Do you have to pay tenders?

[2CoolCanucks]

This is the first time that we will be going on a "tender" on a cruise. (I am assuming that these are the boats that take you to the mainland. )

 

Are they free - part of the cruise package?

If not, how much do they cost and who do you pay? tipping?

 

How do you book a tender?

 

If the tender experience has been detailed somewhere else, please feel free to direct me to that thread.

 

How long does the tender trip take from ship to shore in Belize?

[BiminiGirl]

No, you don't pay the tenders. It's part of the "deal" In belize they take the people who are booked through the ship excursions first (but if you ask nicely you can normally get off with them even if you don't have something booked through CCL) They are fairly large holding about 50-75 people depending on which one you get and will take you about 15 min to get to the mainland. If you choose to get off prior to 9am (at least this is what it was when we went on 10/21) you went down to the Follies Lounge and they gave you a number and then they walked you down to the tenders. Piece of cake! Have a great time...I ready for my next cruise already!!:D

[driftwood]

And no tipping, either--there will be time for that later in the cruise!

 

The tenders are essentially the ship's lifeboats, pressed into service because the port of call has no cruise ship pier, or the cruise ship pier is already full of cruise ships that arrived ahead of yours, or the ship you came in on is too large for the port, which may not be deepwater enough to keep the ship from running aground. Most cruise ships are intentionally designed to be of remarkably shallow draft in anticipation of most cruise ports' not being ideal, but there are always limits. The modern tender/lifeboat is a miraculous transformation of the old Titanic-style rowboats, and there are plenty of them.

 

If you are on a relatively new ship you will probably find that the tenders smell terrible: the products used in creating these sturdy and dependable lifeboats and their plastic windows have not completely cured, so there is an odor as if a hundred sailors had been urinating into the boat. However, this is not the case: and after a year or two of service the odor disappears.

 

Tender distances are usually relatively short, thank heaven. There will almost always be some rolling and uncomfortable chop on the waters--you have left a ship often well over 800 feet long with state-of-the-art stabilizers, for a boat mainly intended to preserve life in a hurricane-type emergency, so you may not find the change delightful. In most ports at most times of the day the tender will be rather full--try to be nice to the people around you, as they may not mean to be in your lap or lurch across you. Most ships' captains see to it that there are a sufficient number of tenders in the water to accommodate all their passengers comfortably, but of course if there are other ships in the area tendering in to the port there can only be so many boats in the water, and debarking and embarking passengers, at one time. Keep your cool: it is an operation carried out almost daily by all cruise ships, and courtesy is an absolute necessity for both passengers and crew.

[2CoolCanucks]

Thanks for the info!! Appreciate it.