Tendering Belize and Grand Cayman

[GatorGirl57]

Hi all,

 

We have non-Carnival excursions in Belize and Grand Cayman.

 

With Belize, we are booked with .biz for cave tubing (Vitalino) and it says to get off the boat asap (boat docks at 9am). How early should we get to the tender ticket location? And the location to get the tickets will be in the Fun Times, correct?

 

In Grand Cayman, we are with Capt. Marvin's for stingrays and our boat docks at 10am ship time, and we are supposed to be with Capt. Marvin at 11:45 am ship time. Do we have plenty of time (1hr 45 min)? Should we queue early?

 

FTTF is available for my sailing right now, but I would prefer to keep the $50 if I just have to wait a few minutes and put in only a little effort.

Edited June 13, 2014 by GatorGirl57

[sailingwithfriends]

Hi all,

 

We have non-Carnival excursions in Belize and Grand Cayman.

 

With Belize, we are booked with .biz for cave tubing (Vitalino) and it says to get off the boat asap (boat docks at 9am). How early should we get to the tender ticket location? And the location to get the tickets will be in the Fun Times, correct?

 

In Grand Cayman, we are with Capt. Marvin's for stingrays and our boat docks at 10am ship time, and we are supposed to be with Capt. Marvin at 11:45 am ship time. Do we have plenty of time (1hr 45 min)? Should we queue early?

 

FTTF is available for my sailing right now, but I would prefer to keep the $50 if I just have to wait a few minutes and put in only a little effort.

 

We did the same cavetubing.biz. I would get in line asap. We had no problem finding him after we left the port area. We actually had a few minutes while they waited on a few extra people. You will be so glad you booked through him rather than the ship. You will be to explore one extra cave and then enjoy a leisurely float down the river. We watched the Carnival excursion leave the river a good 30 minutes before we did. You will love the lunch. If you have a waterproof camera, take it. Be prepared to walk a long way before you enter the river. I would have shoes that have a thicker sole. I actually wore an old pair of sneakers. My friend wore water shoes purchased at Walmart and the sole came off.

 

Tendering in Grand Caymen is much faster because it isn't as far.

 

I just got off the Sunshine. The FTTF was well worth it simply because we received out luggage about 3 hours before everyone else in our group. We had no tender ports, so I didn't use that service.

 

Have a great time on your cruise.

[golfadj]

Get to the designated ticket site on the ship at least 30 minutes early.

 

Tell the social hosts you have an early tour in Belize and would greatly appreciate you getting off a bit early.

[ibcnusoon]

I dunno, I think I would invest the $50 for a tender ticket.

 

We cruised to Belize and Grand Cayman 2 1/2 years ago, before FTTF, but our arrival into Belize was delayed because we were waiting for the OK from the government to get off the ship. Since we booked a Carnival excursion, I wasn't worried, but because we were delayed first thing int he morning, we didn't get back to the ship until an hour after we were supposed to depart! Luckily, the ship waited for us, this was the Xunatunich ruins trip and they say takes 6-7 hours.

 

In Grand Cayman, the seas were choppy and it was difficult for the captain to drop anchor, once he did, the tenders were running very slowly because of whitecaps. My tender ticket was something in the 30s but because we had a private excursion at 12:30pm and it was close to noon and they still didn't call our number, I panicked and was near tears when the employee let us go on the next tender and we barely made it for our pickup.

 

It's up to you, but if I were to ever get FTTF, it would be on that Exotic Western cruise with port stops in Belize and Grand Cayman.

[GatorGirl57]

Well...just tried to buy FTTF and it either sold out since I posted, or I was wrong that is was available in the first place. Looks like we will have to wait in the tender lines. Any tips?

[golfadj]

Well...just tried to buy FTTF and it either sold out since I posted, or I was wrong that is was available in the first place. Looks like we will have to wait in the tender lines. Any tips?

 

What I suggested above.

[PSkinner]

Well...just tried to buy FTTF and it either sold out since I posted, or I was wrong that is was available in the first place. Looks like we will have to wait in the tender lines. Any tips?

 

Check FTTF several times a day. Ours had been sold out for weeks but they just posted more. Same thing happened on our last cruise too.

[tncruisergurl]

We went to Belize last year and got a little aggravated at how long it took us to get off the ship. We went cavetubing also. They know it takes a while for you to get off so it's not that big of a deal. I would go ASAP though to get your ticket. We didn't have any issues with time last year. We had time to do some shopping after our excursion and lunch.

 

 

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[luvmywifey]

We were delayed at grand cayman with no explanation. Took 2 hours to get off the boat. I purchased FTTF this time because I booked captain Marvin's too. I have heard varying reports of time. Better safe than sorry.

 

 

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[OCruisers]

When booking private excursions in tender ports, FTTF is good to have. :)

LuLu

[live,laugh,love]

Hi all,

 

We have non-Carnival excursions in Belize and Grand Cayman.

 

With Belize, we are booked with .biz for cave tubing (Vitalino) and it says to get off the boat asap (boat docks at 9am). How early should we get to the tender ticket location? And the location to get the tickets will be in the Fun Times, correct?

 

In Grand Cayman, we are with Capt. Marvin's for stingrays and our boat docks at 10am ship time, and we are supposed to be with Capt. Marvin at 11:45 am ship time. Do we have plenty of time (1hr 45 min)? Should we queue early?

 

FTTF is available for my sailing right now, but I would prefer to keep the $50 if I just have to wait a few minutes and put in only a little effort.

 

I would buy the FTTF to be sure you tender early

[rhodester]

I had an 11:15 tour booked with Capt. Marvin last year. Due to the 10:00 arrival time for the ship, everyone wanted to get off the ship as soon as possible. We waited for over an hour in the theater before we were able to get on a tender boat. We finally made it to Capt. Marvin's at exactly 11:15, only to be told that the van ride to the excursion actually left the office at 10:45.

