St. Thomas Tender

[Tradestock]

I have cruised to St. Thomas before and the ship docked at the pier.  The itinerary on the Navigator App shows Last Tender Departs from the Pier at 4:30 p.m. for St. Thomas. Is this port both a docking and tendering port?  I tried to check the itinerary on the HAL website but the cruise is sold out, so cannot view the information.  Also, if it is a tender port what has your experience been on the return to the ship...long lines, quick and easy, etc.?

[kirkc]

If the berthing spots are full, then yes tenders are used.

[FOPMan]

St. Thomas can be a tender port, depending on the day- there are only so many places to dock, and if there is no space, one to three ships may tender.

 

HAL is usually pretty efficient in tendering. That being said, St. Thomas can get very, very busy with too many ships. I'd personally get ashore early, do what I wanted, and get back aboard by 1pm to avoid crowds.

[hrhdhd]

***** has the port schedule:

 

https://www.*****/cruise/ship-schedule/

 

Replace ***** with v i n o w

Edited December 11, 2023 by hrhdhd

[kazu]

If there are a lot of ships in St. Thomas, I would be tempted to go to Saint John.  A lovely spot.  There’s a ferry that goes there but last time I went I did the HAL transfer as it was only $1 more and well worth it.  Information on the way and a nice trip.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, kirkc said:

If the berthing spots are full, then yes tenders are used.

True of every port in the cruise world. Juneau has been the newsworthy one the last couple of years.

[Tradestock]

Thank you to everyone for the information.  I was not expecting a tender ride...a good surprise.  We are scheduled for a late morning excursion with HAL and my knee jerk reaction was to re-schedule for something else.  The more I thought about it, I think I will leave it as is.  Since it is a HAL excursion, I'm sure I'll make it back.  On the other hand, I am a very good swimmer and it could be a whole new twist to dock running.😁

[Tradestock]

I think there are some glitches in the Navigator app.  It appears that my February 2024 cruise itinerary is mixing with the December 2023 cruise.  As an example, our stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico has an itinerary for disembark and all aboard for Ocho Rios.  The link HRH DHD posted shows two ships in port at St. Thomas for the day and both will be docked at WICO, no tender involved.  Additionally, the St. Thomas port shows the ship departing at 4:00 and the last tender at 4:30.