Why are so many ports tendering?

[Peachypooh]

I just looked at a cruise on the Pearl and almost all the ports are tendering. I have been to

most of these ports before and no tendering. One itinerary had tendering for Grand Cayman (expected),

Harvest Caye (won't they get the dock fixed by 2023??), Cozumel and one other I can't remember but it was

one that used to dock. I even see tendering for the Encore at some ports . I was on her in Dec. of 2019 and believe me

it would take forever to get everyone off the ship!

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Peachypooh

[All-ready2cruise]

I wonder if it's a glitch being it's so far out. I have 2 cruises booked in '22 and only 1 port, GSC, is a tender port.  

 

Can't imagine having to tender at every port.  

[dexddd]

Just saw article about Grand Cayman.  They sound like they will even limit number of ships tendering and completely gave up on idea of building a dock.

 

They basically said that the past twelve months proved no major impact.

[casofilia]

The number of ships cruising; especially to the "better" ports.

[roger001]

But....so far into the future, maybe just showing tendering until the schedule gets much closer and a real look at port traffic can be determined.  Right now, I don't think anything about a cruise, including whether it will even go, is close to a certainty.  

[BubMunkeyBles]

I was surprised to see that my itinerary says St Lucia and St Kitts are tender ports. I hope as it gets closer it changes.

[don't-use-real-name]

There is more to this than meets the eye - - -

 

I don't think it is because of control of the covid virus - - -

 

First off the number of ships vying for the pier use -

Availability to maneuver in limited space -

Depth of harbor bay cay around said space -

Maybe able to tie the lines on only one side of a pier -

Length of pier into the maneuverable space -

Some cruise lines invest into the infrastructure building a pier -

In other words they own priority to its use -

Priority given to a larger mega ship over a smaller one to handle more guests -

Prior booking arrangements scheduling for pier use (first come first serve ?) -

Length of time the pier space is going to be tied up -

Service needs (fueling maintenance waste disposal) while tied up at a pier -

There are perhaps a host of more reasons - - - 

 

[brookie848]

When I was looking at 2022 cruises, I noticed a few of the itineraries had "regular" ports marked as tender ports. I think there are simply more ships than dock space. In 2022, just NCL, you have at least the Joy, Breakaway, Escape, Encore, and Dawn sailing the Caribbean. Plus, the Epic is in the southern Caribbean, but those ports don't often overlap.

 

Then you consider that every other cruise company is pumping out new ships and running them in the Caribbean in the winter and the ports are just saturated.

 

I think this is another instance of things growing a bit too quickly and cruise lines making all of their itineraries the same. We went to St. Maarten on our first NCL cruise and I would enjoy going back...but that's been a rare port for NCL the past few years.

[PelicanBill]

Wow. It seems every western itinerary on Joy, Breakaway and Dawn all show Roatan, Cozumel and Harvest Cay as tender ports.

 

I am not booking a cruise that had 3 tender ports out of 4. Whatever their holdup is, they need to fix it!

 

I don't buy the argument that scheduling hasn't been figured out at all these ports for all these ships. It's only 6 months away. These things have always been determined for 12-18 months ahead before.

 

[CruiseMH]

Especially Cozumel has dock space for 8 ships at a time.I know that Cozumel is a VERY busy port but even they almost never have 8 ships at the same time in port.

 

[don't-use-real-name]

On 3/9/2021 at 7:41 AM, PelicanBill said:

Wow. It seems every western itinerary on Joy, Breakaway and Dawn all show Roatan, Cozumel and Harvest Cay as tender ports.

 

I am not booking a cruise that had 3 tender ports out of 4. Whatever their holdup is, they need to fix it!

 

I don't buy the argument that scheduling hasn't been figured out at all these ports for all these ships. It's only 6 months away. These things have always been determined for 12-18 months ahead before.

 

Harvest Cay will always be a tender port (at least for more than one ship)

I would not want to be at H C if there are two ships there OVERTAXING the facility !

 

Cozumel can pier 8 ships - "BUT" - if one of them is a mega huge ship you potentially

could lose 2 pier spaces

 

Roatan (I have been there on the DAWN prior to adding another berth space) looking at the

available photos if a mega ship occupies the main pier there may be serious restrictions

on the size of the other ship to use this newly added berth - the harbor is very tight on space

The other pier space Mahogany Bay is Carnival territory.

 

Depending on the size of the ship relative to the pier/berth and the scheduling someone

is going to have to tender - preferably the smaller ship inconveniencing the fewest guests !

And then the factor of who will be there longer (first in - last out)

 

AGREED if you are going to be on a cruise where 3 out of 4 ports are going to be TENDER

ports seek another cruise (or cruise line) - you can do better.

The 4th port on the western Caribbean is Costa Maya - 2 ship limit on pier space.

 

Planning - Scheduling 6 - 12 - 18 months ahead is a real headache with the virus issue:

factor that in who get dibs on pier space when cruising returns - - - - -

[PelicanBill]

11 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Harvest Cay will always be a tender port (at least for more than one ship)

I would not want to be at H C if there are two ships there OVERTAXING the facility !

 

Cozumel can pier 8 ships - "BUT" - if one of them is a mega huge ship you potentially

could lose 2 pier spaces

 

Roatan (I have been there on the DAWN prior to adding another berth space) looking at the

available photos if a mega ship occupies the main pier there may be serious restrictions

on the size of the other ship to use this newly added berth - the harbor is very tight on space

The other pier space Mahogany Bay is Carnival territory.

 

Depending on the size of the ship relative to the pier/berth and the scheduling someone

is going to have to tender - preferably the smaller ship inconveniencing the fewest guests !

And then the factor of who will be there longer (first in - last out)

 

AGREED if you are going to be on a cruise where 3 out of 4 ports are going to be TENDER

ports seek another cruise (or cruise line) - you can do better.

The 4th port on the western Caribbean is Costa Maya - 2 ship limit on pier space.

 

Planning - Scheduling 6 - 12 - 18 months ahead is a real headache with the virus issue:

factor that in who get dibs on pier space when cruising returns - - - - -

 

What makes no sense is that all 3 NCL ships that are doing western with these ports over a 6 month period have all these ports listed as tendering.  That's just not likely.  It sure seems like they have not allocated piers or bothered to work it out with the pandemic.

 

Highly annoying. I want a western cruise but won't book under this condition - my wife uses a scooter so no going ashore at any tender port.  Looks like we are flying to Mexico instead...

[cruisekitty22]

Hoping this changes for Cozumel in the near future. We love to see the pier runners there.

[cruiserssandr]

We found tendering at Great Harvest Caye was actually easier than when we docked there. It's abount a quarter of a mile walk to get there if the ship docks. Tendering took us right there.

[farmersfight]

7 hours ago, cruisekitty22 said:

Hoping this changes for Cozumel in the near future. We love to see the pier runners there.

 

You may still be able to see a few after the last tender has left the dock. I think pier running in Cozumel has nearly become an Olympic sport.