Port or Tender....what does this mean??

[CRUISNDIVA]

I'm confused, what's the difference and how do I know which one our ship is doing at a particular port?

 

I checked the schedule on cruisecal and all it says is PORT, if it was tendering would it say TENDER?

 

Sorry, I'm new and in training.....:rolleyes:

[CRUISNDIVA]

What about time, is there a difference between the ships time and the local port time? How do I know ahead of time what the difference is? I'm trying to book a private tour in St. Marteen/St. Martin and I'm not sure how to figure out the timing with the tour guide :confused: :confused:

 

Thank you in advance for you help!!!!

[cathyz]

I'm confused, what's the difference and how do I know which one our ship is doing at a particular port?

 

I checked the schedule on cruisecal and all it says is PORT, if it was tendering would it say TENDER?

 

Sorry, I'm new and in training.....:rolleyes:

In some ports, the ships can dock because the port is deep and big enough, but in many of the low-lying island it's too shallow so they anchor out a bit and use either local 'tender' or shuttle-type boats or sometimes some of their own lifeboats to shuttle everyone to the dock and back to the ship. Some cruise line's booking websites will tell you which are dock and which are tender. Or you can ask specifically on this board.

[UPCrawfish]

You can get into a "Tender" situation even if there is a deep water permanent dock facility.

Example:

There are just so many hard docking berths at the given port, say 4.

There are 5 scheduled ships to that port on a given day.

Number 5 gets to anchor away from the dock and all shore parties are "tendered" or moved from ship to dock on smaller vessels.

[adamsmom]

A tender is a small boat, much like a ferry, for carrying people back and forth to shore. Grand Cayman and Belize always tender, Cozumel will occasionally if the docks are full, and Coco Cay and Great Stirrup Cay always tender. There may be others that I haven't visited. Check the individual port of call board for each port--someone will know which your ship does.

 

As far as time goes, the tour operators are usually fairly familiar with what time the ship docks and leaves. I have been on ships that change time with whatever zone we are in, and I have been on ships that stay the same time as the home port, although I think they are getting away from that now.

 

For both of these answers, you could Google the port authority for whatever port; they will usually have the cruise ship schedule with local times and where they dock.

[kitty9]

You won't know about the time situation until you're actually on board the ship. Some captains will never change the ship's clocks and some will. On our cruise last week, we had to change clocks back an hour to reflect the time difference in Cozumel and then that night we had to change them back. Seems rather silly, but that's what the captain did.

[eandj]

If you give the private tour operator the ship's name and estimated arrival according to your itinerary, they will do the rest. They'll be there. It's their business and they wouldn't want to lose out. Don't worry about that. If the ship can't dock OR tender, they'll know that ahead of you too.

[ehfl]

Be careful if you are using your cell phone as an alarm clock. The time may bounce around throughout your cruise as it picks up different time signals from the local country.

 

Most ships stay on the time zone of departure, so everything (shore excursions, etc.) is based on that time.

 

On the Freedom of the Seas, there was a note to change your clocks the first day, but it never happened....so don't believe everything you read.

[Vampire Parrot]

I was solemnly assured by one "experienced cruiser" that tenders are used when the dock is below sea level. :eek:

 

Often, a ship's largest lifeboats are used as tenders....

[tcs1366]

http://www.frommers.com/tips/entry_requirements_and_customs/article.cfm?tipID=ENTRYCUSTM&articleid=4288&t=Caribbean%20Ports%20of%20Call%3A%20Dock%20or%20Drop%20Anchor%3F%20

 

I found this one day while doing a search on ports.

 

it is a list of certain ports in the Caribbean, and whether they dock or tender.