Tendering at Port Stanley

[Dancing Shoes]

Anyone who was on the Eclipse this year?  How long was the wait for passengers that were not on a ship tour or with privileges to get off the ship?

I am going in 2026!!

 

[foodsvcmgr]

Tender tickets for passengers with independent arrangements were distributed first come, first serve starting at 7AM.

I joined the line shortly after 6 and there were many already waiting.

So very important to get your tender tickets early before the ship even drops anchor.

In so doing we were on our way into town before 9.

The tender ride itself is 20-25 minutes ship to shore.

[the penguins]

On 8/8/2024 at 3:44 PM, Dancing Shoes said:

Anyone who was on the Eclipse this year?  How long was the wait for passengers that were not on a ship tour or with privileges to get off the ship?

I am going in 2026!!

 

Important points to consider:

1) it's a very long tender ride over shallow water so the Captain has to be certain that the weather will hold long enough to get all the passengers back before even starting to tender.

2) in an average year 50% of cruises fail to get their passengers ashore and when you consider that the smaller "expedition" ships actually dock this probably means that an even higher % of the large ships fail.

3) Once in Stanley, if you are hoping to see the King Penguins, this involves a long ride in a 4 by 4 vehicle - some passengers have even resorted to booking helicopters to do the excursion.

If you don't make the long trip to the Penguins there is very little to see or do in Stanley - interesting for Brits due to the Falklands War but that's about it.

We have been twice:

Once with Celebrity : failed to make Stanley - in fact we didn't even try to tender the visit was abandoned 24 hours before we were scheduled to arrive due to strong winds being forecast.

Once on the Fram which docked so no tendering issues.

 

 

[the penguins]

Just now, the penguins said:

Important points to consider:

1) it's a very long tender ride over shallow water so the Captain has to be certain that the weather will hold long enough to get all the passengers back before even starting to tender.

2) in an average year 50% of cruises fail to get their passengers ashore and when you consider that the smaller "expedition" ships actually dock this probably means that an even higher % of the large ships fail.

3) Once in Stanley, if you are hoping to see the King Penguins, this involves a long ride in a 4 by 4 vehicle - some passengers have even resorted to booking helicopters to do the excursion.

If you don't make the long trip to the Penguins there is very little to see or do in Stanley - interesting for Brits due to the Falklands War but that's about it.

We have been twice:

Once with Celebrity : failed to make Stanley - in fact we didn't even try to tender the visit was abandoned 24 hours before we were scheduled to arrive due to strong winds being forecast.

Once on the Fram which docked so no tendering issues.

 

 

 

[the penguins]

Just now, the penguins said:

 

Pics 

Top: Stanley Cathedral with the Whale Jaw Bones.

Middle: war memorial

Bottom: Main/High Street

[Dancing Shoes]

Thank you for additional information.  I know that we might not make it to Port Stanley and the ride to Volunteer Point is a long bumpy ride.  Our fingers are crossed. 

[cruisestitch]

Is there still a city bus that goes to a penguin area?

[Ken the cruiser]

We were on a B2B with Princess in January and visited Falkland Islands twice and went on 3 wildlife excursions, none of which were to Volunteer Point and saw a bunch of wildlife, to include King Penguins. See posts 314-315 (2 excursions on first visit), and posts 431-437 (1 all day excursion on second stop. Another passenger posted photos they took at Volunteer Point at post 349. 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2984033-live-from-the-sapphire-30-day-antarcticasa-b2b-jan-20-feb-19/

 

Hopefully, these entries will give you a better feel for the variety of wildlife excursions you’ll find when you visit Falkland Islands. The reason we picked Princess over Celebrity for this cruise was because Princess spent 4 days cruising around the Antarctic Peninsula. 😁

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were on a B2B with Princess in January and visited Falkland Islands twice and went on 3 wildlife excursions, none of which were to Volunteer Point and saw a bunch of wildlife, to include King Penguins. See posts 314-315 (2 excursions on first visit), and posts 431-437 (1 all day excursion on second stop. Another passenger posted photos they took at Volunteer Point at post 349. 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2984033-live-from-the-sapphire-30-day-antarcticasa-b2b-jan-20-feb-19/

 

Hopefully, these entries will give you a better feel for the variety of wildlife excursions you’ll find when you visit Falkland Islands. The reason we picked Princess over Celebrity for this cruise was because Princess spent 4 days cruising around the Antarctic Peninsula. 😁

Clearly the more days you spend scenic cruising the better and the less impact loosing a day to bad weather would have.

Once you settled that, the other consideration is whether or not scenic cruising will give you the experience you want or should you opt for an Expedition cruise with landings..

We have done it both ways and whilst the scenic cruise was great at the time it doesn't come close to the experience of landing or standing amongst thousands of King Penguins (you are allowed within 20 feet but stand still and the Penguins, Seals and even birds will come to you as they have no fear of man).

[LXA350]

For this port condider a shore excursion, then you also don't need to wait for tenders. As mentioned in a previous post, the chance you will actually make it to Port Stanley is 50/50. From the 4 Cruises Eclipse did this year they made it also only twice.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

For this port condider a shore excursion, then you also don't need to wait for tenders. As mentioned in a previous post, the chance you will actually make it to Port Stanley is 50/50. From the 4 Cruises Eclipse did this year they made it also only twice.

you still have to wait but you will get priority.

Bearing in mind the distances and the relatively small number of Operators pre booking is essential. For example Volunteer Point is 2 hours each way with 2 hours at the destination all in 4 by 4 vehicles and over partly unsurfaced roads. 

[foodsvcmgr]

The private operators are close to half the price of the ship tours for the same experience.

They will hold your booking free of charge, pay when and if you get ashore.

If the ship cancels the port no refund to have to fight for.

[bosswench]

14 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

The private operators are close to half the price of the ship tours for the same experience.

They will hold your booking free of charge, pay when and if you get ashore.

If the ship cancels the port no refund to have to fight for.

We are scheduled to stop at Port Stanley in January 2025.  Do you have the names of any of the private operators?  I would love to not have to take a ship excursion.

[foodsvcmgr]

We used kidneycovetours.com and drove with the owner Adrian.

Outstanding tour, these are Rockhoppers, Kings with chicks, and Gentoos we saw that day.

Easy to meet him right at the end of the tender pier.

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

We used kidneycovetours.com and drove with the owner Adrian.

Outstanding tour, these are Rockhoppers, Kings with chicks, and Gentoos we saw that day.

Easy to meet him right at the end of the tender pier.

that's the beauty of King Penguins in that because, unlike all the other penguin species, they breed all year round you get the chance to see everything from eggs to adults,