Villefranche tender arrangement

[1965kopite]

I am looking for information on how quickly one can get onshore from a Celebrity ship tendering at Villefranche.

 

We have a private tour that I would like to get underway as soon as we can get ashore.

 

We arrive at 7am.

 

Our experience at other ports is that it can take quite a while, especially if one is not on a ship tour.

 

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[CruiserBruce]

It will be the same in Villafranche as other locations. I would schedule your tour for 8am. The vender knows how things work. Just get off as fast as you can.

[Hlitner]

There are many different issues that impact on tender operations. Besides delays due to weather issues (high winds, high seas, etc) you have to deal with who gets priority...and your willingness to get up early and be among the first to go to the appropriate lounge and get tender tickets. We assume you are aware that on Celebrity the ship excursions will get priority over everyone...and then you have suites and the frequent cruisers (Elite, Elite Plus, etc) who also get tender priority. If you get an early tender ticket you might get lucky and get on an early tender. Or, you could sit in a lounge for more then an hour (or worse if sea conditions slow down tender operations). So there is no accurate way to predict exactly when you will get ashore.

 

Most decent private tour operators are well aware of the tender situation and will wait. But we find it useful to get a phone number for the tour company (or specific guide) so you can call them with an update of your situation. Not everyone has a cell phone that works in Europe....but this is actually a good idea with private or independent travel. T-Mobile gives most of their users access to European cell service for no additional cost (except 20 cents per minute for phone calls). Verizon can provide access for an additional monthly fee (check with your provider). Other carriers are more hit or miss so you need to check. We were pleased to note on our most recent European cruise (HAL) that the ship provided us with a ship phone number...while traveling in Europe. This was a first, for us, as in the past one would have to contact the ship's agent if there was a problem when ashore (such as getting back to the ship).

 

Hank

Edited August 29, 2016 by Hlitner

[1965kopite]

Thankyou all for the advice.

I did also call the Captains Club, who advised me that if we go to guest relations on board they could issue us early tender tickets. I was also told elsewhere that at Villefranche they use local commercial tenders that have much larger capacity than the ships own tenders.

 

We will find out soon!

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beanb41]

Thankyou all for the advice.

I did also call the Captains Club, who advised me that if we go to guest relations on board they could issue us early tender tickets. I was also told elsewhere that at Villefranche they use local commercial tenders that have much larger capacity than the ships own tenders.

 

We will find out soon!

 

 

 

 

 

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I wouldn't hold my breath expecting this advice to actually occur. If it was the case then everyone would do it. Even if you get an early tender you will still be behind excursions and elite plus Captains club members

[jspqld]

Recently we were on the Equinox tendered at Villefranche. The day before we had no set plans of what to do and had originally decided we would just sleep in and then get a tender after the mad rush and train it into Monaco.

On the day, we were actually wide awake early and saw the ship anchoring etc, just around 7am. We had a change of plan & decided to wing it and go downstairs and start lining up for tender tickets and get off as soon as we could. To our complete surprise, there was no one waiting for tender tickets and the staff didn't even bother to issue us a ticket and sent us straight down to the waiting tender which happened to be a small local ferry boat. We left about 10 mins later with the boat less than half full and were at the port by about 7.30 !

So you just never know!

[Beanb41]

If one is on the Constellation in May 2017 I would expect high tender interest as it is Monaco GP day and already on the Roll Call there are many who will be travelling to Monaco for the great race