Shore excursions on your own

[JaniceB]

Any advice for getting off the ship quickly if you are doing a shore excursion not booked through HAL? I assume it is much easier if you are docked somewhere versus tendering. Do you receive numbers and how do you get them?

[localady]

Generally when you are not tendering, they just announce that the gangplank is in place and where we will be disembarking (Main floor, Dolphin, etc.). I have never had to wait more than a few minutes to leave the ship, but we do try to wait for the initial rush of pax before we leave. :cool:

[JaniceB]

Thanks. I booked the early horseback riding excursion on Half Moon Cay so that we would be able to get on the island early. In St. Thomas I booked a daysail, I hope we don't have to tender on that day. When you do tender, do you get numbers?

[Bill S]

When you have a HAL-booked excursion, when you get to your cabin, you will find an envelope with all your excursion vouchers in it. The vouchers will tell you what time to show up and where to show up for your excursion. If you are tendering, you usually will go to the theatre or showroom at or before the time stated on your voucher. There, you will be given a decal with a group number on it and you wait there for your group number to be called to head to the tenders.

The same procedure is usually followed for excursions even when docked. Sometimes, though, the vouchers will tell you to meet dockside at the end of the gangway at a certain time and you will get your decal there and you will be directed to a bus or van, depending on your excursion.

Hope you have fun!

[localady]

Thanks. I booked the early horseback riding excursion on Half Moon Cay so that we would be able to get on the island early. In St. Thomas I booked a daysail, I hope we don't have to tender on that day. When you do tender, do you get numbers?

Each time that I have been in St. Thomas aboard a HAL ship, we have had a berth at the dock. I understand now that some ships do have to tender on busy days. I would expect that HAL will not. It may be announced in the program you receive the evening before St. Thomas if tendering may be necessary. Those that have sailed the Zaandam Eastern Carib. cruise could probably give you a better answer.:cool:

P.S. Janice- My boys are also signed up for the early(8:30) horseback ride at HMC.:)

[michmike]

for ports where you dock it shouldn't be a big deal. Understand though that it is not at all uncommon for there to be delays in docking so I would generally not schedule anything until at least an hour or even 90 minutes after your scheduled arrival time.

For tender ports, they generally pass out tender passes in the main showlounge. Ask a few staff the day before, what time that process is supposed to start and then take the earliest time someone tells you and plan to be there a good 40 min before that, with a book. Then just sit and wait. Our experience has ben that they start passing them out before the appointed time and not just to those scheduled for HAL excursions.

Plan your arrival back to the ship at least an hour before the announced "all aboard time" just to allow for eventualities if you are doing your own arrangements. And for excursions that go a significant distance from the port, consider doing the HAL excursion just for the certainty that the ship won't leave w/o you.

That having been said, we've been doing our own excursions for 4 cruises now (after finding out how much we hated the cattle car atmosphere of the ship sponsored ones) and have had no problems. The ports of call boards here are a great source of info for arranging things on your own or you can simply negotiate with a taxi driver at the dock. We prefer using someone that other cruisers have had experience with and can recommend.

[Orcrone]

One other thing to remember. St. Thomas is a US territory. If the ship came from a location outside the US (e.g. HMC) then you'll have to first clear immigration. It's a fairly quick process, but can easily add 30 minutes to your wait.