? re: the long tendering lines to get back to the ship...

[MamaParrotHead]

I've tendered to a few ports when only 1 or 2 ships were in port with the ship I was on. This upcoming cruise we're looking at FIVE ships in a few of the ports the day we're there. My question is...if there are still people in line to tender back to the ship at the time they had previously announced as the time the ship was to leave...will they wait for everyone to tender? Or just take off? Just contemplating that is kind of wigging me out,:eek: LOL. :o

[nolaAlive]

They will tender until there is no more line.

[valancy1]

We were in Grand Cayman and there were six ships in port that day. Each ship had their own tender service. So we got in line for our ship and waited 5 minutes to board a tender.

 

If they know there are people there, they won't leave without you. In fact, we were supposed to set sail at, say, 4:00 pm. At 4:15, here comes a tender with 2 people on it and they got on the ship.

 

You should be fine... no more wigging out is necessary! :)

[ShedQueen77]

We had 6 ships in port with us on Grand Cayman and everyone got back on board. The lines weren't even really that long as each ship has their own tenders. We didn't have to share tenders with the LOS, Constellation, or the other 3 Carnival ships in port with us that day.

 

The longest wait was to get OFF the ship, which we waited about 20 minutes then had the 10 minute ride. From the line to tender back to the ship....15 minutes including the ride. No problems there.

[A&Jfamily]

We were over an hour late leaving Belize last time because of the tenders running people back and forth. We didn't mind at all, and acutally had a couple of laughs toward then end as some of the private boats were FLYING back in to get people on board from some deep sea fishing trips. We also slowed about 5 minutes after starting so another boat could let people jump on board. Good thing the ship was late, or they never would have made it. :eek:

[HeidiHo]

We never stand in line for tenders. We wait near the pier somewhere and keep an eye on the line. When it starts getting short then we go for it. In Grand Cayman we just walked around the shops a bit that were right across the street from where the tenders were.

[Tapi]

In Grand Cayman, due to winds, we had to anchor off Spot's Bay (on the south side of the island) so they had to move all the tenders to that location.

 

There were 3 ships anchored that day (Imagination, Liberty, and a Princess ship). The lines were HUUUUUUGE! Because of the choppy waters, everything was moving in slow motion. Also, because we were at an "alternate" dock, there were no shops or restaurants to hang out at until the lines died down. We just stood in line for literally one hour.

 

There were 3 lines, one for each ship. However, the Princess ship was scheduled to depart before the Carnival ships (and apparently was in a hurry to get out), so for about 30 minutes, all the tenders were being used for Princess until their line started dying down. During that time, the Carnival lines didn't move one bit. Carnival passengers were fuming! Finally, the Princess line died down, and they started using the tenders for the other two ships.

 

To answer your question, the ship will wait as long as there are passengers still standing in line. We got onboard and went for a quick bite to eat where we could see the tenders still coming and going well after our scheduled departure time.