Still confused on disembarkation procedure at ports.

[uilleann]

We have a few private excursions set up. I have been told by these private excursion people to get on the dock as soon as we can. I did a search and was looking at previous posts and seem to find two answers. One is that when the ship is fully docked an announcement is made and its first come first served to leave the boat. Note I am not talking about tenders. But others say that the HAL excursion people get to leave first and then followed by others. One poster said it took them 30 minutes to get off the boat. Others say its at the discretion of the cruise director. And others say that if you are in a neptune suite you get priority... And others say that is not true or its only true for tenders.

 

So what really happens at disembarkation?

 

 

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[cruz chic]

I believe you asked this question already. The only time you get priority is at a tender port. Keep in mind that 4 and 5 star mariners get it as well. When you are docked Neptune suites do not have any priority. It's a first come, first served situation unless somehow they sneak those on shore ex off first. I don't think there is any kind of mystery about it.

Edited March 31, 2014 by cruz chic

[Randyk47]

Our experience has been if we're docked then there'll be an announcement that the ship has been cleared and passengers are free to disembark at their pleasure. Maybe once or twice we've been late docking or clearing customs/immigration and they've asked that people without tours/excursions wait and give those who do a chance to get off first but I really don't remember for sure. If it's a tender port then you're into the whole priority to HAL excursions and Neptune/Pinnacle Suite passengers comes into play. I don't remember ever being severely limited in getting off when docked but I can clearly remember waiting a whole lot longer than 30 minutes at a tender port.

[mhb1757]

Don't loose sleep over this one. Once the ship is docked everyone just walks off scanning their cards as they go....no real line or wait for anyone. Your tour provider will wait on you! Moves really fast.

[uilleann]

Thanks for the info..... I was not paying attention to it before but it turns out that we do have a couple of tendered excursions. The one in Sitka is a private one with Dave Gallant adventures for 2 1/2 hrs. One concern I do have is that we are in a Neptune Suite and I guess that gives us the ability to get on one of the early tenders. My other brothers and their wives do not have that situation. So I guess they wait? I have read stories about 1 1/2 hr waiting lines. If that happens then it may screw up this excursion that I set up for 9:30 to noon. BTW we get in port at 9 if the ship is on time. Should this be a concern and is there anyway to deal with it?

 

 

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[Randyk47]

Thanks for the info..... I was not paying attention to it before but it turns out that we do have a couple of tendered excursions. The one in Sitka is a private one with Dave Gallant adventures for 2 1/2 hrs. One concern I do have is that we are in a Neptune Suite and I guess that gives us the ability to get on one of the early tenders. My other brothers and their wives do not have that situation. So I guess they wait? I have read stories about 1 1/2 hr waiting lines. If that happens then it may screw up this excursion that I set up for 9:30 to noon. BTW we get in port at 9 if the ship is on time. Should this be a concern and is there anyway to deal with it?

 

 

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You get into port at 9 AM and you booked a private excursion for 9:30 AM? Well, I probably wouldn't have done that if we were docked and certainly not if we were tendering. I typically go for an hour between docking and start of the tour and maybe longer if tendering. I have used private excursions and have always had the agreement with the provider that our getting into port and off the ship was subject to change. I've never had a tour provider have an issue with the potential we might be late or delayed, that's their world and they know stuff happens.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Randyk47

[catl331]

For a 9:00 arrival in a tender port, a 9:30 excursion is very iffy for non-priority people IMHO. Any chance of changing it to later?

[uilleann]

For a 9:00 arrival in a tender port, a 9:30 excursion is very iffy for non-priority people IMHO. Any chance of changing it to later?

 

That is good info, thanks. I am contacting Dave Gallant Adventures to see what they say. If they only do one booking a day we might be fine. If not there could be a problem. We do have the whole boat to our group.

[catl331]

We do have the whole boat to our group.

In that case the tour operator would wait, and cut your tour short if he has a later group.

[Randyk47]

That is good info, thanks. I am contacting Dave Gallant Adventures to see what they say. If they only do one booking a day we might be fine. If not there could be a problem. We do have the whole boat to our group.

 

If he can't or won't wait or adjust I think I'd opt for another provider.

[Crew News]

Don't loose sleep over this one. Once the ship is docked everyone just walks off scanning their cards as they go....no real line or wait for anyone. Your tour provider will wait on you! Moves really fast.

The queue for disembarking at most ports at the designated time on the itinerary will have hundreds of passengers standing within inches of each other. Elevators will be stopping on the gangway deck and there will be no way for them to get off of the elevator. The close standing will cover stairwells on two decks. It can be a miserable experience if you drop something and there is no room to bend down to pick it up.

 

My experience of the above has taught me to not head for the gangway until a good 30 minutes after the gangway is open for disembarkation. Most ship-sponsored excursions allow sufficient time for their customers to disembark without enduring the crush.

[RuthC]

It's not as if everyone is trying to walk off the ship at the same time. It's also not as if everyone is holding back waiting for you to leave the ship, either. There will be people waiting to leave when the ship is cleared. If docked, you head down, find others in front of you, but the crowd is moving forward. It can take a minute or three, but there is no hold-up.

