Tenders? First come first serve?

[mexico5]

Hi, guess I have another last minute question.

 

How do the tenders work on the Star? I know with Jamaica we do not use them, but for Grand Caymen and Cozumel what do we do? Is there a certain location you go to and if so, what time would it open? If you get there early does it mean you get off the board early? Is that how it works? Do you get a ticket?

 

I guess our next cruise we should pick an itinerary that does not involve tendering(if there is one) because it sounds alot more time consuming than we ever imagined, but we are leaving the ship no matter how long we have to stand in line!

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks!

[LARGIN]

Usually Princess sponsored tours get the tenders first. After that you will have to meet in an designated area and get a number.

[nets33]

On our Star cruise they had everyone go to the Wheelhouse Bar to collect tender tickets once your group was complete. We then went directly down to the tender. We never waited more than five minutes.

 

Your Princess Patter will provide you all the information you need on the tendering at your ports.

[nets33]

oops! double posted.

[paul929207]

In addition to the above comments, Princess gives priority to passengers in suites (not sure about minisuites and Elite members of the Captain's Circle).

 

Paul

[mexico5]

Thanks for the info. We are staying in a mini suite. I guess all the info we will need will be on the Patters paper. I won't care how long we have to wait, as much as if we actually get to go to those ports!! As a first time cruiser I am not sure how I will like ship life, so we are very anxious to be able to walk on land!

[mrscruisequeen]

Hi All...yes, elite members do get priority tender tickets as well as the people with suites, but not mini-suites.

 

I do wish princess would put a sign at the dock when people are waiting to tender back to the dock that one line is priority.

It would save people from giving you dirty looks as if you are crashing the line:o

 

I always feel like I have to explain myself.

 

Princess, are you listening?

 

Jeanne

[andio2of5]

Hi All...yes, elite members do get priority tender tickets as well as the people with suites, but not mini-suites.

 

I do wish princess would put a sign at the dock when people are waiting to tender back to the dock that one line is priority.

It would save people from giving you dirty looks as if you are crashing the line:o

 

I always feel like I have to explain myself.

 

Princess, are you listening?

 

Jeanne

 

I knew that elite/suites got priority tendering from the ship to the dock, but is that also true when tendering back from the dock to the ship? Have never seen any signs to indicate so.

[cruzinchris]

Those who rent the bungalows ($199) at Princess Cays are entitled to priority tendering.

Chris

[houstoncruisers2001]

Make sure you get your tender tickets as early as possible the morning you are in port. The low tender numbers go fast. Enjoy!!!

[JohnLauben]

Priority for tendering applies ONLY from ship to the port.

 

There is no priority tendering from the port back to the ship (at this time). Those return lines can get quite lengthy (uncomfortable when really hot).

 

However, some ports are better than others in regards to tendering. Usually, the Caribbean (Atlantic) and Mexican (Pacific) ports handle tendering better. Exotic ports can be quite bad. Can't really say if it's related to the port, the seas, or unfamiliarity of the area with the ship's crews. Also, keep in mind that (usually) at most 4 tenders are used at any given port. (Think about what this means on a GRAND-class ship!)

[Pam in CA]

Priority for tendering applies ONLY from ship to the port.

 

There is no priority tendering from the port back to the ship (at this time). Those return lines can get quite lengthy (uncomfortable when really hot).

 

However, some ports are better than others in regards to tendering. Usually, the Caribbean (Atlantic) and Mexican (Pacific) ports handle tendering better. Exotic ports can be quite bad. Can't really say if it's related to the port, the seas, or unfamiliarity of the area with the ship's crews. Also, keep in mind that (usually) at most 4 tenders are used at any given port. (Think about what this means on a GRAND-class ship!)

You are absolutely right. We tendered into Sardinia and returning to the ship, there were waits of over an hour and a half in 100-degree heat with no shade. The line was unbelieveably long. They had water but you had to get out of line, walk all the way to the front to get the water, and then walk back. If you were alone in line (as I was), you'd lose your place. The tender dock was very small with room for only one or two boats at a time plus there were fishing and other boats using the same dock. Everyone was amazingly patient.

[hyperion]

However, some ports are better than others in regards to tendering. Usually, the Caribbean (Atlantic) and Mexican (Pacific) ports handle tendering better. Exotic ports can be quite bad. Can't really say if it's related to the port, the seas, or unfamiliarity of the area with the ship's crews. Also, keep in mind that (usually) at most 4 tenders are used at any given port. (Think about what this means on a GRAND-class ship!)

 

 

Familiarity with the tendering port does helps quite a bit from a crew perspective. Fortunately, we are tendering in the same ports on a weekly or bi-weekly basis . On the other hand sometimes sea conditions and tides affect us more than most passengers would think.

 

I've seen 2 tenders get picked up by a following sea and actually land on the dock they were approaching, only to have to wait for the next set of waves to pick them up and psuh them back into the water. (Weeks of fibreglass repairs followed that one.)

 

Another time I had a couple of passengers complain that I and the other tender coxswains were going too slow leaving Princess Cays and hence the long wait they had endured in line.