[Miller_KC]

We did Cave Tubing and Zip Line through a private tour in Belize. We're Platinum but I advised the rest of our group to get FTTF and they did. I wouldn't try to get in both Cave Tubing and Zip Line through a private tour again, not enough time even with the early tender. I believe we were on the second tender out, they were still setting up the photographers on the pier. Once they got a bus loaded we headed out. 2 more buses were still there waiting on later arrivals. Had a great time but worried as time got short. Got back and got in the tender line, no shopping or stopping. Made it just fine on the second to last tender. Still a bit unnerving.

[GuitarPlayer]

Find someone with a Platinum Card and offer a few bucks to use priority tendering with them (if they are getting off early, too).

 

:rolleyes:

 

Hey, it's an idea!

 

GP

[TEXASMUNK]

GC: take the tender, walk out to the street, turn right. Captain Marvin is on the right hand side, corner store. Your timing is ok.

 

Belize: If you do not get a low tender number, get up very, very early, get down to the tender embarkation point. Ask to ride over on the first tender that usually only the crew us to set up their shoreside operation.

[OCruisers]

I had an 11:15 tour booked with Capt. Marvin last year. Due to the 10:00 arrival time for the ship, everyone wanted to get off the ship as soon as possible. We waited for over an hour in the theater before we were able to get on a tender boat. We finally made it to Capt. Marvin's at exactly 11:15, only to be told that the van ride to the excursion actually left the office at 10:45.

 

We didn't have a good experience with Capt. Marvin either.

While we made it there (had to rush), our excursion had been way over sold so they sent us and others who arrived at the last minute out on another very crowded little boat. :(

If you book with Capt. Marvin, get there early.

LuLu

[Halya50]

Hi all,

 

We have non-Carnival excursions in Belize and Grand Cayman.

 

With Belize, we are booked with .biz for cave tubing (Vitalino) and it says to get off the boat asap (boat docks at 9am). How early should we get to the tender ticket location? And the location to get the tickets will be in the Fun Times, correct?

 

In Grand Cayman, we are with Capt. Marvin's for stingrays and our boat docks at 10am ship time, and we are supposed to be with Capt. Marvin at 11:45 am ship time. Do we have plenty of time (1hr 45 min)? Should we queue early?

 

FTTF is available for my sailing right now, but I would prefer to keep the $50 if I just have to wait a few minutes and put in only a little effort.

 

We have done both of these excursions with both companies and made it with plenty of time and did not buy FTTF, save the money. They will not leave without you. Just make sure you line up as soon as possible to get your tender numbers.

 

Make sure you buy some Marie Sharpes sauce in Belize, we tried our first on the lunch spot with Vitalino, a couple of years ago and have ordered over 50 bottles of the sauce.

 

ENJOY, both of your excursions, you have picked amazing companies for both.

 

Cheers,

Helen

[GatorGirl57]

An update on my experience for future readers:

 

-We got to the place the tender tickets were being given out of Belize one hour early. We were the second ones there (didn't need to be early at all, but we were already up, and it was nice to wait in the lounge chairs on Lido). 15 minutes early would have been sufficient. We went out on the first tender.

 

-Grand Cayman - they did not even do tender tickets - we went downstairs about 20 minutes after the tendering started, and we were on the next tender after we arrived (maybe five minutes until we were on a boat). On the Legend, the larger tenders can only dock in the forward of the ship, not mid ship, so the mid ship line is way longer.

 

I really enjoyed both excursions, and I would recommend them.

 

Hope this helps someone!

[RuthlessBoss]

An update on my experience for future readers:

 

-We got to the place the tender tickets were being given out of Belize one hour early. We were the second ones there (didn't need to be early at all, but we were already up, and it was nice to wait in the lounge chairs on Lido). 15 minutes early would have been sufficient. We went out on the first tender.

 

-Grand Cayman - they did not even do tender tickets - we went downstairs about 20 minutes after the tendering started, and we were on the next tender after we arrived (maybe five minutes until we were on a boat). On the Legend, the larger tenders can only dock in the forward of the ship, not mid ship, so the mid ship line is way longer.

 

I really enjoyed both excursions, and I would recommend them.

 

Hope this helps someone!

Our Belize wait was very long. You were lucky, you just didn't have a Belize loving crowd on board.

[Miller_KC]

Thank you for the update. I'm glad you had a good time.

[rosecruise]

We waited over an hour to get off the ship to tender to Belize.

 

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[Kokomo_Man]

A couple of warnings... first, Belize would not be a good place to get left behind. Don't be late back to the tenders!!!

 

Second, the tender line back to the ship in Grand Cayman will most likely get very long toward the end of the day. If you can, get there an hour or two early. That will be much better than standing in line out in the hot sun for a hour or more.

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

[jackparts]

On NCL DARN DAWN over Thanksgiving, 2013, we tendered into Belize. Waited in theater LOONNGG time to get on tender. Our ship was the only ship that tried to tender to Belize due to wind and really rough water. It was the worst and most exciting tendering I have ever done. On Carnival, FFTF may be a good idea.

[Cruise, J.D.]

I've done both of those tours without FTTF. I've never had a problem getting an early tender ticket. I just show up to the designated location early, wait for the crew to show up, and get a ticket.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Cruise, J.D.

[sjcruiser]

I would grab a FTTF when it opens back up to avoid the long lines. On a previous trip to Belize, the lines were long for the tenders on that cruise also, so I made sure we grabbed it for this cruise, after missing it the first time they became available.