Tendering practices on Infinity - how to avoid the crowd?

[Marylander]

...if this is at all possible?

We did cruise on smaller ships which used tenders, but this is a first for us. How does this work? How well it's organized? When to start "lining up" - I assume it should be pretty tough task to tender ca. 2000 pax (plus crew) with 4 tenders only?

Thanks for your advice!

[chessbriar]

Early in the day, you have to go to the theater to get numbers. You sit and wait for your number to be called. They let the excursions go and those with priority tender tickets, suites and elite CC members. Then the rest are released.

 

If you want to avoid this practice, don't be in a rush to get off the ship. If you go to get of 2 hrs after they start letting people off, there's little to no wait.

[Pisces11]

The people in cc rooms get priority passes for the tender. They have you gather in a lounge and you do get off the ship quicker. The only time anyone missed an excursion was one morning in Alaska when there was thick fog and the tenders could not leave. All the people got to go on their excursions-just later. I didn't see anyone getting bent out of shape about waiting for a tender. When on vacation just relax. They give you a suggested amount of time to get to the waiting area and if you follow it you should be ok. I'm not sure how many tenders the Summit had but the number was adequate. This is not something to worry about. Also, for the early excursions, they had people on them gather in a lounge and had them leave the ship in a timely manner.

[Culaquis]

Either book excursions online instead of on the ship,with later times than the ships excursions, or find a friendly cab driver,to take you where it is you wish to be(either way it'll be much cheaper). The ships excursions tend to pack a whole bunch of people together as soon as the ship is berthed. Instead enjoy a slightly late breakfast(sit down if available) relax,, walk the decks and maybe some of the areas of the ship that would be crowded if you were at sea. I take these cruises to relax...I can't relax elbow to elbow with people that MUST get to shore . I'd rather take a little later tender where myself , the other passengers, and the poor abused crew, are chilled out after the Mass Exodus.

[bbro]

We were in a CC cabin that allowed for priority tendering. We found that if we arrived as soon as the ship anchored we could be off in the 2nd or 3rd tender. But you will encounter some pushers-shovers that get a little over-excited to get off the ship right away. You may take the previous suggestions of having a late breakfast and getting off a couple of hours after she anchors. Either way, have a lot of patience and a sense of humor, you'll need both when it comes to those crazy pusher-shovers. :-)

[Marylander]

Thanks, everybody!

I am not at all interested in elbow-wrestling. It's just I have a car reserved in the port we will be tendered at... hence the anxiety.

I will manage, pinky-promise!:o