scary tender ride

[nurseblissful]

this is kinda funny and kinda scary. when we left hmc we took one of our own tenders back to the ship as the eurodam had the bigger ones from the island. our driver had to back and fill repeatedly to avoid banging into the boat behind us....i looked at my husband and asked if this guy knew what he was doing... he smiled and said he was doing ok. by the way, a man weighing about 400 pounds had sat down beside me on the outside of the bench. as we pulled out past the island, it was obvious that the spit of land was blocking the wind, it got really bumpy. the boat was swinging side to side, people are either laughing and throwing their hands up, or screaming in fright....especially the indonese waiters sitting behind us...he finally righted the boat so it went into the waves instead of side swinging and we got to the ship. where he promptly ran right into the noordam...and i mean hit it good. he then got on the speaker and said, "please exit the tender calmly and carefully". there was almost a stampede with every mobility aid you can think of. a lady with two bad knees and a cane threw her bag to me and JUMPED to the platform....omg. my husband then said, calm as you please, "no, he did not know what he was doing". but he also said we would not have capsized because of the larger gent that acted as a ballast....he did not mention my girth acting as the same....that may not have gone well for him..it may have frightened the wait staff, but it did not put them off their game, service in the vista dining room remained fabulous:D

[YXU AC*SE]

Hehehe. That sounds like our tender ride on the MS Amsterdam into Port Stanley, Falkland Islands at Christmastide. There isn't much bow to a tender, consequently when the waves break, they roll UP the windshield. Needless to say, it pretty much freaked most of the pax out, and aside from the occasional gasp, there wasn't much chit chat on the way over. Pax were applauding once we had safely tied up alongside the jetty.

 

Scott.

[nurseblissful]

and my punctuation is not too spiffy either.....good thing i changed from a major in english to nursing.....:D

[jhannah]

We've had some fun rides, but nothing to match the boat from Cozumel over to the mainland. My DW was petrified as the vessel rolled, pitched, and yawed every which way! I thought it was cool! ;)

[nurseblissful]

the rolling boat was scary, but crashing into the noordam? he left a good dent in the ship....my husband has driven his own cabin cruisers since he was a kid, so it did not bother him a bit. there was an officer on the boat too. that had to be a bad feeling to booger up that badly with a superior seeing you do it...

[cp556]

In Cabo San Lucas we took Westerdam's tender back from port to the ship. About one minute out, an inebriated female stated loudly that she was on the wrong tender. (She was wearing a Carnival Sail & Sign card around her neck, but was somehow on the Westerdam's tender).

 

The tender crew returned to the dock and offloaded the woman. In doing so, the crew opened the front hatch for visibility when docking. They did not close the hatch when we took off again for Westerdam.

 

Kinda rough waters, and spray and waves came in through the open hatch, drenching the people in front (as well as at least two cameras). People were screeching (some in fear, some in glee) ... and I saw a couple of them, still dripping, at the Front Desk right after we boarded the ship ....

[Copper10-8]

HMC can be a 'fun' tender ride at times but so can Loreto, BCS, Mexico and Nessebur, Bulgaria. Those Deck Dept guys out on the tender platform on the 'big boat' earn their money literally pulling pax from the tender while they're timing the 'little boat' bopping up and down on the swells. The quartermasters and sailors 'driving' the tenders know what they're doing but it's not always easy;)

 

[Sir PMP]

In Jan. 2000 we were in hmc with the Amsterdam,and Volendam was also there, weather got rough around noon, everybody had to go back, our tender went under water and tender nr.9 behind us broke a window, lots of water...then the Amsterdam upon leaving ran into an old anchor, so more delay, and on the way to Aruba we had to change course to rescue 3 sailors that had left their little freighter(engine kaput) in a liferaft, supplied the freighter with food and dropped the 3 off in Oranjestad, and that all on Jan 1, 2001....

