender port. Even though the other members of our group went to get tender tickets asap, it took them an hour and a half or more to get to shore.

 

The Zaandam Volunteer Point shore excursion was $349 pp. HAL opened up the shore excursion on the Saturday before a Wednesday boarding. By the second day of the cruise, they were sold out (they could have been sold out much earlier, but Thursday is when we heard about it, and we heard there were many angry passengers). Our excursion through Estancia Excursions was 110 GBP pp and included a box lunch.

[Mr_Astro]

We were on a Princess cruise this time last year and at Pt. Stanley they did hire a (very fast) local boat to augment the tenders. But, I don't think they were on duty when we tendered in but took it back later in the afternoon.

I hope the weather will be as good for you as it was for us.

 

Bon Voyage

[Alphen]

Thanks for all the replies so far. We are not in a suite, so will have to wait our turn. We are also booking with Estancia, so payment when we arrive there, so I do not foresee any problems there. Hoping for some other experiences from the Zaandam to come and also waiting for some more reviews, I did notice a couple from the recent holiday cruise from the Zaandam.