epic tender

[luv2gamble]

Hi all, I am going on the Epic 12/10 which goes to Tortola British Virgin island, St. Thomas, and the private island in the Bahamas. I know you need to tender for the private island but does anyone know if you tender at the other ports? Also, does anyone know if I can get a wheel chair on the Epic. I don't know if you can and if its free or a cost. Thanks for all your help. :D

[nevada2121]

I was on the breakaway in January and there's a nice, big 2 ship dock in Tortola

 

 

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[steffymi]

Just got off Escape Saturday and didn't need to tender in Tortola or St Thomas.

 

 

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[luv2gamble]

Thanks all

[ggTexasGal]

Hi all, I am going on the Epic 12/10 which goes to Tortola British Virgin island, St. Thomas, and the private island in the Bahamas. I know you need to tender for the private island but does anyone know if you tender at the other ports? Also, does anyone know if I can get a wheel chair on the Epic. I don't know if you can and if its free or a cost. Thanks for all your help. :D

 

I have no direct answer for you regarding a wheel chair, but I hope this helps:

www(dot)ncl(dot)com/about/accessible-cruising

[BensonFan711]

Hi! I'm going on the Epic on 12/30. My parents and I went on Getaway last January, and my dad needed a wheelchair. We used a company called Special Needs at Sea (you can Google them). It was $85 to rent a standard wheelchair for the week. The customer service lady was fantastic, and she was able to answer all of my questions.

 

There's a pick up stand in Miami, but I'm not sure if they have one in Port Canaveral. If not, the chair will be waiting in your stateroom, but you can request a wheelchair assist through Norwegian if you require assistance getting up the main gangway for embarkation (and for disembarkation, too). Norwegian went out of their way for my dad last winter, so I would expect the same level of service in your case, too. Have a great trip!

[Bonobochick]

Tortola and St. Thomas have docks for the big ships, so you're good there.

 

I tendered in St. Thomas once on the Gem but that was solely cause there were many other ships in port that day. I heard someone say we were the smallest ship and that's why we anchored / tendered. Who knows? Anywho, I actually didn't mind the tender as it dropped us off right in the heart of Charlotte Amalie.

 

Give yourself plenty of time for the Great Stirrup Cay tender. I was on the Epic for Nov 19th week and the tender each way was a complete nightmare of long waiting periods.

[Erik_On_The_High_Seas]

I agree with Bonobochick, who commented:

>>Give yourself plenty of time for the Great Stirrup Cay tender. I was on the Epic for Nov 19th week and the tender each way was a complete nightmare of long waiting periods. <<

 

I was on that cruise too. The tendering process for both Grand Cayman and Great Stirrup Cay went on for hours, but was worse for the private island. Even with a tender reservation time, there was still a musical-chairs game that went on for over an hour. Returning from the private island, the line was about 200 yards long. Many in our group simply waited until the line almost disappeared, and we got on the last tender -- about 1 1/2 hours after the ship's scheduled departure time.

 

I've never been on a cruise that required reservations for tenders, and I've never seen as huge of a mess in using them as on NCL Epic. It was an, uh, Epic Fail.

[zqvol]

Hi all, I am going on the Epic 12/10 which goes to Tortola British Virgin island, St. Thomas, and the private island in the Bahamas. I know you need to tender for the private island but does anyone know if you tender at the other ports? Also, does anyone know if I can get a wheel chair on the Epic. I don't know if you can and if its free or a cost. Thanks for all your help. :D

 

Generally you do not tender in either St. Thomas or Tortola, BUT it is no unheard of, though not common. Disney is usually the one that tenders in St. Thomas, and if there are three ships in Tortola, then one has to tender, it used to be that NCL tendered at Tortola.

[Bonobochick]

I agree with Bonobochick, who commented:

>>Give yourself plenty of time for the Great Stirrup Cay tender. I was on the Epic for Nov 19th week and the tender each way was a complete nightmare of long waiting periods. <<

 

I was on that cruise too. The tendering process for both Grand Cayman and Great Stirrup Cay went on for hours, but was worse for the private island. Even with a tender reservation time, there was still a musical-chairs game that went on for over an hour. Returning from the private island, the line was about 200 yards long. Many in our group simply waited until the line almost disappeared, and we got on the last tender -- about 1 1/2 hours after the ship's scheduled departure time.

 

I've never been on a cruise that required reservations for tenders, and I've never seen as huge of a mess in using them as on NCL Epic. It was an, uh, Epic Fail.

 

OMG, that return line from GSC was ridiculous. I stood in line for 50 minutes starting around 3pm and they finally took a third tender boat out to use cause the line was so long. I also had to stand on the top deck for the return journey as they were trying to fit many people on.

 

Getting to the Great Stirrup Cay, I sat in the Epic theatre for almost an hour before they started letting the sections load and then it was another 20-25 minutes of loading the tender. I didn't have much of wait either way with Grand Cayman, but that Great Stirrup Cay tender operation was beyond poorly planned by NCL, esp knowing the ship was sold out. :mad: