Does Princess (Royal Class Ships) Require a Tender For the Holyhead Port?

[JimmyVWine]

My research is revealing conflicting information.  My Princess itinerary does not show that this is a tender port despite showing others as being so, but my research suggests that "larger ships" meaning those larger than 300m will anchor and passengers will tender.  I also found a port schedule that shows that we will be the only ship in port that day, but as between the choices of "Deep Water Berth" and "Anchor" we are shown as the latter.  Can anyone who traveled to Wales last year offer up their experience?  My cruise will be the first of the season this year, so I won't have any intel from an earlier 2023 cruise.  Need this information for purposes of trying to figure out our train schedule.  Walking off the ship certainly means an earlier arrival at the train station than waiting for a tender would. Not taking a Princess Excursion so we will not have any priority tender privileges.  Thanks.  

[Guest ldtr]

yes it is a tender port. On the Regal in May and it will be using tenders.

[JimmyVWine]

49 minutes ago, ldtr said:

yes it is a tender port. On the Regal in May and it will be using tenders.

Thanks. That’s what I figured/feared. Out of curiosity, does your itinerary show that?  Mine shows that Guernsey is a tender port but no such designation for Holyhead. 

[Guest ldtr]

21 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Thanks. That’s what I figured/feared. Out of curiosity, does your itinerary show that?  Mine shows that Guernsey is a tender port but no such designation for Holyhead. 

No it does not. But the port schedule shows the ship at anchor for our port stop.  

 

The Coral later in the year is able to use the DWB.

[taxmantoo]

49 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Thanks. That’s what I figured/feared. Out of curiosity, does your itinerary show that?  Mine shows that Guernsey is a tender port but no such designation for Holyhead. 

We are on that same Regal cruise and have booked a private shore excursion with BusyBus Tours.  They have advised us that we will in fact be tendering.

 

Your ship will be operating a tender service from ship to shore. Your BusyBus driver/guide will meet you as you exit the landing jetty. They will be wearing a branded Hi-Viz vest and a BusyBus sign on a pole for ease of identification.

Edited March 24, 2023 by taxmantoo
Additional info

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

We are on that same Regal cruise and have booked a private shore excursion with BusyBus Tours.  They have advised us that we will in fact be tendering.

 

Your ship will be operating a tender service from ship to shore. Your BusyBus driver/guide will meet you as you exit the landing jetty. They will be wearing a branded Hi-Viz vest and a BusyBus sign on a pole for ease of identification.

We are on a Busybus tour as well

[SDZoogirl]

Thanks for asking this. We are on this cruise as well and I’m looking at the train schedules too so we can do our own outing. I’ve never done a tender port before, how long does it usually take to get off the ship?

[JimmyVWine]

3 hours ago, SDZoogirl said:

Thanks for asking this. We are on this cruise as well and I’m looking at the train schedules too so we can do our own outing. I’ve never done a tender port before, how long does it usually take to get off the ship?

That’s a hard question to answer. So many factors such as whether the ship must use its own vessels (which must be lowered and deployed) or whether the port has its own ready to go. If you don’t have any level of priority, it could take a couple of hours. 

[Guest ldtr]

24 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

That’s a hard question to answer. So many factors such as whether the ship must use its own vessels (which must be lowered and deployed) or whether the port has its own ready to go. If you don’t have any level of priority, it could take a couple of hours. 

Out of the 50+ cruises I have done on Princess, I have only encountered local tenders in Belize and in Cabo.  The rest of the time it has been ship tenders.  

 

It depends a great deal on the weather, the distance and how many tenders the port can handle at one time.  

 

Best thing to do is to be at the location to get your tender tickets early.

 

There does not seem to be many ship board excursions for Holyhead.  Two that leave at 8:45 and 1 that leaves at 9:15.  All of the excursions sold out early.

 

The ship is supposed to dock at 7.  I expect you will mostly be competing with other passengers going off on their own rather than excursions getting off first.  I expect that from the timing the first few tenders going in will not be excursions.  The Busybus tours leave at 8 and they implied that there should not be a problem getting to them by then.

