Tendering at Grand Cayman

[CortCDR]

Has anyone been on the Dream lately and have experience with tendering at GC? We were on the Fantasy in June and it took us forever to get off the ship for a private excursion. We are going in Oct on the Dream and I’m wondering how long it is taking people to get off the ship that have a private excursion booked? We are all ashore at 8:00am and need to be at our meeting point at 9:15. Anyone have any experience? Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Fruto76]

Has anyone been on the Dream lately and have experience with tendering at GC? We were on the Fantasy in June and it took us forever to get off the ship for a private excursion. We are going in Oct on the Dream and I’m wondering how long it is taking people to get off the ship that have a private excursion booked? We are all ashore at 8:00am and need to be at our meeting point at 9:15. Anyone have any experience? Thank you so much in advance!

We were on the Dream in July and tendered in Grand Cayman- however we explored on our own and were not in a rush to get off early. We walked off the boat and right onto a tender at 10am. It was so easy!

 

[dcassetta]

In the past, DCL has given tender priority to guests who have booked Disney excursions. So, they will use the first tenders for that. I would inquire at guest services about getting on one of the early ones.

 

[KVH]

Not to sound smarmy but I'll assume you can't do concierge and get priority off. SO.

It can be a little dependent on winds (ensuring they're in the right place) as to when they start. Too, I've noticed they're sometimes the boats there not as "efficient" as someplace like Cabo might be.

Maybe the question is, where is your meeting point? Let's say the wind is bad that day and you end up at the Spotts Beach pier. And you want to get to Seven Mile. Well, that's up to 30 minutes depending on traffic. But if you end up at Hog Sty Bay, you are close to downtown and all the action. So I guess the answer is "it depends".

 

[CortCDR]

We were on the Dream in July and tendered in Grand Cayman- however we explored on our own and were not in a rush to get off early. We walked off the boat and right onto a tender at 10am. It was so easy!

Oh wow! Our experience in June was way different! (fantasy) We had to go to the WD Theatre to get a sticker and sat and waited for an hour to get a tender boat. And this was 2 hours after we docked. Lol

 

[CortCDR]

Not to sound smarmy but I'll assume you can't do concierge and get priority off. SO.

It can be a little dependent on winds (ensuring they're in the right place) as to when they start. Too, I've noticed they're sometimes the boats there not as "efficient" as someplace like Cabo might be.

Maybe the question is, where is your meeting point? Let's say the wind is bad that day and you end up at the Spotts Beach pier. And you want to get to Seven Mile. Well, that's up to 30 minutes depending on traffic. But if you end up at Hog Sty Bay, you are close to downtown and all the action. So I guess the answer is "it depends".

We are just meeting at Capt Marvin's office which is a 5 minute walk from the port.

 

[Einstein509]

It will take a while if you're trying to get off right away. Disney does prioritize groups that booked excursions through them. We just did it on the Fantasy and it did take a bit even after the initial rush. Had to queue up at the WD Theater and then sit there for a while. Full trip report here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...bean-12-20-august-2022.3894158/#post-64258830

 

[KVH]

We are just meeting at Capt Marvin's office which is a 5 minute walk from the port.

Ah, as long as you anchor on the west side, you should be OK. Although, as has been mentioned, the chance of it being a close call is possible.

 

[CastawayCayLover]

It will take a while if you're trying to get off right away. Disney does prioritize groups that booked excursions through them. We just did it on the Fantasy and it did take a bit even after the initial rush. Had to queue up at the WD Theater and then sit there for a while. Full trip report here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...bean-12-20-august-2022.3894158/#post-64258830

About how long did it take you to get to shore from start to finish? I'm guessing it will take about 45 - 60 minutes from when you show up at the Theater but wanted to check. Thanks.

 

[CastawayCayLover]

For anyone that’s interested, on Fantasy first tender to GC was 10:30. I got to the WD Theater at 10:30, was assigned boarding group 2, and was on shore at 11. Process was a little faster than I thought it would be.

 

[CortCDR]

For anyone that’s interested, on Fantasy first tender to GC was 10:30. I got to the WD Theater at 10:30, was assigned boarding group 2, and was on shore at 11. Process was a little faster than I thought it would be.

That’s fantastic! Much better than in June! You didn’t have a DCL excursion, you were just getting off on your own?

 

[CastawayCayLover]

That’s fantastic! Much better than in June! You didn’t have a DCL excursion, you were just getting off on your own?

Correct. Just meeting up with a friend that lives here for lunch.

 

[scrappinginontario]

For anyone that’s interested, on Fantasy first tender to GC was 10:30. I got to the WD Theater at 10:30, was assigned boarding group 2, and was on shore at 11. Process was a little faster than I thought it would be.

Correct. Just meeting up with a friend that lives here for lunch.

Thanks for this! We have friends who live in Grand Cayman too and we’re hoping to spend the day with them.

We’re on the Fantasy so our first tender is 10:30.

Did you go to the WD Theater in order to ‘line up’ to get off the ship with other non-excursion guests?

I hadn’t considered that excursions might get priority so this info will help me plan a meet-up time with our friends.

Thanks!!

 

[greensombrero]

Thanks for this! We have friends who live in Grand Cayman too and we’re hoping to spend the day with them.

We’re on the Fantasy so our first tender is 10:30.

Did you go to the WD Theater in order to ‘line up’ to get off the ship with other non-excursion guests?

I hadn’t considered that excursions might get priority so this info will help me plan a meet-up time with our friends.

Thanks!!

We just did this end of Oct on the Fantasy. On our sailing they were tendering from two different locations onboard. One was handling excursions, they had those meeting somewhere else onboard and then took them to one spot. For those without excursions we met in the WD theater and were taken to another spot. It was like one was tendering from forward the other from aft I don’t recall exactly. It meant both excursions and non were moving pretty well.

We showed up a bit before 10:30 and there was already a line in the WD theater but we still made the first tender. I don’t think they actually cleared customs until just after 10:30 and then we got on the tender right after. Based on the time stamps on my photos we were ashore about 10:50.

 

[AgentMama]

We are just meeting at Capt Marvin's office which is a 5 minute walk from the port.

Captain Marvs is a pretty big operation and when you book you let them know if you're staying on island or coming from a ship, I would think they'll wait if you're a couple minutes delayed. As someone else said, go to guest services to let them know timeframe needed to tender.

 

[DisneyBelle_x]

Was there on the Dream at end of November and went to WD theatre to line up for a tender around 8.55am going by photos and was on the island at 9.25am, didn’t take long at all

 

[CastawayCayLover]

Thanks for this! We have friends who live in Grand Cayman too and we’re hoping to spend the day with them.

We’re on the Fantasy so our first tender is 10:30.

Did you go to the WD Theater in order to ‘line up’ to get off the ship with other non-excursion guests?

I hadn’t considered that excursions might get priority so this info will help me plan a meet-up time with our friends.

Thanks!!

Yep, that's exactly what I did.