Forced to hire tender boats in Bar Harbor, ME?

[Mynki]

In Bali the third party tenders would get you to shore in a third of the time Millennium's life boats would. What's not to like about that? 

I can't see any negatives with the third party boats. Only positives. 

[Denny01]

Well I guess the OP was concerned with the extra cost of 3rd Party. Celebrity is a company in a very competitive business so I usually don’t get to wrapped in such. There’s reasons. 

 

When i first joined cruisecritic I posted about how neat it was to try new foods and not to worry about only having a taste. Boy, you should have seen the very nasty posts about waste and cost. They got so nasty, the Host shut it down. The main attacker then started another thread on how terrible people are wasting things that cost everyone. That got shutdown too. 

 

If someone is going to get concerned over some Line being wasteful of ‘their’ money, I’d get more concerned about all the recent posts from those insisting they should get some type of refund because of price drops after final payments. 

 

I see see that as a waste. But again, the company calculates they’ll placate someone demanding what they aren’t owed and keep them as future customers. So in the big picture it would appear to save a few bucks. 

 

Den

[Tatka]

We used 3rd party boats on Adventure of the Seas month ago in Bar Harbor. They are good.

The only one complaint is that they are huge so it takes some time to load and unload passengers.

[hcat]

Big boats  with more people need bigger tenders...and the port ones are more suited to the job...like little ferry boats

 

Folks already complain about getting high tender numbers!

 

On EDGE, the fancy modernn tenders cannot do the job on their own,,.,needed supp tenders in St Maarten,

[Baron Barracuda]

11 minutes ago, hcat said:

Big boats  with more people need bigger tenders...and the port ones are more suited to the job...like little ferry boats

 

Folks already complain about getting high tender numbers!

 

On EDGE, the fancy modernn tenders cannot do the job on their own,,.,needed supp tenders in St Maarten,

 

Edge tenders in Philipsburg?  Haven't seen tenders in St Maarten in many years since they built the piers.  

[hcat]

17 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

 

Edge tenders in Philipsburg?  Haven't seen tenders in St Maarten in many years since they built the piers.  

Oops.. and double oops

So  sorry I mispoke,....It was Grand Cayman....no tenders were  needed for EDGE in St Maarten!

Thanks for catching that....

[Baron Barracuda]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

Oops.. and double oops

So  sorry I mispoke,....It was Grand Cayman....no tenders were  needed for EDGE in St Maarten!

Thanks for catching that....

 

That's a relief.  Know Philipsburg can get crowded in the winter.

 

Tendering in Grand Cayman can get interesting.  On our last Equinox sailing we had to suspend tendering for two hours due to rough seas.  We were sixth ship from pier and they made all passengers on tenders wear life jackets.  Everyone came back soaked.  Staff handed out towels at the gangway.

[kearney]

I believe the local tenders are generally larger than the ones the cruise ship carries. Edge had both lifeboats and tenders...not sure about other Celebrity ships..not sure if they just carry lifeboats or both. I vaguely recall that in some ports it is a requirement to use local tenders... not sure if I recall this correctly. But if you look at OPs photo.. it is clear the tenders are much larger than any of the boats on the cruise ship. Just think how long the lines would be if you had to wait for smaller tenders... that may be the real reason for using local ones... to be honest... I can not recall the last time we used a tender from a cruise ship.... I know we have...but I believe in recent years it has mostly been local tenders.

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Baron Barracuda said:

 

That's a relief.  Know Philipsburg can get crowded in the winter.

 

Tendering in Grand Cayman can get interesting.  On our last Equinox sailing we had to suspend tendering for two hours due to rough seas.  We were sixth ship from pier and they made all passengers on tenders wear life jackets.  Everyone came back soaked.  Staff handed out towels at the gangway.

 

Yup...we  were on the last tender out to GC once..Took forever to load us in...two staff per passenger, one at a time,   Then someone was injured..hit her head boarding as  life boat went up and down.  They attended to her..took her off and sent us in our way,  They  moved tender operation to the other side of the ship.   We were happy to return  safely later in the day and generaly do not take tenders...,..unless in a very smooth area like Belize,

[wrk2cruise]

We were on Summit in Bar Harbor early June.  They were using both the ship's tenders and 2 large private tenders.  We happened to ride the ship's tenders both ways.

