Tendering??

pawstat

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 19, 2013
Messages
80
So, this may be a dumb question....we are doing our 2nd cruise in March (7-nt WC). The first one was a 4-day Bahamian cruise. I keep seeing "tendering" for when we are in port. Isn't this just tying up the ship when it's in port?? But then I see "taking your tender back to the ship" and I'm confused. On our first cruise, we just walked off the ship at CC and in the Bahamas. If we are planning some non-DCL excursions how much time do we need to have for a window to get to and from the ship?
Thanks
 


There are two ways from the port to Paradise Island and where most excursions (whether Disney or not) take place. You can take a taxi or you can take a ferry. I would think that is what they mean by tendering.
At CC you walk off the ship onto the island...you can either walk to the beach area or take a tram.
 
So, this may be a dumb question....we are doing our 2nd cruise in March (7-nt WC). The first one was a 4-day Bahamian cruise. I keep seeing "tendering" for when we are in port. Isn't this just tying up the ship when it's in port?? But then I see "taking your tender back to the ship" and I'm confused. On our first cruise, we just walked off the ship at CC and in the Bahamas. If we are planning some non-DCL excursions how much time do we need to have for a window to get to and from the ship?
Thanks
When the ship ties up at a dock onshore, that's "docking". Some ports are not deep enough for cruise ships to actually get close to the shore, and those are "tender" ports. The ship anchors away from the shoreline and small boats are used to transfer passengers from ship to shore. This can add additional debarking time in those ports. Those small boats are called tenders.

On DCL the ports that are normally tendered are Grand Cayman (Western Caribbean) and Cabo San Lucas (Baja cruises).

If you have a tender port, it will be indicated in your itinerary that it's a tender port.
 
So, this may be a dumb question....we are doing our 2nd cruise in March (7-nt WC). The first one was a 4-day Bahamian cruise. I keep seeing "tendering" for when we are in port. Isn't this just tying up the ship when it's in port?? But then I see "taking your tender back to the ship" and I'm confused. On our first cruise, we just walked off the ship at CC and in the Bahamas. If we are planning some non-DCL excursions how much time do we need to have for a window to get to and from the ship?
Thanks

Wow...I totally misread this as that you were going the Bahamas! I think I better put my cheaters on so I can read. lol

The Caymans are a tendering port on the Western Caribbean. Sorry to misread your question. Have a great cruise!
 


As far as leaving time for a private excursion... I don't know how DCL does it, but this summer on RCCL we had a couple of tender ports... In both cases any ship-based excursions had priority, then their highest stateroom class (suites or concierge...not 100% there as I was a lowly OV), and then the rest of us. For one we had to have tickets and were called by group number.

Those who have been on DCL when tenders are used can better answer, but I would not count on being in the first couple of tenders at least.

Also, if you're planning private excursion, I'd make sure what their policy is if the ship is unable to anchor - which has been known to happen. DCL will obviously refund their excursions if they are unable to anchor. But private companies might have different policies.
 
Those who have been on DCL when tenders are used can better answer
On the cruises where we tendered, if you were on a DCL excursion, they got priority on the tender. Don't know that being Concierge gave priority, but I wouldn't be surprised. Everyone else wanting to get an early tender would report somewhere (my experience was the Buena Vista Theater) and the filled the rows in order of arrival from back to front of the theater. You had to have your whole group there at the time you "lined up". Then, when space allowed on the early tenders, starting with the last row of the theater the "line" was escorted down to the tender lobby to fill any vacant spots.

Once all the DCL excursions were ashore, and the people in the theater were all tendered, then you just went to the tender lobby to board.
 
When the ship ties up at a dock onshore, that's "docking". Some ports are not deep enough for cruise ships to actually get close to the shore, and those are "tender" ports. The ship anchors away from the shoreline and small boats are used to transfer passengers from ship to shore. This can add additional debarking time in those ports. Those small boats are called tenders.

On DCL the ports that are normally tendered are Grand Cayman (Western Caribbean) and Cabo San Lucas (Baja cruises).

If you have a tender port, it will be indicated in your itinerary that it's a tender port.

And sometimes there are so many ships in port that there are no free spaces to tie up, but they will tell you about this beforehand. For example, in 2011 we tendered in St. Thomas on the Magic but it was listed on the cruise itinerary as such.
 
I would highly advise doing a DCL excursion not ender days. That gives you priority to get off the ship. Depending on the demand to get off the ship because each cruise is different, I would give an hour at least to get off the ship. The tenders in Grand Cayman can hold a lot of people, and the tenders in Cabo San Lucas can't hold as many people. I was on a Carnival cruise once and it took us 4 hours to get off the ship in Cabo because we got a late ticket. When we had that experience, I just always book ship excursions at any tender ports.
 
We tendered on the Wonder in Cabo San Lucas back in 2012. I actually thought it was kind of fun. Plus with the layout of Cabo you can see the ship anchored in the harbor. My wife took this picture from the beach where we were hanging out. The tenders come pretty frequently and we had no trouble getting on/off the ship. In Cabo it was about a 4 minute ride in to the harbor. We really enjoyed that part of the trip.

C28.jpg
 
On the cruises where we tendered, if you were on a DCL excursion, they got priority on the tender. Don't know that being Concierge gave priority, but I wouldn't be surprised.
You're correct. Priority tendering is actually one of the perks when sailing concierge. We didn't use it in Grand Cayman because we were on a DCL excursion which was also one of the first groups tendered off of the Fantasy.
 
On our WBPC cruise, we tendered in Cabo. The Navigator said that they would not start regular tendering til 10am (or whatever time) so we started our day off leisurely. But at say 8:30am or so...they made an announcement that said tendering was open for everyone...so my point is...just be ready to get off the ship, so if they announce early is tendering available, you can go.
 
So, let me make sure I'm understanding....when it says we are in the Grand Cayman port 10:30-5:30, they don't start letting people off (tendering) until 10:30. If you don't have a DCL excursion, you won't be getting off for a WHILE?? I would think it would take a while to get a few thousand people off a ship, one little boat at a time.
 
So, let me make sure I'm understanding....when it says we are in the Grand Cayman port 10:30-5:30, they don't start letting people off (tendering) until 10:30. If you don't have a DCL excursion, you won't be getting off for a WHILE?? I would think it would take a while to get a few thousand people off a ship, one little boat at a time.

It's not as bad as you'd think. Each tender holds a lot of people, they are quite big. And they load them one right after the other.

http://aroomfortwowithaview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Carnival-Valor-W-Caribbean-GC-1-Post.jpg
 


GET UP TO A $1000 SHIPBOARD CREDIT AND AN EXCLUSIVE GIFT!

If you make your Disney Cruise Line reservation with Dreams Unlimited Travel you’ll receive these incredible shipboard credits to spend on your cruise!




















DIS Tiktok DIS Facebook DIS Twitter DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Top