How does the tendering process work in Mediterranean

[erby2283]

Cross posting since not much traffic on the ports of call board.

 

Haven't sailed Carnival since 2015 and have only been to the Mediterranean once but that was on RC.  Can someone explain how the distribution of tender tickets works on Carnival since FTTF (which I usually buy) is not available for Mediterranean sailings?  On Royal, you had to go down to get in line about 2 hours prior to port arrival time and get your tender ticket. Wasn't sure if it was similar on Carnival? Have heard stories about taking hours to get off the ship in Santorini and really don't want to purchase a ship excursion unless I have to.  5 total ships in port in Santorini - about 8k passengers. Thanks in advance. 

[jsglow]

My recollection from a year ago is tender tickets are picked up morning of the port. Don't expect FTTF to be available. Priority tenders simply aren't available as 'everyone' on a European cruise will be Dia/Plat. I personally don't recall Santorini being that bad. One of the advantage is that Carnival uses a modest sized ship w/ a mere 2200 guests.

Edited August 30, 2023 by jsglow

[thenexus2k]

Can't speak specifically to the Med, but usually Carnival tends to give priority to those that purchased excursions through them. 

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, thenexus2k said:

Can't speak specifically to the Med, but usually Carnival tends to give priority to those that purchased excursions through them. 

I think pretty mu

ch all cruise lines do that.

[maluhia87]

6 hours ago, erby2283 said:

Cross posting since not much traffic on the ports of call board.

 

Haven't sailed Carnival since 2015 and have only been to the Mediterranean once but that was on RC.  Can someone explain how the distribution of tender tickets works on Carnival since FTTF (which I usually buy) is not available for Mediterranean sailings?  On Royal, you had to go down to get in line about 2 hours prior to port arrival time and get your tender ticket. Wasn't sure if it was similar on Carnival? Have heard stories about taking hours to get off the ship in Santorini and really don't want to purchase a ship excursion unless I have to.  5 total ships in port in Santorini - about 8k passengers. Thanks in advance. 

We had an excursion to get off the ship in Santorini, which made that part easier, so I cannot answer that question. Our problem was 4 ships in port trying to get cable cars back down to the ship.  We stood in line for over 1.5 hours, mostly in the sun.  

[jsglow]

8 hours ago, maluhia87 said:

We had an excursion to get off the ship in Santorini, which made that part easier, so I cannot answer that question. Our problem was 4 ships in port trying to get cable cars back down to the ship.  We stood in line for over 1.5 hours, mostly in the sun.  

We rode the mules up and walked down. Really enjoyed. I think our day there were 2 ships.

Edited August 31, 2023 by jsglow

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, jsglow said:

We rode the mules up and walked down. Really enjoyed. I think our day there were 2 ships.

Were the mules stinky? We saw them, but did not ride. We've read the path is littered with mule poo (cuz they gotta do what they gotta do when they gotta do it) and it's not cleaned up. On a typical hot day, it gets smelly fast.

Also read it was a really rough ride. What did you think? How long did it take to get up?

Edited August 31, 2023 by Haljo1935
Additional comment

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, jsglow said:

We rode the mules up and walked down. Really enjoyed. I think our day there were 2 ships.

We walked up, and we're never going to do that again! We rode down. I really don't know how many ships there were there that day.

[jsglow]

On 8/31/2023 at 9:49 AM, Haljo1935 said:

Were the mules stinky? We saw them, but did not ride. We've read the path is littered with mule poo (cuz they gotta do what they gotta do when they gotta do it) and it's not cleaned up. On a typical hot day, it gets smelly fast.

Also read it was a really rough ride. What did you think? How long did it take to get up?

Well, they're animals so they do things. I don't remember it being particularly rough or stinky. But I've done the full Grand Canyon mule trip twice. And we walked down the same path. No problem.