Tendering suggestions

[travelmama06]

We have two tender ports on our abc cruise in January 2023 - can someone explain the best way to get off ship without huge line ups etc 

 

[JGmf]

Go later, come back sooner....or pay for the Haven for priority: there's no other tricks than that.

[ontheweb]

Book an excursion with the cruise line. They give their own excursions priority.

[bstel]

if i told you my secrets to tendering then they would not be secrets anymore.

[BirdTravels]

54 minutes ago, travelmama06 said:

We have two tender ports on our abc cruise in January 2023 - can someone explain the best way to get off ship without huge line ups etc 

 

The Epic is a large ship and there will be long lines. 
 

Taking a NCL shore excursion at those ports, the shore ex team will [usually] escort you to a tender, bypassing the line. 
 

If you insist to book a private tour, then allow a lot of time to tender. We have taken over an hour to get ashore on the Epic at another port. 
 

If you are going ashore on your own, when you board, immediately pull a tender ticket using a touch screen kiosk in elevator lobbies. 

[cruiseny4life]

17 minutes ago, travelmama06 said:

N4w- I would use the search function if I knew how - I will check into that 

thanks 

It would have been nice if @n4w had actually provided you with the "how-to" on search. Since they didn't, here you go:

 

Find the search bar at the top right of any page in the forums:

 

Put a term in, for reference I put "Norwegian" in. On the results page you can find the advanced search where you can do a more specific search:

 

 

Here are the advanced search features:

 

 

Alternatively, you can just ignore rude posters and ask your questions. 

 

Bon voyage! 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by cruiseny4life

[travelmama06]

Thank you so much I will try that !!!!

you are a life saver cruiseny4life

[travelmama06]

Get the tender ticket when we board - meaning when exactly ? Sorry ?

[MyTMo777]

How do you see which ports are tender ports? I feel like I should know this, but it doesn't show on my itinerary summary online. Where else do I look?

[shof515]

5 minutes ago, MyTMo777 said:

How do you see which ports are tender ports? I feel like I should know this, but it doesn't show on my itinerary summary online. Where else do I look?

there is a list on ncl website:

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising-tender-ports

[MyTMo777]

16 minutes ago, shof515 said:

there is a list on ncl website:

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising-tender-ports

Thank you. I would expect that to show I my itinerary. 

[shof515]

7 minutes ago, MyTMo777 said:

Thank you. I would expect that to show I my itinerary. 

in your cruise confirmation email, under Itinerary it shows Docked/Tender

[casofilia]

@travelmama06

 

Dive overboard and swim VERY quickly!!

[LGinPA]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:09 PM, BirdTravels said:

 

If you are going ashore on your own, when you board, immediately pull a tender ticket using a touch screen kiosk in elevator lobbies. 

 

I'm new to cruising therefor don't understand what you m mean. 

 

How is "going to show on your own" different than taking a private excursion? 

 

And will someone please expand on "when you board, immediately pull a tender ticket"? 

 

[2bc cruisers]

I’ll jump in….

R/t tendering…Going to shore on your own and private excursion are basically the same thing.  You only get dedicated tender time when on a cruise line excursion.  
 

it takes a lot of time to get everyone onto a tender from these big ships.

 

when you get onboard, there are touchscreens near the elevators, and lobby areas, the touchscreens will have an option to choose tender tickets.  If you want off early, select a tender at earliest avail, it might be like 24 hrs before the tender port visit.  I don’t remember that detail.  
 

Also select comedy show times you may want asap….

[julig22]

Process for getting tender tickets may vary by ship and/or port. Ship size/capacity and tender capacity, plus distance to the port will determine how long it might take, both to board and get ashore.

Tickets are never needed for NCL excursions.

On my last couple of cruises, tickets were available in the morning, not reserved ahead. Latitudes gold and above did not need tickets - probably also applies to Haven and those with priority access.  Tickets not needed once the initial crowds have cleared out.

[dumbth]

Assuming you want a longish time ashore and mostly on your own, I would look for a trivial shore excursion. Some are just short bus rides to an attraction where you can return early, but should give you some disembarkation priority. And they may be nearly free with the common $50 deduction for excursions offered. Otherwise choose a part day morning excursion for someplace you wanted to visit anyway, then afternoon on your own.

