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Now Tendering in Juneau

RBKL

By RBKL,
in Celebrity Cruises

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RBKL

RBKL

Posted
Posted

When we booked our Alaska Cruise in August 2013 the itinerary said we would be docking in Juneau. We were glad because on that cruise we had tendered and didn't like it.

 

As of last week it still said we were docking however, just checked this morning and saw that it was changed to tendering again.

 

We would have picked different dates if we had known.

 

I realize that happens however, they haven't even notified us.

 

Can't change dates now. Plane tickets are bought and cabins aren't available.

 

Others may want to check their itinerary to see if it changed.

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Lady Arwen Holiday Sharing Rare

Lady Arwen

Posted
Posted

We're on the Solstice in May and our itinerary still shows docked. Our fingers are crossed that this doesn't change. It's not a deal breaker for us, just very inconvenient. I don't enjoy the whole tendering process in any port and Juneau is bad.

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RBKL

RBKL

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We're on the Aug 8th sailing on the Solstice.

 

We tendered last year when they alternated tendering and docking in Juneau.

 

 

From my experience and what I have read tendering in Alaska is different than in the Caribbean. In the Caribbean they have larger tenders and get passengers off quickly.

 

On the Solstice we tendered using the life boats. You had to get tender tickets that day and it took hours to get people off the ship that wanted to.

 

The don't fully load the life boats so only 200+ people at a time and they only had 2-4 lifeboats going back and forth. Getting back on wasn't a problem but it takes a long time to get 4000 or so passengers off that way.

 

When you dock you can just walk on/off at any time.

 

Of course their ship excursion passengers get off first so if you want to get out and do things on your own you have to get in line early.

 

Standing in line for an hour for tender tickets while on vacation isn't as much fun as it sounds.

 

As we were getting off the ship we met a couple that didn't realize they needed tender tickets. I imagine it took them hours to get off.

 

I agree they should have known this when we booked. We would have sailed on August 1st instead.

 

Not a deal breaker for us but wanted to let others know about the change.

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Loubelou

Loubelou

Posted
Posted

We are on the Aug. 1st sailing and we have been changed to tendered too. We plan on taking the small boat excursion in Tracy Arm. Will we be required to get back on Solstice to tender in Juneau or will we be able to just walk off the small boat to Juneau?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

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Loubelou

Loubelou

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I just logged in to my reservation and it still says docked. I'm not sure which is right because when I just bring up the cruise on the Celebrity site without logging in it says tendered.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

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zelker

zelker

Posted
Posted

We're on the last Solstice cruise of the season (Sept. 12, 11 nights) and it still says Docked. Suspect it will stay that way because there's only one other ship in port with us so plenty of room. However, looking at the Juneau port schedule for this year, the Solstice's 7 night rotation is in port with two Holland America ships and one Princess ship every week and because Solstice is longer than any of the other ships, I suspect that's why it will be tendering. Of course that's just my best guess. And apparently last year Solstice and Zuiderdam switched off weeks tendering and docking.

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Texasopa

Texasopa

Posted
Posted (edited)

We plan on taking the small boat excursion in Tracy Arm, I hope they let us off on the Dock. The description says to be sure you have your Seapass card. So that sounds like they probably let you off of the excursion onto the dock.

Edited by Texasopa
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ShadowzBtlr

ShadowzBtlr

Posted
Posted

FYI for all posters:

In ports with limited docking facilities such as Juneau, Celebrity has little or no control over whether their ships will be docked at a pier or anchored in the harbor requiring tendering procedures. Only the local Port Authority has that control.

Celebrity and other cruise lines can request (usually up to one year in advance) that a particular ship be docked at a pier and will be given an approval or denial of the request at that time. However, the local Port Authority/Harbor Master can change the approval or denial any time prior to the ship’s scheduled arrival at the harbor’s pilot station.

In the OP’s case, it looks like the Port Authority changed its original decision to give Celebrity a chance to properly plan its navigation procedures and notify passengers.

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RBKL

RBKL

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It appears more sailings have changed to Tendering from Docking.

 

I didn't click on all of them however, all of July and August are now tendering. Last year they alternated.

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4774Papa

4774Papa

Posted
Posted
We're on the Aug 8th sailing on the Solstice.

 

We tendered last year when they alternated tendering and docking in Juneau.

 

 

From my experience and what I have read tendering in Alaska is different than in the Caribbean. In the Caribbean they have larger tenders and get passengers off quickly.

 

On the Solstice we tendered using the life boats. You had to get tender tickets that day and it took hours to get people off the ship that wanted to.

 

The don't fully load the life boats so only 200+ people at a time and they only had 2-4 lifeboats going back and forth. Getting back on wasn't a problem but it takes a long time to get 4000 or so passengers off that way.

 

When you dock you can just walk on/off at any time.

 

Of course their ship excursion passengers get off first so if you want to get out and do things on your own you have to get in line early.

 

Standing in line for an hour for tender tickets while on vacation isn't as much fun as it sounds.

 

As we were getting off the ship we met a couple that didn't realize they needed tender tickets. I imagine it took them hours to get off.

 

I agree they should have known this when we booked. We would have sailed on August 1st instead.

 

Not a deal breaker for us but wanted to let others know about the change.

Using large tenders can slow the process. We tendered in Bali on the Solstice, using a huge local ship holding over 300 persons. It took about an hour to fill up the tender, move to the dock and unload the huge tender. Other factors, like distance to shore and the choppy seas seriously affect the tendering process.

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ozark74

ozark74

Posted
Posted (edited)

We did Solstice last August and we tendered in Juneau. Were told that they docked every other week. Do not know if that is true for 2014. Had a 3:00 tour and were off the ship by 2:30. Just don't wait for the last tender back because of the lines. The only tenders they used were the ships. They hold 120 people. They had 4 tenders running.

Edited by ozark74
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Grumpy100

Grumpy100

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Posted

We were on Celebrity Infinity last May and first it said we would be tendered in Juneau and then closer to the cruise it changed to us docking at the pier. It was no big deal.

Just hope you get good weather and get into the port rather than complain about docking or having to be tendered.

Or...a missing boat or plane....

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cruisingdelt

cruisingdelt

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Juneau and Alaska are victims of thier own popularity. The number of ships in Juneau just cannot be accomodated so docking is hit or miss. We have been there twice, Once we docked and the other time we tendered, at first. Later on that day the ship was allowed to dock. The Alaska cruises are great so don't let the tendering spoil what will be a great vacation.

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