[chengkp75]

On 6/24/2019 at 8:50 PM, fstuff1 said:

 

as you can see from the pic (taken 12:30pm), Celebrity is using both 3rd party tender boats and it's own life boats as tenders.

but why?

i only count two 3rd party tender boats.

surely Celebrity is capable of operating 2 additional lifeboats?

 

While the third party tenders may not hold more people than the ship's tenders, they will give each passenger far more room than the ship's boats, and those boats in Bar Harbor, with their SWATH catamaran hull will give a much faster and smoother ride than the "cinder block with an engine" that ship's tenders are.  So, the third party boats will do better in worse conditions (something Bar Harbor knows all about), and it may be why the line has a contract for the boats, in case the weather is bad, but you'd have to have a full time contract or the boats wouldn't be there.  Further, ship's tenders can only be skippered by licensed deck officers, and these guys have other responsibilities while the ship is at anchor (mainly continuing the normal navigation watch), and their watch schedule is typically 4 hours on and 8 hours off, and so the tender operation may interfere with the legally mandated periods of rest that all crew must adhere to.

 

Finally, using ship's boats runs up the operating hours, meaning that maintenance must be done sooner, increasing cost, so contracting for boats, where the maintenance is the boat owner's responsibility and is built into the price but spread over all customers (different lines or doing sightseeing tours when not tendering).

[hcat]

Thanks for all the great info. If we have to take a tender, we prefer a "regular "  boat over a   lifeboat ...Easier to board, less closed in feeling  better ride  etc

 

Do you know how the EDGE tenders are working out? They look luxurious. We'd like to try one of those.  We heard that in GC, they used local boats  and the EDGE tenders...because there are  too many people for just the EDGE tenders, and the gateway space was very backed up....

[fstuff1]

18 hours ago, kearney said:

I believe the local tenders are generally larger than the ones the cruise ship carries. Edge had both lifeboats and tenders...not sure about other Celebrity ships..not sure if they just carry lifeboats or both. I vaguely recall that in some ports it is a requirement to use local tenders... not sure if I recall this correctly. But if you look at OPs photo.. it is clear the tenders are much larger than any of the boats on the cruise ship. Just think how long the lines would be if you had to wait for smaller tenders... that may be the real reason for using local ones... to be honest... I can not recall the last time we used a tender from a cruise ship.... I know we have...but I believe in recent years it has mostly been local tenders.

 

but as i said in one of my replies, the 3rd party tenders are 1 level.

celebrity's tenders are 2 levels.

so about the same amount of passengers?

 

[fstuff1]

16 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

We were on Summit in Bar Harbor early June.  They were using both the ship's tenders and 2 large private tenders.  We happened to ride the ship's tenders both ways.

 

i found the answer from the captain.
the ship has 2 types of boats: Lifeboats and tenders

a lifeboat is single engine and only goes 8knots per hr.
a tender is bigger, shaped more like a catamaran, has dual engines and goes faster.

the Summit only has 4 tenders thus they hired some 3rd party tenders

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by fstuff1

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, fstuff1 said:

 

i found the answer from the captain.
the ship has 2 types of boats: Lifeboats and tenders

a lifeboat is single engine and only goes 8knots per hr.
a tender is bigger, has dual engines and goes faster.

the Summit only has 4 tenders thus they hired some 3rd party tenders

 

Oh, you were thinking that all the lifeboats were the same?  Trust me, if you thought the ship's tender was "close", you don't want to get into a lifeboat.  I would be surprised if a lifeboat, especially a loaded one, could make 8 knots (not "knots per hour"), and they steer like a cinder block.  Tender boats may make 10 knots in good weather and following wind.  Also, when used in their "lifeboat" configuration, the seating on the upper deck is not used.  But, even so, in your picture, you will see that at least one of the ship's tenders is not being used on the starboard side, and most likely another on the port side is similarly not in use.

[fstuff1]

8 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Oh, you were thinking that all the lifeboats were the same?  

