Falkland tendering

[macaroni]

Would appreciate any info on how the tendering is when going to the Falklands….how long, how rough and if they use something other than the ship’s life boats.

Thank you for any insights.

[freaky_82]

We were on the Norwegian Sun early January. Tendering was very badly organised.

 

It took 30 minutes one way. They used only the ships life boats. 4 of them from 2 tender platforms.

 

Passengers Gold and above in the Latitudes Reward Program and Cruise sponsored excursions, could just board the tenders whenever they were liked. All others needed to get tender tickets 1 hour before the beginning of tendering.  We went there 1 and a half hour early as to get one of the first tender groups. Unfortunately they had already started giving out tickets, we got group number 7. This made us almost miss our excursion. The excursion people told us that they were about to leave when we showed up.

 

To get back to the ship, the line was huge. We arrived 30 minutes before last tender, and were on the ship 2 hours later. Our guide recommended us to go have a drink or shop for souvenirs because, it's always like that and it takes at least 2 hours to get everybody back to the ship.

 

[TayanaLorna]

We were there on the Viking Jupiter in 2020.  Being a smaller ship there is no need to stand in line in advance for tender tickets.  Boarding the ships tenders is according to ship sponsored excursions, however they will also accommodate those on private excursions which we had.  All ships must anchor in the outer harbor.  It takes about 30 minutes from ship to dock.  Boarding the outbound tender was easy but the wind was directly into the inner harbor and the waves built up at the floating tender dock and it was a bit rocky.  We had the Volunteer Point tour with Patrick Watts where the jeeps picked us up right at the dock.  We were still there when the second tender arrived and after several tries and hitting a docked local boat in the turn around basin, the tender was not able to pull parellel to the dock and returned to the ship.  Our tour departed and about a half hour out of town, we as lead vehicle received a radio call that Viking was recalling all passengers on shore because subsequent tenders could not dock.  When we asked why we could not just do our excusion and return afterwards, we were told that the winds were predicted to increase and they were afraid they couldn't get us back on the ship.  At least we got to see some of the terrain and the guide pointed out the different sights in town.  Neither of the to and from town tender rides were too rough although returning to the ship we were bashing into seas and waves were washing over the tender.  To get back onto the ship each passenger had to watch the up and down movement of the tender compared to the ship and step aboard when they were most level - not an easy feat.  When everyone was safely on board, we departed and had an additional sea day.  In the afternoon the winds increased to 60 knots offshore and we had 25 foot seas.  All outdoor decks were closed and a wave dampening netting was placed over the interior pool.  Captain made a wise choice in cancelling the port stop.

[SightCRR]

For another source of info check the web cam of HAL Oosterdam on 26 Jan at 20:10. Turn off the auto rotate and you can zoom and tilt. You can check other ports also on different days. 

Webcam Holland America Line - Oosterdam - PANOMAX 360°

Our group was on the NCL Star and got some great shots of the ship from O-dam. Ship started running tenders early and got on one of the first tenders close to 0700 before the ship tours.  The O-dam camera puts the Star to shame. 

sightcrr

[soccermom4]

@SightCRRWow!  That's so cool.  We'll be on O-dam in 1 month doing BA to FLL around Cape Horn and thru the Panama Canal.

 

[SightCRR]

Stanley 26 Jan 23, NCL Star & HAL O-Dam. 

[GeorgeCharlie]

8 hours ago, SightCRR said:

For another source of info check the web cam of HAL Oosterdam on 26 Jan at 20:10. Turn off the auto rotate and you can zoom and tilt. You can check other ports also on different days. 

Webcam Holland America Line - Oosterdam - PANOMAX 360°

Our group was on the NCL Star and got some great shots of the ship from O-dam. Ship started running tenders early and got on one of the first tenders close to 0700 before the ship tours.  The O-dam camera puts the Star to shame. 

sightcrr

 

Thanks for the link.😎

 

We were on the Oosterdam Nov 19 - Dec 20/22 cruise and didn't know they had a 360 camera!!

[GeorgeCharlie]

We were in Falkland Islands on Dec 15/22 and tendering went quite well. Our helicopter tour did not depart until 10:30am, so we didn't need to rush getting off. Although, we did hop on one of the first tender going ashore anyway.

 

They suspended tendering while a brief rain squall when through. 

 

Comments from other passengers indicated the ship tours were a little stressful, both coming & going from the ship, but nothing major. 

[WNcruiser]

On 2/4/2023 at 7:21 AM, macaroni said:

Would appreciate any info on how the tendering is when going to the Falklands….how long, how rough and if they use something other than the ship’s life boats.

Thank you for any insights.

We just tendered there last week. It was about a 15-20 minute ride and it was not rough at all. We actually had very good weather and seas that day even though they told us no ships made it in the day before us. 
 

They do use the ships life boats, I didn’t see any other type of tender that might be used locally. 

[macaroni]

Thank you for the info.

[fstuff1]

Tendered no problems on celebrity infinity last week.

Perfect calm weather.

 

Ncl star was 1 day behind us. 

Same clear calm weather from pics of angry pax on the Star.

Star cancelled the port stating water was too rough for their tender ships. :o

 

Infinity has four 2 engine tender boats.

Does the Star not have double engine tender boats and we're using the underpowered single engine life boats to tender? :o 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by fstuff1

[alanstarr]

10 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

Tendered no problems on celebrity infinity last week.

Perfect calm weather.

 

Ncl star was 1 day behind us. 

Same clear calm weather from pics of angry pax on the Star.

Star cancelled the port stating water was too rough for their tender ships. 😮

 

Infinity has four 2 engine tender boats.

Does the Star not have double engine tender boats and we're using the underpowered single engine life boats to tender? 😮 

 

 

I was on the Star this week. The captain made it very clear that while the waters looked calm, there was a storm coming in and people would not have been able to return to the boat that afternoon. 

[tony s]

We had similar issues in December. Captain cancelled two ports same situation. I think Captain very timid because of what happened in Panama with gang plank

[Jcitron2]

What happened in Panama?