Tender at Grand Cayman

[robandkelly13]

Hi! About how long of a wait is it to get on the tender from the boat to port? Is there a better time to try this to get less of a wait (like, when we first dock or an hour or two later, etc.)? About how long does it take for the tender to reach the dock? Same questions for the return also. Thanks!

 

[wilma-bride]

There will be longer waits when the ship first docks/announces tenders are open as people going on excursions will get the first tenders and most people want to get off the ship early. Last time we tendered (albeit that it was at Cabo, not Grand Cayman) we went about 10.15 (all ashore was 9am) and waited about 10 minutes in the theatre until our number was called for the next boat.

 

[sc426]

The wait will be a little longer when you first dock and the all aboard announcement is made. But there are a lot of tender boat running and the wait shouldn't be to long once the first go around of people get off. About an hour or so after the first announcement is made, the wait is very short. I got off about 10:30am and the wait was 5-10 minutes. Getting back on board at the end of the day goes a little bit faster because all the different excursions get back at different times. Towards the last 30 minutes before the all aboard announcement is made, the lines can get long and the ship can leave without you. So just keep that in mind when you are done at the end of the day.

 

[Stasia5]

We had a private excursion and got to the theater early for tendering. It was probably a good 1.5 hours before we got on a tender boat. I'd say wait at least an hour if not 1.5 to 2 if you can to avoid a wait. It takes about 5-10 minutes from ship to shore and vice versa.

 

[lengmui]

We went aboard at around 11am that day (2 hrs after all ashore) and there was pretty much no wait. We got to the theatre right as they were calling the next group to go on the boat and went straight on. Coming back, the tender boat was pretty empty as well, but we only spent around an hour ashore so I guess it was still early. Really depends on how flexible you are - I would wait an hour or two before going if you want to miss crowds.

 

[dreadpiraterose]

We had a private excursion and got to the theater early for tendering. It was probably a good 1.5 hours before we got on a tender boat. I'd say wait at least an hour if not 1.5 to 2 if you can to avoid a wait. It takes about 5-10 minutes from ship to shore and vice versa.

We did a private one too. We didn't get to shore until 11:30 I think? And we were in line to get a tender ticket at least 30 min before they even started handing them out. There were at least 50-70 people in front of us. It was a little nuts. I was stressing out a bit. Our excursion wasn't until 1:30, but we wanted lunch first.

 

[phinz]

If you're in Concierge you apparently get priority tendering, fwiw.

 

[jdb in AZ]

DCL excursions also have priority on the tendering.

When we're on our own we just have a late breakfast (early lunch) and wait for the open tendering announcement. when we get to shore we just find a local driver/van to see the nearby sites. The driver customizes our tour to whatever we want to see. And yes, it's important to return to the ship before the return tendering lines form.

 

[tinkerone]

for the first hour or two you need to go to the theater to get onto a tender boat. if your not in a hurry then just wait, there will be an announcement as soon as open tender begins. open tender is when you can go directly to the exit and you don't have to wait in the theater to get on the boat. the wait in the theater, as pp's have stated, can take a while. also, depending on how many ships are in port that day will depend on how many boats are dedicated to dcl.
as to your question about how long it takes to reach the dock, its usually 5 to 10 minutes. very quick and not long at all.

 

[phinz]

as to your question about how long it takes to reach the dock, its usually 5 to 10 minutes. very quick and not long at all.

Here's a tender at Grand Cayman in reverse.

 

[JMHDisney]

We went to the theater about 30 minutes after tendering started. The wait was maybe 5 minutes in the theatre and then we waited about 10 minutes just standing in line to board the tender (we were at the back of the group for our tender). We did not have a Disney excursion and were not concierge. I had heard nightmares of people waiting for hours but our experience was it was very smooth. The tender boats were larger than I expected (2 decks) and held a lot of people.