Tenders in Belize - Carnival Valor

[Harvester99]

Any one out there been on a recent cruise on the Valor and booked a non ship excrusion? I was wondering how easy it is to get off the ship early and what the procedure is.

[Paddy77]

Wasn't on the Valor but just got back from the Legend. Getting off was not a problem, and since ships time was 2 hrs behind local we ended up on shore at 6:30am local, 8:30 ship time. Ended up w/ 1.5 hrs to kill since our excursion didn't begin until 8am local.

 

Tender boats are large and move quickly. We went straight from our cabin and got in line, we were on a tender in less than 10 mins. Independent excursions do not seem to be a problem there. Just make sure everybody is on the same page timewise.

 

Good luck!

[judyzoo]

Not easy. The procedure (on the Valor, this past March) is that you go to a tour desk and get a tender sticker, indicating what number you are. I got to the desk early and got a sticker for #1 tender. It still took something like 45 minutes, possibly a bit longer, to get to the tender, while we waited for all the ship’s shore excursion passengers to leave the ship. They were watching carefully and not letting anyone else on the tenders.

 

Nonetheless, I did arrive in time for my independent excursion, with some time to spare. The Valor was scheduled to anchor at 8:00 a.m., and my excursion was supposed to leave at 8:30 a.m. Belize time. As I recall, there was an hour’s difference between ship and Belize time, so that finally leaving the ship at 8:45 or so ship’s time, with maybe a 15-minute tender ride, still got me ashore at 8:00 Belize time.

[simkoreb]

I was on the Valor last August, and it was horrible. Too many people trying to get off the ship. They were real sticklers about handing out tender tickets too. My parents weren't there yet, and they wouldn't give us tickets for them, so we ended up on 2 different tenders. One disadvantage of being on a larger ship.

[jennifer.c21]

Just back from Belize on Thursday on the Valor. Our tender process was painless. Just go to the Ivanhoe Theater around 7 am, and politely let the Carnival people know that you have a private excursion starting early and need to get off as soon as possible. We were put on the first tender with the people who were doing the ship's cave tubing excursion.

 

Bypass the place where they tell you to go and get a tender ticket, or sticker or whatever. You need to be an early bird and get down to the theater and talk to the two people handling the passengers getting onto the tenders.

 

I was so worried about this before going, and took this advice from a couple of posts, and we had NO PROBLEMS. Just don't be pushy and rude and it will go along way.

[judyzoo]

Just back from Belize on Thursday on the Valor. Our tender process was painless. Just go to the Ivanhoe Theater around 7 am, and politely let the Carnival people know that you have a private excursion starting early and need to get off as soon as possible. We were put on the first tender with the people who were doing the ship's cave tubing excursion.

 

Bypass the place where they tell you to go and get a tender ticket, or sticker or whatever. You need to be an early bird and get down to the theater and talk to the two people handling the passengers getting onto the tenders.

 

Sounds like good advice. Wish I had done that!

[TeeBuccs]

Just returned home from Exotic Western itinerary on Valor - had a great time! Terndering wasn't too bad - at least from ship to shore. (The return tenders were more hassle in my opinion).

 

My group went down early the morning of Grand Cayman to get tender ticket number. We received #1. By the time my entire group was ready to go ashore (within 30 minutes of us getting our number), tender #'s 1-8 were called. The process seemed very easy and expedient. When we got to the tender area no one even asked or looked for our number. We then saved them again for Belize so we wouldn't have to wait in the line all over again. Once again within 30 minutes of the announcement that tender service had begun, everyone was welcomed to go. They seem to have this process down well.

 

The first day we took the elevators to level 0, but the second day we tried this they got smart and turned the elevators off. Everyone had to get off on level 1 and walk down the stairs. The line moved fast - unlike the long lines on shore to get back to the ship. These were ridiculously long (but as long as you are in line no matter what, you will get back to the ship.)

 

Enjoy the trip!

[DonMar]

Just back from Belize on Thursday on the Valor. Our tender process was painless. Just go to the Ivanhoe Theater around 7 am, and politely let the Carnival people know that you have a private excursion starting early and need to get off as soon as possible. We were put on the first tender with the people who were doing the ship's cave tubing excursion.

 

Bypass the place where they tell you to go and get a tender ticket, or sticker or whatever. You need to be an early bird and get down to the theater and talk to the two people handling the passengers getting onto the tenders.

 

I was so worried about this before going, and took this advice from a couple of posts, and we had NO PROBLEMS. Just don't be pushy and rude and it will go along way.

 

 

We did the same thing on the Legend in Feb 07. I do not know about the Valor, but the staff in the theater did want to see paperwork showing that we had an early start time for our private excursion. Basically, they wanted to make sure we needed to get off the ship and could not wait for the general tendering.

 

Make sure to let the staff know your situation.

 

Good luck.

[smalltowngrll]

Thanks for all of the advice! Belize is the only port where we have an early private excursion booked and that was one thing the tour company said to be aware of! I do definitely want to avoid any hassle if possible at this port. I'd be glad to let others go early at the other ports, though. :)

[Harvester99]

Thanks everyone for you input. It has been very helpful.

[Harvester99]

Just back from a cruise on the Carnival Valor and we had no problem getting on the first tender in Belize. We went to the Ivanhoe theater at 7:30 to meet up with another family that was going on the same private tour. They arrived first and had been told when they called the first ship excusion to get in line with them. Shortly after one of the cruise directors assistants asked us what tour we were with and when we told her a private one she told us to go to the area by the shopping desk on Deck 5 and that is where the first tender for those not on ships tours. We thought we might be getting a run around because that was the area where the first tender tickets were to be given out at 8:30. However, the crew member up there was in contact with the crew members with the ship excursions in the theater and as soon as they radioed to him they were lined up, he sent us down to line up behind them and we all got on the same tender.