NCL ship in Coxen Hole - dock or tender?

[mijas12]

I never thought it can be such an unsolvable puzzle... 🙂

We will be in Roatan on Feb 17 2020 on NCL (Norwegian) ship. As far as understand, NCL goes to Coxen Hole (not Mahogany).

Nowhere on my NCL itinerary it says that it is a rendering port. I also gave a call to NCL to double check - they said they don't see that it is tendering in Roatan, but I suppose agents on the phone are pretty clueless anyways.

However, Roatan Tourism website clearly says:

The Port of Roatan can only accommodate one cruise ship at a time alongside its pier and two more ships via anchorage. If your day in port coincides with another ship's arrival, you might be docked, or you might need to tender to shore. Usually, Royal Caribbean cruise ships dock while Norwegian cruise ships tender when they coincide at Port of Roatan. 

According to the cruising calendar there will be two ships in the port on that day - exactly RCCL and NCL, meaning that NCL will have to tender.

Is there any way to find out for sure? I am trying to book my own transportation, but want to avoid booking cruise line excursions. But if we have to tender, this means it is unpredictable how long it it is going to take us to get to the shore.

[Guest 2000]

Sadly there's another fly in the ointment. They revamping that port to accommodate more than one ship. The work may or may not be done by the time you visit the island. 

 

It may be completely impossible to find out if you dock or tender.

 

Perhaps have a chat with your transportation,    see what they recommend.

 

Island off the coast of a third world country, the challenges they do abound. :0) 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Guest 2000

[crewsweeper]

I'm on that RCCL ship (the huge Symphony of the Seas) and am assuming the new dock will be completed by then.  But if not it is a very short tender ride.  Not even 5 minutes.

 

Best thing to do is to watch for NCL reviews between now and then.  Not just your ship but others.  You'll know if they are docking with 2 ships in port.  And believe me, the independent excursion operators will know before you do and will be waiting for you at the pick up point they indicate on your reservation. 

 

 

[mijas12]

interesting, I didn't know they are building a new dock. 

my concern that if it's tendering we won't be on the first boats (as these are for suites and pre-booked excursions from the cruise line) and going to lose more time waiting in line to get ashore.

[Guest 2000]

35 minutes ago, mijas12 said:

interesting, I didn't know they are building a new dock. 

my concern that if it's tendering we won't be on the first boats (as these are for suites and pre-booked excursions from the cruise line) and going to lose more time waiting in line to get ashore.

 

Indeed one should never get in a hurry when cruisng, ya gotta deal with all those other peoples. 

 

Your driver will be fine with the wait. They do this for a loving and have a fair idea of how things work. 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Guest 2000

[redlock]

We are on the same cruise Mijas12, and I was thinking the same thing.

I looked on the Norwegian Escapes bridge camera today (6th Jan) and noticed the ship is bertherd behind the Symphony Of The Seas, on a new pier.

 

[mijas12]

Thanks redlock!

Great idea to check the bridge camera! I didn't think about it :) Just checked and saw the same image. I was checking the ship position on the map on www.***** website, but I guess the map doesn't have the new pier yet, so it looks like the ship is not docked.

It's wonderful that we will be docking. Now, just need to figure out whether it's docking or tendering in Cozumel as there are too many ships on that day - nine! :)

 

[redlock]

Hopefully Punta Langosta pier.

 

There is a schedule on this site,  but it's only showing the coming week.

So need to check near to date.

 

https://cozumelinsider.com/?Page=CruiseShips

[mijas12]

Thanks for the link!

 

Knowing a week ahead of time is better than not knowing at all. :)

[c-leg5]

10 hours ago, mijas12 said:

Thanks for the link!

 

Knowing a week ahead of time is better than not knowing at all. 🙂

Not sure that helps with whether you are tendering or not, only how many ships are in port.

[mijas12]

You can check how many ships planned to be in port here:

http://crew-center.com/cozumel-mexico-cruise-schedule-january-april-2020

(this one is for Cozumel, but website has all ports for any day).

