Tendering in St Thomas on the Westerdam??

[KAKcruiser]

The crew is very well trained and helpful when assisting people onto the tenders. As long as the weather is reasonably good, you shouldn't have any trouble.

[KAKcruiser]

Labatsman or anyone else who might know - How did the Westerdam get to dock at Havensight? I thought they always went to Crown Bay and that is what the schedule shows. I am hoping we get lucky and dock at Havensight on our Westerdam cruise.

[sherilyn70]

In curious about this now as well. I have never had to tender for St Thomas in any past cruises and my itinerary for the Thursday after this does not indicate a tender on the westerdam.

[richwmn]

Havensight is the older of the cruise ship docks, it was around in the '70's. West Indian Company manages it. Crown Bay (Sub Base etc) was renovated a few years ago with Carnival Corp providing some funding along with a 10 year contract for HAL and Princess to primarily dock there.

There is, howevetr, a slight problem - The Allure and The Oasis won't fit at Havensight so they have priority at Crown Bay

According to both VI Now and WICO there are 6 ships calling on St Thomas on the 11th with only 5 berths for docking, 2 at Crown Bay and 3 at Havensight.

That leaves Westerdam as Odd Man Out.

If a more than one HAL or Princess ship calls on St Thomas when the Allure/Oasis does, the additional HAL/Princess ship will dock at Havensight unless it is full, in which case it will tender.

Edited October 26, 2015 by richwmn

[KAKcruiser]

But Labatsman's cruise only had 3 ships in port that day and the Westerdam went to Havensight.

[richwmn]

But Labatsman's cruise only had 3 ships in port that day and the Westerdam went to Havensight.

The sequence I gave is what I was told several years ago. Operational considerations always have priority.

 

According to WICO Westerdam was scheduled to dock at Crown Bay. There might have been a reason to move her to Havensight but it would not necessarily have been published.

 

VI Now also shows that Westerdam was scheduled for Crown Bay

[SS Exeter]

But Labatsman's cruise only had 3 ships in port that day and the Westerdam went to Havensight.

Sorry - We got got off this same cruise - Westerdam - departed 10/17/2015.

We were at Crown Bay - the Emerald Princess was next to us. I'd love to be in Havensight - but this same cruise in April also docked at Crown Bay.

Labatsman & her Mom & Sister may have been having too good a time to have noticed. Hugs to Terry!:cool:

[catl331]

Even if you dock how were you planning to get to St Johns. I took a HAL tour of the island and had to get on another small boat at the dock. Then one has to get off at St. Johns. What are you planning to do there? Not too much near the pier. Are you going to a resort?

[Fouremco]

The sequence I gave is what I was told several years ago. Operational considerations always have priority.

 

According to WICO Westerdam was scheduled to dock at Crown Bay. There might have been a reason to move her to Havensight but it would not necessarily have been published.

 

VI Now also shows that Westerdam was scheduled for Crown Bay

A couple of years ago on the Noordam we were scheduled to dock at Crown Bay. DW planned our day accordingly. On the day of our arrival, we were redirected to Havensight. Never did find out the reason, beyond the fact that it was the harbour master's decision.

 

Again, last month we were scheduled to dock in Charlottetown but ended up tendering. These things happen, just part of cruising.

[Atocha Shipwreck Gal]

Wow...I am the original poster and can't thank u enough for all ur responses and suggestions. That is why I love CC - everyone takes care of one another. Well I think u r all correct...we need to play it by ear and once onboard I will talk to someone in the know to see what their thoughts are as far as how easy it will be to tender. We go on tour boats all the time in Florida and have taken the ferry back & forth to St John....the issue for me with tendering is the though of having two boats bobbing. It would be different if you were getting on solid ground. The fact there is an elevator / lift down to the tender sounds great so there won't be a bunch of stairs. But if it is tendering we won't make it to St John on our own so am thinking about renting a car for the day in St Thomas. Have driven throughout the Caribbean so driving on the left on curvy roads is not a problem for me. If we docked at Havensight, car rental is there. But not knowing where we r coming in, I am not sure where to reserve. Does anyone have any thoughts / suggestions? And if I can't get her off the ship, would hate to lose the money for the reservation. Does anyone know if passengers in wheelchairs are able to tender at St Thomas in the past? She is not in a wheelchair but I feel if someone in a wheelchair feels safe enough to tender, with me and 4 strong HAL guys, we can help her feel safe.

[sherilyn70]

So now that we've got all of that sorted out, where exactly is the north port the document refers to for my docking on the 4th next week?

[sail7seas]

So now that we've got all of that sorted out, where exactly is the north port the document refers to for my docking on the 4th next week?

 

Please let us know as soon as you find out. :)

 

[POA1]

So now that we've got all of that sorted out, where exactly is the north port the document refers to for my docking on the 4th next week?

I'm pretty sure it's Crown Bay. That's the more northern of the docks.

[sherilyn70]

Please let us know as soon as you find out. :)

 

I'll definitely confirm on the 4th since I'll have data there. I also plan to sign up for the social media Internet package for the trip.