How soon can I get off the ship??

[eastexascruiser]

We will be on the Conquest in November. The itinerary says we are in port from 7a - 4p. I assume this is ship time. Currently, island & ship times are the same, but in November will will be under daylight savings time, so the island will be 1 hour ahead, right?

 

In any event, I am trying to decide how early I can book a tour that meets at the dock. I know the ship lets off all passengers with a ship tour first.

 

If we get to port at 7am, how soon do you think I can reasonably be off the ship & be at the pier for pick up? I appreciate your feedback sooooo much. Thank you!

 

Jan

[megabill]

A ship will start running tenders shortly after the ship is cleared.... which typically is 15 to 30 minutes after they drop anchor.

 

In Caymen, its a tender port, so you'll also have to wait the Deck team to lower the tenders (if they're using ships tenders that is. its been a while since my last visit to Grand Caymen, so i dont remember if they used ships tenders, local tenders, or both....)

 

I would venture to guess that most cruiselines set up so that their tours are off the ship first (i know some cruiselines offer "priority tickets" for those who are in suites or at a certian level in their loyalty program - and they tend to be allowed off with the tours too).

 

If the tour your looking at is a private tour, and you dont have a priority ticket (not sure if Carnival does that or not...) then i wouldn't expect to get of for a while - after most, if not all, ships tours are off. (on the ships i've been on its ususally an hour or hour-and-a-half after arrival.)

 

Hope that helps :)

[suziqz007]

We just got back off the Inspiration, so tender info will be different for you than it was for us. Ship tours got off using the front gangway and everyone else used the rear gangway... no biggie. No waiting, no crowds. After 9:30, anyone could use either gangway.

 

And as for time, last week (August), ship time was one hour later than Cayman time. On the ship it was 8:30 but on shore it was only 7:30. We got off the ship onto a tender about 8:20 (ship time) and it took only five or 10 minutes to get to shore....definitely no longer. NOTHING but a grocery store is open that early and our tour left at 9:30, so we walked around a bit but couldn't go in any shops. If I had known that, I wouldn't have rushed to get off the ship.

 

Just verify with your tour that they are going by ship time...most do for the convenience of passengers.