Walking off the ship in port

[floralscent]

Does anyone recall approximately when you are able to walk off the ship when in port? We are not suite passengers and are select captains club members.

 

We usually reserve excursions through Celebrity so I have never paid attention to the earliest one could just walk off. For our next trip we are considering reserving our own excursions for our Australia/New Zealand cruise in December. I am just trying to figure out what time we could be off the ship to meet the tour. We are considering reservations both directly with a tour company and also with Viator dot com. The ship "arrives" in port mostly at 8 or 9am.

 

My memory is failing me as to how soon before departure we are asked to return to the ship. Does anyone remember?

 

Thank you!

[jelayne]

Once the ship is cleared you can walk off any time you are ready. If the ship is cleared at 8:00 you could be on the dock by 8:05. Normally you must be back on the ship 30 minutes before it is scheduled to depart.

[julia]

Good private tours operators are very familiar with the ship's schedules. THEY will give you a specific time/place to meet their tour, based on that particular day, ship, and docking time. They also know exactly when to return to you to port. Their business depends on promptness and punctuality. Just be sure to book your tours with well recommended operators mentioned here on the "ports of call" boards, through your roll call, or via the other major travel websites.

[CathyCruises]

And be careful with Viator, they're just a third party reseller (middleman) and you're probably better off booking directly with the tour providers.

[Wastegirl]

We did the Top End of Australia in February which was the second of the B2B round NZ and Australia. When the Solstice was docking - no problems, soon after it was docked and cleared by the local authorities you were able to walk off. Ship's tours were given priority, so if a large party was walking through you had to wait for them to pass or they blocked off a line for them to get through, slowing down the other lines but not to any great degree.

 

However, we found not only on our part of the trip but the other part as well, that if there was tendering involved it was chaos - so keep that in mind when booking your tours. There was much grumbling amongst the overseas passengers on how bad it was, so with tender ports it might be best to stick to ship's tours.

[chemmo]

We did a couple of stops in NZ last year on Sostice. Aukland no problems getting off but at Bay of Islands there was a long queue to tender. We had booked the 'hole in the wall' trip with Celebrity so as another post said we were walked through to the front. A good strategy may be to book Celebrity trips when tendering and independent trips when docking.

[villauk]

Akaroa was a tender port on Solstice. Unsure if they are still calling there or Christchurch now, but in my opinion, it was one of the best ports on the itinerary ;). Our guide knew exactly when to schedule the excursion times ;).

[Beanb41]

Akaroa was a tender port on Solstice. Unsure if they are still calling there or Christchurch now, but in my opinion, it was one of the best ports on the itinerary ;). Our guide knew exactly when to schedule the excursion times ;).

 

Akaroa is still the cruise port for the Christchurch and will be for many years yet. There are greater priorities for the millions of dollars involved in building a new cruise terminal

[floralscent]

Thank you for the replies!

 

To help ensure that we can get off soon after being cleared, where should we wait? Is there an area where people stand to wait for the opportunity to walk off? We will be on the Solstice.

 

Are numbers handed out for tender ports only? Where do you get these numbers?

[ClaudiaB]

Usually Deck 2 or 3 - depending on where they put the ramp. They'll let you know and there will be signs in the stairwells. You can't miss it. No worries. If for some reason your tour company tells you to meet at 8:15 and you can't get off the ship due to late clearance, also no worries. Your tour operator KNOWS these things happen. Just get off when you can and they'll be there with their sign at the appointed spot.

[Beanb41]

Thank you for the replies!

 

To help ensure that we can get off soon after being cleared, where should we wait? Is there an area where people stand to wait for the opportunity to walk off? We will be on the Solstice.

 

Are numbers handed out for tender ports only? Where do you get these numbers?

 

Tender tickets are normally issued at Cellarmasters. Be prepared if you are not early for the queue to end up outside the theatre at the front of the ship, such is the popularity of many tender ports.

If alongside depending where the gangway is.

[BSinPNS]

We have often been among the first off in a port (docked). You may have to stand a while, but they start letting passengers off when cleared while the notification is being passed to the bridge for the announcement. I don't recall ever seeing tours depart the theatre until after the announcement is made. Plus shore ex team has to announce the group(s) going first and then the group has to stroll to the disembarkation area midships and walk down from deck five to deck 1, 2 or 3.

[need2cruisesoon]

You'll get a letter like this a couple days prior to disembark. In this case it was from our BI cruise on the Silhouette but should help with some of your questions: