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Tender Ticket

fozzy1975

By fozzy1975,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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fozzy1975

fozzy1975

Posted
Posted

We have never been to a port that you have to tender, and I have heard some HORROR stories of the lines to get the ticket and how long it takes. Can anyone explain to me how this process works? We are going to Grand Cayman and are the 1st ship about 8am arrival. Then there are 2 more ships coming. One at 9 and one at 10. Do I need to be up at the crack of dawn to get a ticket? Its vacation...who wants to do that? Ugh...I am stressing over this.

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BallFour4

BallFour4

Posted
Posted (edited)

OK, not to be a snob, but being platinum means the one-way (to the port) line is zero. My first time as a platinum I took my sunburned butt to the front of the line only to do the walk of shame back. The priority is only from the ship.

 

Here's a suggestion we do every time that works great. Get a bottle of water, soda or beer and sit in the shade and wait for the line to go down.

 

We do this is Key West and Grand Cayman. Works every time.

 

.

Edited by BallFour4
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EMBFlyer

EMBFlyer

Posted
Posted

Grand Cayman is not too bad to tender into. The ships anchor fairly close to the shore and it's a short ride in (5-10 minutes). They have the operation down to a science there and there's always a couple of tenders alongside at any one time. Things move quickly and I don't think I've seen tender tickets used there. I know for sure, they use them in Belize, due to the long ride ashore (you're anchored out a couple of miles and it's about a 25-30 minute ride in). Plus, in Belize, a lot of tours leave directly from the ship, so people are meeting in various lounges, etc and tender tickets are a form of crowd control. I also believe they use tender tickets in Half Moon Cay due to crowds and the high demand to go ashore early. Grand Cayman should go fairly smoothly. Remember to check your Fun Times for tendering information, though. Everything is subject to change.

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Vitamin_Sea

Vitamin_Sea

Posted
Posted
OK, not to be a snob, but being platinum means the one-way (to the port) line is zero. My first time as a platinum I took my sunburned butt to the front of the line only to do the walk of shame back. The priority is only from the ship.

 

Here's a suggestion we do every time that works great. Get a bottle of water, soda or beer and sit in the shade and wait for the line to go down.

 

We do this is Key West and Grand Cayman. Works every time.

 

.

 

THats true... You can pay for FTTF and get same thing.

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flowers12155

flowers12155

Posted
Posted

Relax and be ready to enjoy. The Grand Caymans is the best place on earth. I would move there in a heartbeat. We have been there twice on Carnival and there is no ticket. You just take smaller boats in to the docks since the water is to low to dock near the land. If you have an excursion they will have you off in plenty of time. You will be given better instructions the evening before. The boats go back in forth all day. Hope this helps :) check out my travel blog www.atouristlife.com

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EMBFlyer

EMBFlyer

Posted
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One other thing to remember in busy/long tender ports such as Belize and Half Moon Cay is that once the majority of the crowds/tours have dispersed, they'll make a general clearance announcement, advising everyone that tender tickets are no longer needed and to just come straight to the gangway when you're ready to go ashore. This normally happens about 2-3 hours after port arrival.

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rjdcruises4fun

rjdcruises4fun

Posted
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We have FTTF, and are going to Belize and Grand Cayman. Is there another line? How do they know we have it?

 

When you are ready to get off the boat, simply go to customer service and they will escort you at that moment or if there is a group that is gathering around, they will carry all of you down to the tender area. Simply let them know that you have FTTF and they will get you where you need to be.

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lorim103

lorim103

Posted
Posted

When we tendered in Belize--we had to get tickets but they only issued them if the whole group was there. We let the kids sleep in a little, get breakfast & got there right when it was opened. However, they had already been issuing tickets & lots of people were ahead of us. Total time waiting was an hour and a half. It was very frustrating because I had booked a private tour & was afraid we would miss it. (we didn't--and Cavetubing was awesome)

 

Sounds like Grand Cayman is quicker with no tickets needed. Hope that's true--we're going in December:)

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cb at sea

cb at sea

Posted
Posted (edited)

Is there some reason you need to be 1st off the ship? If not, don't try to be! Eat a late breakfast, and head off at your leisure! No ticket needed...the crowds are gone...and it's easy-peezy.

 

Each tender holds A LOT of people....after the 1st tender, it's not a problem.

Edited by cb at sea
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stargate fan

stargate fan

Posted
Posted
We have never been to a port that you have to tender, and I have heard some HORROR stories of the lines to get the ticket and how long it takes. Can anyone explain to me how this process works? We are going to Grand Cayman and are the 1st ship about 8am arrival. Then there are 2 more ships coming. One at 9 and one at 10. Do I need to be up at the crack of dawn to get a ticket? Its vacation...who wants to do that? Ugh...I am stressing over this.

 

First of all, there are no "tickets" for tendering. There are numbered stickers that passengers who don't book Carnival tours get to stick on something, like hat, shirt, beach bag, etc. These stickers are white and about the size of a return address label.

 

The night before the port day, listed in the Fun Times were the location and time for passengers to get their stickers and wait to disembark. We used to get our stickers as soon as we could see land, about 30-45 minutes before the listed time. We usually received stickers #1, #2, or #3. Sometimes we'd grab a quick bite afterwards then we'd wait in the lounge for the numbers to be called.

 

The numbers for tenders were called quickly, usually three of four numbers at a time. The tenders held a lot f people, so the whole process at Grand Cayman went quickly.

 

We're Platinum now so we just go to Guest Services and get escorted right to the tender. :D

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stargate fan

stargate fan

Posted
Posted
Hello new to Platinum here and have tender in Belize. So do I go to guest services to escort or get ticket? How does that work? Thanks Melody

 

When your party is ready to disembark, go to Guest Services. Let them know that you are Platinum and would like to be escorted to a tender. That's it.

 

We've gone down crew stairways and through crew areas to get to the tenders. We've had the line of people waiting stopped by crew so we could get right on the tender. :eek:

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cpshaye

cpshaye

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Posted
When you are ready to get off the boat, simply go to customer service and they will escort you at that moment or if there is a group that is gathering around, they will carry all of you down to the tender area. Simply let them know that you have FTTF and they will get you where you need to be.

 

Thank you. This was baffling me a bit. The "bad" reviews on the FTTF site were that they didn't get priority tender or that it wasn't explained properly for those people to utilize it.

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jiggs

jiggs

Posted
Posted

I would try to be up early. It will be worth it. The last 2 times I was in Caymen I was plat and walked by severl hundered people in line at 10am.

 

With that being said, if you don't mind standing in line, it goes quickly. The tenders are large and do hold quite a few people. And since they are only loading tenders and not waiting for people to unload the process is usally rather quick.

 

Try to avoid 10/10:30 when half the ship is trying to get ashore and you should be fine.

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