Marina Question

[Michaelmos]

Sailing first time on Marina next year to South Pacific. Can you tell me for excursion planning how long I should plan for disembarking and reaching port via the tenders? Also if port time is listed as 8:00am to 3:00pm. Is 3:00 the last tender or is the ship leaving?

[newbie60]

If you are tendering, anything earlier than 9 am would be extremely difficult. The ship pulls anchor at 3 pm - last aboard will be announced as 2 pm although sometimes you can stretch it till 2:30 if docked, but not if tendering. The last tender will be announced and will nearly always be at least one hour before sailing.

[vaitape]

Also allow for the crowd. 2 years ago when we did a South Pacific cruise on Marina, we were amazed by the lines to board the tenders. Not sure what cruise you're on but if it's a long tender ride, give yourself plenty of time, both coming and going. There may be 1198 of your new best friends trying to do the same thing you're doing.

[pearzee]

Sailing first time on Marina next year to South Pacific. Can you tell me for excursion planning how long I should plan for disembarking and reaching port via the tenders? Also if port time is listed as 8:00am to 3:00pm. Is 3:00 the last tender or is the ship leaving?

 

Also keep in mind when tendering that those who have booked excursions through Oceania get to leave the ship before those who have booked excursions on their own or who are just going to the port for site seeing.

[dundeene]

I had previously heard the same statement ,

"Oceania tours get tendered first".

I am happy to say after 5 times on Marina and Riviera this was not my experience. More than once we have even been on the 1st tender in, because tender service was ready before the meeting time of the Oceania tours.

All of the other times we arrived and picked up our colored tender ticket and were called for tenders in order of arrival. Staff would often call a tender full of Oceania excursion folks followed by a tender of DYI passengers.

I never had to wait long for a tender.

[Paulchili]

I had previously heard the same statement ,

"Oceania tours get tendered first".

I am happy to say after 5 times on Marina and Riviera this was not my experience. More than once we have even been on the 1st tender in, because tender service was ready before the meeting time of the Oceania tours.

All of the other times we arrived and picked up our colored tender ticket and were called for tenders in order of arrival. Staff would often call a tender full of Oceania excursion folks followed by a tender of DYI passengers.

I never had to wait long for a tender.

 

+1

Caveat - independents should arrive to the lounge very early to get "early" tender tickets. This is most important on Easter Islands where tendering is very slow due to the sea and tendering conditions.

[StanandJim]

I had previously heard the same statement ,

"Oceania tours get tendered first".

I am happy to say after 5 times on Marina and Riviera this was not my experience. More than once we have even been on the 1st tender in, because tender service was ready before the meeting time of the Oceania tours.

All of the other times we arrived and picked up our colored tender ticket and were called for tenders in order of arrival. Staff would often call a tender full of Oceania excursion folks followed by a tender of DYI passengers.

I never had to wait long for a tender.

 

+1

The Staff are very accommodating, and try to get everyone ashore as quickly as they want to get there.

Provided that the ship has already been cleared by the local authorities, the Tender process is quick and seamless. :D

[canuck.qc]

Also keep in mind when tendering that those who have booked excursions through Oceania get to leave the ship before those who have booked excursions on their own or who are just going to the port for site seeing.

 

Not really the case. On our FP cruise the O tours assembled in several large groups and a tender had time to come & go while the O tours got organized. They also keep room on the early tenders for independent travelers, along with the O tour groups. Get to the lounge EARLY.

[sammiedawg]

We've never had an issue getting off early for private tours. We've even had cruise staff/and or the CD make a special effort to get us off first. Ray Michaels was especially helpful.

the Oceania concierge is always helpful with private tours, relaying communication and helping reschedule ports. We were on the Nautica in June, our itinerary was changed multiple times due to weather and heavy ice flow in Greenland. The concierge couldn't have been more helpful.

[gbits]

I had previously heard the same statement ,

"Oceania tours get tendered first".

I am happy to say after 5 times on Marina and Riviera this was not my experience. More than once we have even been on the 1st tender in, because tender service was ready before the meeting time of the Oceania tours.

All of the other times we arrived and picked up our colored tender ticket and were called for tenders in order of arrival. Staff would often call a tender full of Oceania excursion folks followed by a tender of DYI passengers.

I never had to wait long for a tender.

 

Have just returned from a cruise on Marina in the Med - thankfully, we only tendered in 1 port, Sorrento. We went to the Marina Lounge, the designated tender area, at 8am and were not able to get on a tender until 9am. The procedure was as stated - if you were not on an Oceania tour, you were penalized and made to wait until all Oceania tour passengers were tendered. On top of that, it was poorly organized - instead of giving you a ticket when you walked in, they made you sit in the rows of seats; however, they were not specific as to how they were then filling then tenders for DIY people and, thus, people were not filling in every seat, others who came later got into those seats - in short, it was not done well and incredibly frustrating. I was very glad we only had to do it once and it was the day before the cruise ended. It is a definite negative for me regarding Oceania.....

[TERRIER1]

All of the above comments are accurate. As an independent you need to get to the Lounge early and sit up front. When they call for the boarding jump up and get in line. They leave some seats on the tenders for DIY folks but NOT many. Oceania's priority is to get their own tours off first. I agree it is not organized or necessarily fair. They should give out those bakery/deli ticket counters for those independents that arrive first.

[dundeene]

I have a preference for DIY and private guides. In 5 cruises I have always approached the desk in the lounge and asked sweetly "May I please have a tender ticket? I have an independent tous at XXX o'clock"

I have always gotten a colored ticket and waited my turn. I have certainly never waited anywhere near a full hour.

I do always try to arrive early, and ask for a ticket and where I should sit.