Edited September 4, 2022 by dumbth

[LGinPA]

14 hours ago, 2bc cruisers said:

I’ll jump in….

R/t tendering…Going to shore on your own and private excursion are basically the same thing.  You only get dedicated tender time when on a cruise line excursion.  
 

it takes a lot of time to get everyone onto a tender from these big ships.

 

when you get onboard, there are touchscreens near the elevators, and lobby areas, the touchscreens will have an option to choose tender tickets.  If you want off early, select a tender at earliest avail, it might be like 24 hrs before the tender port visit.  I don’t remember that detail.  
 

Also select comedy show times you may want asap….

 

Thank you, this helped me understand.

 

11 hours ago, julig22 said:

Process for getting tender tickets may vary by ship and/or port. Ship size/capacity and tender capacity, plus distance to the port will determine how long it might take, both to board and get ashore.

Tickets are never needed for NCL excursions.

On my last couple of cruises, tickets were available in the morning, not reserved ahead. Latitudes gold and above did not need tickets - probably also applies to Haven and those with priority access.  Tickets not needed once the initial crowds have cleared out.

 

OK, so we may decide to book NCL excursions at the tender ports. If not we'll look for tender ticket availability early.  Thanks! 

 

5 hours ago, dumbth said:

Assuming you want a longish time ashore and mostly on your own, I would look for a trivial shore excursion. Some are just short bus rides to an attraction where you can return early, but should give you some disembarkation priority. And they may be nearly free with the common $50 deduction for excursions offered. Otherwise choose a part day morning excursion for someplace you wanted to visit anyway, then afternoon on your own.

 

Yes, we will likely want a longish time ashore and will consider your suggestion. Thanks! 

 

🙂 

[eileeshb]

Excursion tickets are not a guarantee if your fellow cruisers are largely idiots. A bunch of people missed their excursions at great stirrup cay because of idiots queuing up before their tender slot was announced. I got a ticket for the first tender after excursions, haven and top latitudes and still didn’t make the island until lunchtime. Crew were having to walk along the queue and pull folks forward who had tickets that had been called.  So if you have a ticket for a tender group that’s been called ignore the queue and walk to the location announced. 
 

also depending on your itinerary some “tender ports” are not always tender ports so look at the details for your specific itinerary, some only become a tender port if there’s too many ships calling on the same day and there’s not enough pier capacity whereas others are always a tender port for larger ships but smaller ones can dock.  Also if a pier is damaged it can change the port to become a tender port, e.g. harvest cay just before covid when the pier got smashed up. 

[LGinPA]

59 minutes ago, eileeshb said:

also depending on your itinerary some “tender ports” are not always tender ports so look at the details for your specific itinerary, some only become a tender port if there’s too many ships calling on the same day and there’s not enough pier capacity whereas others are always a tender port for larger ships but smaller ones can dock.  Also if a pier is damaged it can change the port to become a tender port, e.g. harvest cay just before covid when the pier got smashed up. 

 

Santorini Greece is definitely a tender port.  Also, we get in at 1 PM, and the only other ship is smaller and arrived early.  So too many ships should not be an issue. 

 

Thanks for adding to the possible tender scenarios.

[Laszlo]

On 8/31/2022 at 7:22 PM, MyTMo777 said:

Thank you. I would expect that to show I my itinerary. 

Take the list with a grain of salt. I've been to St Kitts and St Lucia..... never tendered at either one. Our 12 day in January 2023 has them as tendering. I don't think we will since our ship is the only ship in port when we arrive

[Middleager]

By becoming Gold status or up, you get priority tender tickets.

[alwalaska]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:09 PM, BirdTravels said:

The Epic is a large ship and there will be long lines. 
 

Taking a NCL shore excursion at those ports, the shore ex team will [usually] escort you to a tender, bypassing the line. 
 

If you insist to book a private tour, then allow a lot of time to tender. We have taken over an hour to get ashore on the Epic at another port. 
 

If you are going ashore on your own, when you board, immediately pull a tender ticket using a touch screen kiosk in elevator lobbies. 

Can you please tell me more about the tender ticket kiosks.  Is this on all ships?  We have a tender port on the Dawn in February.

 

Does Platinum help at all with tendering?  I remember one time we were told to get at the back of the 3 flights of stairs line. Our benefit was not needing a ticket, but they were calling tickets so fast, the line was always crazy long.