 

They had no idea that the tide had dropped since we had arrived and when combined with the 110 passengers that had been shoe-horned into my tender (2nd last tender of the day) that I only had 4 or 5 inches of under keel clearence until well out of the channel. Had I gone any faster the boat would have squatted down and grounded. (Not a cool thing to do from a career stand point.

 

The other factor that hasn't been mentioned in any of the other posts is mechanical breakdown on the tender boats. This actually happens fairly often. It's usually something small, but it still might take a tender out of service for 30 minutes or so while it gets fixed. In some ports that might equate to 200 fewer passengers getting ashore for every small breakdown.

 

Hyperion

[Steven_&_Daniel]

Priority for tendering applies ONLY from ship to the port...

 

 

Is this in writing anywhere? Everywhere that they've listed perks such as Priority Tendering it says just that, "Priority Tendering". It doesn't say, "One-way Priority Tendering". I'm not arguing for one side or the other. I just wondered if this has actually been printed anywhere by Princess.

[JohnLauben]

Is this in writing anywhere? Everywhere that they've listed perks such as Priority Tendering it says just that, "Priority Tendering". It doesn't say, "One-way Priority Tendering". I'm not arguing for one side or the other. I just wondered if this has actually been printed anywhere by Princess.

 

This is actually printed on the priority tender tickets that the suite occupants and elite passengers receive. If it is listed elsewhere, I haven't seen it.

 

The other factor that hasn't been mentioned in any of the other posts is mechanical breakdown on the tender boats. This actually happens fairly often. It's usually something small, but it still might take a tender out of service for 30 minutes or so while it gets fixed. In some ports that might equate to 200 fewer passengers getting ashore for every small breakdown.

 

On the most recent trans-Atlantic crossing of the STAR PRINCESS, one of the tenders got itself tangled up in some fishing nets. The tender was disabled until it was lifted out of the water, and the crews were able to cut the nets away. The remainder of the port call had to make do with 3 tenders. (I believe that this was in Waterford, Ireland ... if my memory serves me correctly.) And, the queues (lines) to reboard the tenders in Qaqortoq, Greenland, were about an hour and 15-to-30 minutes at peak (although the temperature was in the high 40s Fahrenheit).

 

One other time, in Albany, Western Australia, on the REGAL PRINCESS, the tender trip from ship to shore took 15 minutes; the return required 45 minutes, most of which was spent with the seas passing over the tenders!

 

And, for strangeness, on the old STAR PRINCESS, I was waiting in a line on Christmas Island, Kiribati, in hundred-degree-plus temperatures, and the humidity was well in excess of that (well, it felt like it, anyway). And, there was some guy in a Santa Claus suit running around for the photo-ops! It takes all kinds!

[mrscruisequeen]

Hi All...well, this is the first time I've ever heard that you could only tender one way!!

 

We are elite members, and have always used the priority pass to tender both ways, and there was a seperate line, just not marked.

 

Perhaps it depends on the port.

 

Jeanne

[Toto2Kansas]

This is actually printed on the priority tender tickets that the suite occupants and elite passengers receive. If it is listed elsewhere, I haven't seen it.

 

I have also seen it printed on the priority tender tickets (on the ships where we have received them and not just been able to show our Black Card). Priority Tender passes are for going ashore ONLY, not for the return.

[LARGIN]

Toto is correct.. From ship to shore only.. And from the ship means getting in back of the line waiting to get to the tender, not cutting in. All priority tender means is that you do not have to get a number in one of the bars.

[Pam in CA]

Something else hyperion didn't mention is that often, dockmasters can, and do, mess up tendering operations. Not their fault entirely but they control who is able to come in and dock and in what order. If tenders are sharing a dock with other boats, they have to wait their turn to come into the dock. I've been on several cruises where tendering was held up for 30 minutes - hour due to other boats needing/wanting the docks and the dockmaster making the ship tenders wait. We once left Lahaina almost two hours late because of this.

[wildabouttheworld]

Saying your going to leave the ship no matter what time and actually experiencing the wait are 2 different things. Read my previous post about the tendering nightmare. We were some of the first to get tendering tickets and it took 3 hours to get to Cozumel and 2 hours to get to Princess Cays. Getting in line early will get you the first tendering tickets but that does not mean you will get off early. Good luck and take lots and lots of patience with you. Princess needs to get this right if they want return cruisers. The tendering process on the Star last week was enough to cause me never to do that itinerary again on the Star.

[Cruisin' Chick]

If you're not trying to meet up with an excursion, you can avoid the whole wait in the lounge. We'll have a leisurely breakfast and then go to the tender area...and not have a wait.

 

If you want to avoid a really long line to get back on the ship, go to the tender area long before the last hour before sailaway. After that, the line gets pretty long.

[KC from California]

Do full suite passengers have to obtain priority tender tickets at a destinated location mentioned in the patter also, or is showing the room key sufficient for priority tendering?

[JohnLauben]

Do full suite passengers have to obtain priority tender tickets at a destinated location mentioned in the patter also, or is showing the room key sufficient for priority tendering?

 

The priority tender tickets will be "mailed" to your cabin sometime before the first tender port, along with a letter explaining your particular ship's procedure for using them. This is true for both suite and elite passengers.