what does it mean by the ship tendering>

[sorichard]

i see on our cruise info that the ship will tender in key west. what does that mean?

[Langley Cruisers]

To tender means the ship does not dock at a pier for what could be one of several reasons (size of the ship, not enough room, etc.). Passengers will take smaller boat from the cruise ship to the pier. We tendered at Catalina Island, so we had to get on a smaller boat in groups of about 60 (?) and they took us to shore.

 

Have fun! We hope to go to Key West one day.

[MrBassBone]

i see on our cruise info that the ship will tender in key west. what does that mean?

 

 

Welllll...there are several answers to that. One is that the ship will be merinating in a combination of Tobasco, Soy and other fine sauces to tenderize the ship for all the pax....BUT the REAL meaning is that it will be anchoring out and not tie up to the pier. Thus making the pax all ride little ferry boats to and fro.

[ILoveScotland]

It means that the ship will not pull up to the dock but will drop anchor away from shore. You will be taken to the dock in a tender which is a small boat. Some tenders are actually pretty large and probably hold 100 passengers; others are smaller.

 

Hope this helps.

[sorichard]

thanks for the info.

[zackiedawg]

That's odd - because usually Key West is a docking port, not tendering...unless your ship is going to be there on the same day as multiple other ships, and there's no more space. There are two docks ships can use in Key West - one right off Mallory Square, and one at the Naval pier just a bit south of there. If you are the third ship in that day, that could leave you tendering in...probably on the ship's own lifeboat/tenders.

[RayJay]

Tendering can be kind of fun!! The view of the port ( or island ) from the ship can be more interesting that at a pier. The small tenders can be of various sizes and provide a unique way to get on and off the ship. Just think of it as a new experience. We've never had to wait long for a boat going either way. The larger the ship, the more tenders used. Last year's hurricanes damaged ports so it may still take time for normal service to resume.

[kittyg]

Mariner 5/28/06

 

We tendered at Coco Cay and each boat held about 250 passengers. I counted (12 benches holding 5, on each side, up and down).

 

I didn't find it to be fun at all. The lines were long going and coming back. I was so relieved to find we would be docking in St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

[RayJay]

I suppost the "fun" I described in tendering is the attitude that you cannot decide for the cruise line if you tender or not so you may as well look for the interesting things that might come your way. I am fortunate in that I seldom sabotage my travel experiences by complaining (even to myself ) about things I cannot control. Being a seasoned cruiser I perhaps know when the best times are to leave and return to the ship to avoid "distressing" lines. Sort of like getting to the terminal the day of embarkation early, to be near the first on the ship to get the most out of the experience. Hope your experiences are always great and always special in the future!!!!