Tendering in Bar Harbor

[Topdog52]

Does it take a long time to get off the ship and then get tendered into Bar Harbor. Not sure how long all that will take and I do not want to miss my excursion. TIA

[KD Travel Adventures]

On 2/15/2020 at 2:18 PM, Topdog52 said:

Does it take a long time to get off the ship and then get tendered into Bar Harbor. Not sure how long all that will take and I do not want to miss my excursion. TIA

Below is a picture of Bar Harbor and where Royal Caribbean anchored.  The circle in the center is where they tendered us to shore. At the right is an arrow that shows where Holland had a ship anchored.  I can't remember how long it took to get to shore, but guessing 10-20 minutes.  You didn't mention if it was a cruise ship excursion or one you booked on your own, but  if it's an excursion through the ship, which ours was, they told us what time to be on shore and we had plenty of time to get there.  If its an excursion on your own, I would assume that the tour company knows what time the ship arrives and what time you will get to shore.  Just give yourself plenty of time. We walked around Bar Harbor before our excursion. Its a beautiful and cute little town.

Not sure if your excursion goes to Cadillac Mountain, but I do highly recommend it. The view is breathtaking. Here is a video...https://youtu.be/TD5MCf10Lt0

Enjoy your trip!

 

 

[1025cruise]

Another question, do you go to Bar Harbor before or after Canada? If after, you need to clear immigration before leaving the ship.

 

Each ship has their own procedures for tendering, so its hard to say what the specific procedure for you will be.

[Floridastorm]

We did this cruise in 2015 on HAL Veendam and I don't remember having to tender in any of the ports on this cruise. Are they now tendering for Bar Harbor or have they always tendered?

[Gershep]

We tendered off the NCL Escape in September. It was a really quick ride over, did not take long.

[Topdog52]

2 hours ago, Floridastorm said:

We did this cruise in 2015 on HAL Veendam and I don't remember having to tender in any of the ports on this cruise. Are they now tendering for Bar Harbor or have they always tendered?

From what I am reading they always have.

[1025cruise]

Bar Harbor has always been a tender port. Though if you ask the locals, they would prefer to see the cruise lines skip the port altogether.

[olemissreb]

My mom and I were on Royal Caribbean this past Sept/Oct and the tender to Bar Harbor seemed pretty quick...10-15 minutes or so.  We had booked our own excursion for about 10:30am, so that left plenty of time for us to tender and get some breakfast before our first excursion.  No line getting off the ship either.  Coming back was totally different.  The seas had kicked up so the tender back took 30-45 minutes.  Waves were crashing over the top of the tender.  I thank my lucky stars that I had been taking Bonine at night for about a week prior to getting to Bar Harbor so I didn't get seasick, but if I hadn't, I probably would have.  It was that rough.

 

As for customs, we had to go through customs on the ship prior to tendering in Bar Harbor.  It wasn't a big deal at all.  They started really early and when your number was called, you got in line with your passport and simply walked passed the custom agents showing your id.  Easy peasy and then you went on your way.  Those with ship excursions were in the first groups so they could get off the ship right away and on to the tender to their excursion.  Easiest customs I've ever been through.

[Topdog52]

Thank You!! By the way which excursion did you book and how was your it?

[olemissreb]

15 hours ago, Topdog52 said:

Thank You!! By the way which excursion did you book and how was your it?

My mom and I booked 2 Oli's Trolleys tours.  The first one was a tour of just the downtown area and started at 10:30.  It was a 30 minute tour.  Then we had another tour booked at 1:00 - the 2.5 hour Acadia National Park Tour.  Just late enough in the morning to take the tender and get some breakfast (there's a restaurant right across the street from the tender dock that was really good - sorry can't think of the name right now) and then just enough of a break between tours to walk around a little and get some pictures and some lunch (or in our case a glass of wine since we were full from breakfast and to toast my Aunt who had passed...we got word just as we exited our first tour.)  If we had to do it again, I would skip the downtown tour as much of it was also covered on the 2.5 hour tour.  Other than that, I would highly recommend Oli's Trolleys.