 

If tendered, you either meet up in the HAL tour assigned place and wait to be called, head to get a tender ticket and wait your turn, or if Neptune or a high ranking Mariner, head to the tender area and wait your turn.

 

In every case it goes as rapidly as it can. Not everyone can be the first one off (only one is the last one off. ;))

[Hlitner]

Our advice to the OP is just relax and go with the flow :). Having spent more then 3 1/2 years on cruise ships (as a passenger) and around 300 days on HAL ships, we think there is just no hard and fast rule for debarking at a port. Most of the time we are docked, DW and I just leave our cabin, go to the proper exit, have our card scanned, and we are off the ship! If the ship docks early (by 8am) and its a longer HAL cruise (with many experienced travelers) we might be about the only folks rushing off at a port since many others might not want to go ashore until after 9 or even later. If the ship is docking a bit later then the norm (perhaps at 10 am or 12 pm) then there might be somewhat of a crowd trying to get off at the same time. But the reality is that if we want to be among the first off the ship (at any port) it is usually quite possible by simply heading to the appropriate exit area a little early and waiting for the ship to be cleared (usually about 15 min after docking).

 

Hank

[uilleann]

Hank, thanks for the comment. Our only other cruise was a RC cruise to Bermuda. We did no excursions. And left the ship when we felt like it. Never a line anywhere. But we did leave later.

 

This trip is a bit different as we have an excursion at nearly every port. And we are doing most of them with my two brothers and their wives. And some are private and others are not. I was not aware of and did not considered the time to leave the ship or tender ashore.

 

I now know from CC poster here that i should not sweat the HAL excursions. OK no sweat. I have also learned that for port stops it is first come first served. We have one planned trip where leaving the boat early is important so we will get in line 30 min or so before we dock.

 

But the Sitka private excursions is a different deal in that if they have booked someone for the afternoon, and it takes as long as 1 1/2 hours to get to shore... Then we may need to cut out one or both brothers (one may have high mariner status) OR i cancel the trip and set up a later one. I am also waiting to hear back from Gallant.

 

So I do need to sweat the Sitka excursion until i figure this one out.

 

More importantly I would never have known this was an issue until i got the tendering and debarkation info from all of you guys.

 

 

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Edited March 31, 2014 by uilleann

[cbr663]

When booking private shorex, you should also keep in mind that there is always a risk that in a port that requires a tender that the disembarkation may be delayed due to inclement weather and can even be cancelled all together. It is quite one thing to have a ship tie up to a pier versus anchoring off shore and trying to get everyone off and on to another boat for tendering purposes.

 

On our previous cruise in the Caribbean, we were enjoying Half Moon Quay and were ordered back to the ship due to incoming nasty weather. Everything looked calm and beautiful from the beach. Tendering back to the ship was a nightmare and I was so surprised how rough it was during the tender and how calm it was once back on the ship. The ship was as solid as a rock.

Edited March 31, 2014 by cbr663

[Typhoon1]

Leave the ship as soon as you are ready. Head to the gangway with your ID and key card, they will scan you off.

[Stratheden]

We also had an occasion where there was an unfortunate medical emergency on one of the early tenders. All tenders were then held up for at least an hour until this was attended to.

 

I really think you need to change the timing of your excursion. You are going to 'sweat' over this port for the whole of your cruise otherwise.

 

See if you can change it to an afternoon excursion. You can leave the ship in a relaxed state and enjoy your excursion.

[BellBoys]

Hello:

 

We did an early private tour in Sitka last year with Davey Lubin (Puffins & Whales) on our Westerdam cruise. Even thought we could have used priority tendering as we were in a suite we found that we did not have to worry. The tender was about 1/4 full as it was one of the first few to leave the ship, they run back and forth constantly so I can't imagine you would wait long for a tender.

 

We are back to Sitka this June and can let you know if we experience anything different.

[sail7seas]

Tendering is priority to ship's book excursions. Neptune Suite priority means you will not have to go first to assigned location to get a tender ticket but you can go directly to the gangway. We've been in Neptune Suites over 80 cruises and there have been times when they let us go on one of the early tenders with ship booked excursion people but more usually it is ship's excursions first. That is one benefit to booking with the ship. ;)

 

You seem to be over thinking this.

All of the privately booked excursion operators know full well the procedures for guests getting off the ships in port. They urge you to get off as soon as you can but they will not leave without you when they see the ship is still disembarking. They do this for a living. They know what the cruiser is able to do and what they are not.

 

[Hlitner]

We agree that tendering is always a big unknown as to how long it will take to get ashore. On HAL we have priority, but even that is not a guarantee. The few times that we have been involved with private excursions we (or somebody else in our group) will ask the tour provider for a phone number (preferably the cell phone number of whoever is meeting us at the pier) so that we can call them if there are any delays.

 

And we think that Sail7Seas made a great point. All the private tour providers are well aware of the problems related to tendering as they deal with this issue on a regular basis. Last year we were on a HAL South Pacific cruise and joined with a large group to book a private excursion on one particular island (a tender port). Because of high seas and a sub-standard pier it took over 3 hours for everyone to get ashore. The tour operator was patiently waiting and told us we actually got ashore faster then the last cruise!

 

Hank