 

yes, im a land bloke.

if it's small and has a propeller, it's a lifeboat.

if it doesnt have a propeller, then it's a life raft. 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, fstuff1 said:

 

yes, im a land bloke.

if it's small and has a propeller, it's a lifeboat.

if it doesnt have a propeller, then it's a life raft. 

When I started going to sea, no lifeboats had engines, they had "ash breeze" (oars).

[kearney]

15 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

but as i said in one of my replies, the 3rd party tenders are 1 level.

celebrity's tenders are 2 levels.

so about the same amount of passengers?

 

I don't know... but looking at the photo...the private tender looks considerably larger... broader than the cruise ships tender.... In Cayman the local tenders were two deckers and again much broader in the beam than what was on the ship.... I did not pay attention to passenger count... for locals... but I think... if I recall correctly the Edge's tenders carried about 150 passengers... when used as a tender.... more when used as a life boat. Going by memory

[Mike_DeA]

I would think that the port fees (passengers pay) cover the use of the third party tenders.

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, Mike_DeA said:

I would think that the port fees (passengers pay) cover the use of the third party tenders.

Nope.  It is very restricted to what can be included in port fees and taxes.  Normal "cost of operations" are not allowed to be passed on as port fees.

[Tatka]

On 6/25/2019 at 6:04 PM, Baron Barracuda said:

 

That's a relief.  Know Philipsburg can get crowded in the winter.

 

Tendering in Grand Cayman can get interesting.  On our last Equinox sailing we had to suspend tendering for two hours due to rough seas.  We were sixth ship from pier and they made all passengers on tenders wear life jackets.  Everyone came back soaked.  Staff handed out towels at the gangway.

 

You never know... My friend was on the cruise on NCL Sun and they where anchored not docked in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas !!!! Just one too many ships at that day.

 

We were docked in Philipsburg this past April on NCL Gem and shared port with huge MSC SeaSide, RCCL Harmony and RCCL Advanure. It would've been very crowded in all places if we did not choose to rent a car and drive counterclockwise.  🙂

Edited June 28, 2019 by Tatka

[Jim_Iain]

I was on a B2B and was in Bar Harbor on twice in the past month.   The 3rd party tenders were very comfortable and assisted getting passengers quickly to and from the port.    The 3rd party tenders were much larger than Celebrity.  

 

On our last cruise a couple days ago RCL was in port and were using a HUGE whale watching boat as a Tender.   I would say it held a couple hundred passengers and there was a terribly long line waiting.   

 

I didn't even think to ask as it made the process for us much faster and and efficient.    I should not that I noticed a couple excursions that were picked up directly from Summit for their bay cruise, lighthouse cruise etc.  

 

I should have noted that even with the additional tenders it took about 1 1/2 hours before they had open tenders.  

Edited June 28, 2019 by Jim_Iain

[Mike_DeA]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Nope.  It is very restricted to what can be included in port fees and taxes.  Normal "cost of operations" are not allowed to be passed on as port fees.

I was thinking that if the port required that their tenders be used then it would be included in port fees/taxes.  But I appreciate the clarification.

[Baron Barracuda]

12 minutes ago, Mike_DeA said:

I was thinking that if the port required that their tenders be used then it would be included in port fees/taxes.  But I appreciate the clarification.

 

Believe private outfits run the third party tenders. No connection to port authority.  

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Tatka said:

 

You never know... My friend was on the cruise on NCL Sun and they where anchored not docked in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas !!!! Just one too many ships at that day.

 

We were docked in Philipsburg this past April on NCL Gem and shared port with huge MSC SeaSide, RCCL Harmony and RCCL Advanure. It would've been very crowded in all places if we did not choose to rent a car and drive counterclockwise.  🙂

 

That happened to us in St Thomas.  Eclipse called on Charlotte Amalie during a 6 cruise ship day.  We were the odd man out and had to tender.  Interestingly enough, we were anchored near Steve Jobs's super yacht, Venus.

 

Jan 8, 2014.  Eclipse anchored at St Thomas.  5 of the 6 cruise ships scheduled to be in Charlotte Amalie are pictured.

Edited June 28, 2019 by mahdnc