[Krazy Kruizers]

From our Amsterdam Hawaiian cruise:

Lahania, Maui:

The dispatcher was making certain that we were out of the Iao Valley - heavy rains were causing flash flooding. We had 1 and ½ hours at the Maui Ocean Center. The Center is wonderful with lots of exhibits but wouldn’t you know it - it was loaded with about 500 screaming children who were just beginning spring break and since it was to raining to go to the beach, their parents brought them here! By the time we got back to Lahaina, the rains had stopped so we decided to walk around town and see what all had changed since the last time we were in this port in 1979. At 1:45 we decided to get a tender and return to the ship. The winds had kicked up quite a bit and we noticed that the ocean was really rough. After waiting 15 minutes 2 tenders came in - 1 was empty and the other one was full - had a lot of crew members who got some free time. The first tender that we got on - the one that had been empty had to be completely cleaned down from all the sea sick passengers on it. We left the pier at 2:05 and began a horrible ride back to the ship. The tender was packed with passengers and crew. They kept 3 of the canvas coverings for the doors closed. As we pitched from side to side with water crashing over the top of the tender and pouring into the only open “door”, many of us wondered if we would ever get back to the ship in one piece. I know that we have all been told that if the tender rolls over, it will right itself. But our biggest concern was - no one is trapped in - if the tender rolls over, we will all fall and many of us will have broken bones and hopefully no one will be killed.

 

Our “driver” did an excellent job of keeping the tender upright and getting us back to the ship - no one on our tender got sick. The next challenge was getting off the tender with the waves crashing onto the ship and into the tender area. Nearly every other person got soaked getting off the tender - I was one of them - DH got one shoe and sock a little wet. We got back to the ship at 2:45. There were people waiting to get onto the tender to go ashore - many of us made a comment to them - “You are all crazy if you go ashore now”. While I was changing clothes and talking to DH about going back on the 4 o’clock tender for our luau an announcement was made canceling all tender service until further notice. We had pretty much made up our minds that we were not going back and would just eat the $129 per person tour. We had also learned that around 10 AM they had stopped tender operations for awhile because of rough seas. At 3:50 an announcement was made that this evening’s luau had been canceled - okay we didn’t lose any money there. Our assistant CD seem to be making all the announcements. He came back on at 4 and reminded everyone that their monies would be refunded. We learned that some of the crew members were on this ship when she was in the Falklands in 2005 and had the same kind of weather and tender operations had to cease and people had to spend the night on the island with the locals. We talked to some other people who got on the tenders at 3 and were told that they had to remain there until clearance was given for them to return to the ship. The sun finally came out between 3:30 and 4. At four two tenders with the majority of passengers and crew returned to the ship - it was still a long ride for them as the ship moved out to sea so that the waves wouldn’t be too bad for those getting off the tenders. It was announced around 5:30 that everyone was safe back on board.

[nurseblissful]

can you imagine if the tender flipped and then righted itself? it would be like being in a dryer....and if that had been us, there would have been some very mashed and bruised indonesian guys if me and "the big guy" tumbled with them....i don't know if i am going to laugh or get a chill...naw, laugh!

[nurseblissful]

and copper, that is a FETCHING avatar, my friend. just fetching...;)

[sfnew2sail]

We had a wild tender ride last summer in Dubrovik in the Mediterranean. The little boat pitched, yawed, listed (I think, I don't know those seaman's terms) and everything else you can think of. People were screaming and turning green around the gills. On our return trip to the ship, the poor little tender driver(?) was having a really hard time keeping us upright. As we neared the gangway of the ship, it really got rocky!! Amid all the screaming, something went awry as we got next to the gangway. Before we knew it, we heard a loud crash and glass breaking. The driver had caught the left corner window against the gangway and it came crashing in on us. Of course, this was my DHs business charter, so there were a bunch of insurance agents on board who assured the driver he could claim that on his comprehensive insurance. I felt sorry for the little guy because about 10 of his fellow sailors were watching as he rammed the gangway. Good thing for us: We found out how well bonine and sea bands work. No seasickness at all!! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[Copper10-8]

and copper, that is a FETCHING avatar, my friend. just fetching...;)

 

We aim to please!;)

Pitching = up and down (forward to aft)

Rolling = from side to side (left to right/port to starboard)

Yawing = (eratically) turning to one side or from side to side, while moving

Listing = leaning to one side

[sfnew2sail]

Copper, thanks for the tutorial! Yep, we were doing ALL of it! LOL Quite a ride!

[TCF]

And I thought the 4' swells at cabo last October was a rough ride!!!

It now seems like an afternoon in a punt on the canal compared to what you folks have been through!!!