Cozumel will have 9 (!) ships on Feb 20 Thu. This week on Thu there is 8. 9 ships in port seems to be very rare even for Cozumel

[c-leg5]

23 minutes ago, mijas12 said:

You can check how many ships planned to be in port here:

http://crew-center.com/cozumel-mexico-cruise-schedule-january-april-2020

(this one is for Cozumel, but website has all ports for any day).

Cozumel will have 9 (!) ships on Feb 20 Thu. This week on Thu there is 8. 9 ships in port seems to be very rare even for Cozumel

Usually only 8 ships can dock. I think Langosta may be able to take 3 small ones allowing 9, otherwise someone has to tender. 
https://www.iqcruising.com/ports/caribbean/cozumel/cruise-terminals-overview.html

[mijas12]

That's my worry, that someone will have to tender on such a busy day. And I have heard NCL Escape was tendering in Cozumel on some days before. I don't know how it is decided who's tendering and who's not. Is it somehow based on arrival time? Escape is one of the 5 arriving earlier (7 to 8 am), the rest come at 9-10 am.. 

[c-leg5]

48 minutes ago, mijas12 said:

That's my worry, that someone will have to tender on such a busy day. And I have heard NCL Escape was tendering in Cozumel on some days before. I don't know how it is decided who's tendering and who's not. Is it somehow based on arrival time? Escape is one of the 5 arriving earlier (7 to 8 am), the rest come at 9-10 am.. 

 

Sometimes these port schedules are published a long time in advance and are not always accurate when itineraries are actually finalized or there are last minute changes.
 

You can only estimate by checking several different sites and the individual cruiselines.  I have only done a quick search but I am not seeing Carnival Vista listed on all sites to be in Cozumel for that date, for example.

Edited January 8, 2020 by c-leg5

[mijas12]

I see, thanks for info!

[mijas12]

Today Escape is in Cozumel. It looks like despite what cozumelinsider webpage indicates it is not at Punta Langosta pier but rather closer to the Internation pier:

 

 

And also looks like it is tendering:

 

Unless I am misunderstanding something...

[c-leg5]

2 hours ago, mijas12 said:

Today Escape is in Cozumel. It looks like despite what cozumelinsider webpage indicates it is not at Punta Langosta pier but rather closer to the Internation pier:

 

 

And also looks like it is tendering:

 

Unless I am misunderstanding something...

Your assessment would appear to be correct. You do not show who is docked at Langosta? Is it Brilliance and Breakaway? Have Breakaway and Escape changed places?

 

As my above link showed only two ships can dock at International and preference would be given to RCCL ships., so presumably Breakaway was scheduled  to tender there.

 

Tendering is usually to International or Puerta Maya but a long time ago when docks were damaged we did tender into town. I don’t know if that has stopped.

 

There appears to be an open pier at Puerta Maya but perhaps ships are too big.  I recall last month when the Carnival ships hit that there was a Norwegian ship in that location but it didn't stay probably because it was  too windy to tender.

Edited January 9, 2020 by c-leg5

[mijas12]

Exactly. There are Brilliance and Breakaway at Langosta.

 

And then Edge and another ship at International (it has left already, so I don't see - possibly Independence). And then Sky Princess, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Vista at Puerta Maya.

 

I checked this few times before. I don't see I ever saw more than 3 ships at Puerta Maya.

[c-leg5]

14 minutes ago, mijas12 said:

Exactly. There are Brilliance and Breakaway at Langosta.

 

And then Edge and another ship at International (it has left already, so I don't see - possibly Independence). And then Sky Princess, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Vista at Puerta Maya.

 

I checked this few times before. I don't see I ever saw more than 3 ships at Puerta Maya.

OK sounds like Breakaway and Escape changed places because Breakaway gets in first.

[mijas12]

Now it's all too confusing 🙂

You don't know what pier it's going to get to, and whether it's tendering or docking. Hard to choose where to rent a car, or book excursion - as some have pick up points close to one pier, others to another.