Tendering Question in New England

[lj1231]

How long does it take to get from the cruise ship to the actual port in Newport, RI and Bar Habor, ME. Thanks.

[sopo pirates]

I'd guess 10 - 30 minutes in Bar Harbor - depends on a lot of variables. How many other tenders are traveling back and forth - if one's on the dock, you'll have to wait. How rough are the seas, thick is the fog - both will add time to a smooth water clear air crossing. Which anchorage is your ship at? If there are 2 ships in port that day, one is a bit further out and takes longer to get back and forth. How much boat traffic is in the harbor - if lots of sailboats or kayaks are near the pier, they too will slow down your travel. And this is just the time from when the tender leaves the ship until it gets to the pier. Then just like anything else, you have to wait for others to embark or disembark before you can. Probably not what you wanted to hear. Here's hoping for smooth tendering for you.

[lj1231]

Thanks for your reply. My husband gets a little claustrophobic so we will probably only get off in one of the ports that require tendering. I won't let it ruin our vacation.

[sopo pirates]

If your lucky, you cruise ship will hire the local ferry boat which can transport 3 times as many folks as the ship tenders so things will go faster with both the onboard wait to get off the ship, as well as the harbor transit time. Check the port's website to see if there are multiple ships on the day you plan to visit - if there are, then add time to the transiting.

[SailBadtheSinner]

For Newport tendering, the travel time from the cruise ship to the tender dock would be about 5-10 minutes. What could slow the trip down: fog - not as frequent as in Maine; other vessels – very rare, I’ve never seen a tender being hindered by any other vessel, either power or sail and there are many more sailboats in Newport than BH; kyacks – not a problem in Newport; rough seas – the tender is made to handle the seas found in either harbor, they will slow the trip down a little; multiple cruise ships in port – the tender dock can handle up to 6 tenders at once (or maybe 4) in Newport.

 

For BH, my estimate is 5-7 minutes.

 

All estimates exclude loading and unloading.

 

 

 

SBtS

 

[NHBob]

All estimates exclude loading and unloading.

 

And that can be the fly in the ointment. Depending on size of ship, there can be long lines waiting for a tender to re-embark in the afternoon when 1500 to 2000 people are trying to get back to the ship.

 

My experience there, always on a small ship (Crystal and Cunard Caronia) is that we could walk directly onto a tender, while passengers from a Princess or HAL ship might be qued up for two blocks. Normally at that point Newport obliges with some rain so take an umbrella no matter how sunny it is! Problem is that the ship can't simply increase the number of tenders running due to limited tender dock space.

 

That said, Newport is still a facinating port with far more to do than anybody could in a day or even a week.

 

Bob (former Rhode Islander)