 

I wonder if excursions are more limited than usual (they were sold out months in advance) due to the Coronation of Prince Charles on that day.

[SDZoogirl]

Thank you, this is helpful.

 

I wonder if you have to book train tickets in advance? Or is there a kiosk at the Holyhead station?

 

I was hoping they would open up more ship excursions. I’m also on the waitlist for the busybus tour, but we will probably just end up doing something on our own.

[Guest ldtr]

3 minutes ago, SDZoogirl said:

Thank you, this is helpful.

 

I wonder if you have to book train tickets in advance? Or is there a kiosk at the Holyhead station?

 

I was hoping they would open up more ship excursions. I’m also on the waitlist for the busybus tour, but we will probably just end up doing something on our own.

i was rather surprised how few there were and how fast they sold out.

[JimmyVWine]

On 3/24/2023 at 11:33 PM, ldtr said:

Out of the 50+ cruises I have done on Princess, I have only encountered local tenders in Belize and in Cabo.

Kotor as well for sure. And Santorini. And Mykonos. And Cozumel. 

Edited March 26, 2023 by JimmyVWine

[caribill]

7 hours ago, ldtr said:

i was rather surprised how few there were and how fast they sold out.

 

The bigger the ship, the more passengers competing for the limited tour opportunities available.

[antsp]

17 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Kotor as well for sure. And Santorini. And Mykonos. And Cozumel. 

And Princess Cays

[Guest ldtr]

15 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The bigger the ship, the more passengers competing for the limited tour opportunities available.

Yes, but these sold out far quicker than normal, even on the larger ships.

Probably more an indication of limited excursions than number of passengers. Similar to Kuaui post Covid.

[Guest ldtr]

18 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Kotor as well for sure. And Santorini. And Mykonos. And Cozumel. 

On each stop we have made in Kotor  Mykonos and Santorini ships tenders were used. Only have docked in Cozumel. Though it has been a few years  (8 to 20) since we have taken a cruise to either Santorini or Mykonos. They have gotten far to crowded when ships are in port. Have visited on a 50 passenger ship (Elixir Elysium) when large ships are not in port

 

Bit of a difference in economics for local tenders between the ports with lots of cruise ships and one like Holyhead with only an occasional ship tendering.

Edited March 26, 2023 by ldtr

[JimmyVWine]

On 3/26/2023 at 6:25 PM, ldtr said:

On each stop we have made in Kotor  Mykonos and Santorini ships tenders were used. Only have docked in Cozumel. Though it has been a few years  (8 to 20) since we have taken a cruise to either Santorini or Mykonos. They have gotten far to crowded when ships are in port. Have visited on a 50 passenger ship (Elixir Elysium) when large ships are not in port

 

Bit of a difference in economics for local tenders between the ports with lots of cruise ships and one like Holyhead with only an occasional ship tendering.

 

Perhaps it is the introduction of the Royal Class ships that forced the change.  But in all the ports I mentioned, local vessels supplemented the ship's tenders. Below are some enlargements of photos I took in October.  Kotor and Santorini.  In Kotor you can see the local crafts next to the ship's tender.  And in Santorini you can see many local vessels coming/going from the ship.

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by JimmyVWine

[Guest ldtr]

35 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

Perhaps it is the introduction of the Royal Class ships that forced the change.  But in all the ports I mentioned, local vessels supplemented the ship's tenders. Below are some enlargements of photos I took in October.  Kotor and Santorini.  In Kotor you can see the local crafts next to the ship's tender.  And in Santorini you can see many local vessels coming/going from the ship.

 

Not saying that some additional ports do not use them, only that there are far more tender ports that do not, then tender ports that do use local tenders.  I encountered them only at two.  With the other 4 mentioned that makes 6, vs how many that do not.  

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

how many that do not.

Impossible to know.  But at some level, it is a matter of perspective.  When you are on cruise that has two tender ports, and both use local craft, then it seems like 100%. 😁