Tendering in Phuket

Hi all,

First time poster, first time cruiser.

My gf and I will be going on Mariner of the Seas at the end of the year and the ship will be tendered in Phuket. A must do for us is the Phi Phi island speedboat tour. However, the official RC tour costs at least 2x as much as the others I see online.

Therefore our options are:

1. Book with RC

2. Book another tour online

3. Book something on the day once we get onshore

Our ship is supposed to be tendered by 7am. Most of the tours start around 8:30am and we don't want to book something and miss it just because the process to transfer onshore is delayed or takes too long.

Does anyone know:

1. The exact location in Phuket which the ship will be tendered.

2. What the process for coming onto shore is, how long it is expected to take and whether the cost is included in the cruise fare

3. The operating hours of the transfer vessels

4. How frequently the transfer vessels operate

5. Whether passengers who book shore excursions through RC get priority boarding on the transfer vessels

6. Which tour operator RC uses for its official Phi Phi island tour?

Any insight to any of the above would be greatly appreciated, including suggestions on which option to go with. I've also emailed RC but judging by the time it took for them to reply to my last email it may take a while before I get a response from them.

Thanks everyone!

Welcome to CC Suvat. This spring I was on Legend of the Seas in Phuket and though we were going to tender to Patong Beach, sea conditions required that we tender elsewhere and that did cause a delay of an hour getting off the ship. Ship tours were given priority for tendering. I had arranged an independent tour and the company was already aware of the location change and sent us a text confirming. If you decide not to take a ship tour, be sure to have exchanged contact info with the company for when you arrive.

http://www.whatsinport.com/Phuket.htm

If Phi Phi is a must do I would book ahead to avoid disappointment. Keep in mind the number of people they allow and if they are licensed when comparing prices. While researching I narrowed my choice down to Phuket Sail Tours but in the end we did a small group tour to Phuket Town which was excellent. There are reviews of Phuket Sails on Trip Advisor.

http://www.phuketsailtours.com/

There is no additional cost for the tender ashore. Though priority is given for tendering ashore, not so on the return trip. Usually they will run frequently until an hour before the ship is scheduled to sail away so everyone is back on board. If not on a ship tour, you must be back on time as they won't wait for you!

If you haven't already done so, join the roll call for your specific sailing. On our sailing, a group of people organized a boat trip and got a better deal.

Have a great trip!

While researching I narrowed my choice down to Phuket Sail Tours but in the end we did a small group tour to Phuket Town which was excellent. There are reviews of Phuket Sails on Trip Advisor.

http://www.phuketsailtours.com/

Would be very interested to

hear why

a) Phuket town was excellent as we are stopping at Phuket again

and last time earlier this year we could not wait to pass Phuket town to get to the other side -- Patong beach etc

b) Did you dock or have a tender.

Hopefully you can make our stay in Phuket Town excellent :D

Thanks lilybob for your extremely helpful reply :)

Would be very interested to

hear why

a) Phuket town was excellent as we are stopping at Phuket again

and last time earlier this year we could not wait to pass Phuket town to get to the other side -- Patong beach etc

b) Did you dock or have a tender.

 

Hopefully you can make our stay in Phuket Town excellent :D

We wanted to do a cultural tour and also visit one of the gypsy sea villages as an alternative to going out on a speed boat to the other islands when I came across Phuket Heritage Tours. They have a Facebook page as well.

http://www.phuket-travel-secrets.com/phuket-city-tours.html

Chaya was an excellent guide and we learned and experienced a variety of things on our tour. We visited Chinpracha House, visited some beautiful temples, shophouses, a Thai cemetery as it was Remembrance Day when we were there, the gypsy sea village and ended our full day in a great local restaurant with delicious Thai food. She is one of the local people trying to spread the word that Phuket is more than the beach area.

We had to tender in a different place but the guide and her driver were there waiting at the new location for us. Since we were late, adjustments to the itinerary had to be made...but actually she already adapted the usual tour to our needs as we were on a ship tour. There were five of us in our group. Payment was in local money at the end of the tour. She answered any questions prior to our sailing in a timely manner.

http://www.phuketheritagetours.net/

heritage.th@gmail.com

Here is another site with Phuket information and pictures of many of the things we saw. Hope you have a good time in Phuket Town!

http://www.mydestination.com/phuket/travel-articles/721731/phukets-old-town-renaissance

Hi all,

 

First time poster, first time cruiser.

 

My gf and I will be going on Mariner of the Seas at the end of the year and the ship will be tendered in Phuket. A must do for us is the Phi Phi island speedboat tour. However, the official RC tour costs at least 2x as much as the others I see online.

 

Therefore our options are:

1. Book with RC

2. Book another tour online

3. Book something on the day once we get onshore

 

Our ship is supposed to be tendered by 7am. Most of the tours start around 8:30am and we don't want to book something and miss it just because the process to transfer onshore is delayed or takes too long.

 

Does anyone know:

1. The exact location in Phuket which the ship will be tendered.

2. What the process for coming onto shore is, how long it is expected to take and whether the cost is included in the cruise fare

3. The operating hours of the transfer vessels

4. How frequently the transfer vessels operate

5. Whether passengers who book shore excursions through RC get priority boarding on the transfer vessels

6. Which tour operator RC uses for its official Phi Phi island tour?

 

Any insight to any of the above would be greatly appreciated, including suggestions on which option to go with. I've also emailed RC but judging by the time it took for them to reply to my last email it may take a while before I get a response from them.

 

Thanks everyone!

Suvat, what did you end up doing? We are doing the same cruise in a few weeks time and I have exactly the same concerns! I was wondering how it all turned out for you and what the tendering process was like!

Thanks!!

We ended up going on the official RCL excursion to Phi Phi Islands.

Ship arrived at Phuket at about 8am and those with official shore excursions got priority, so we were glad we went with RCL.

Those who wished to go to shore on their own needed to queue up at the restaurant at 9:30 to get free tendering tickets. I think the first non shore excursion tender boat departed around 10-10:15am. The tender process itself takes about 20 mins and the boats come very frequently.

Therefore if you wish to book your own shore excursions, I would not recommend anything which starts earlier than 11am. I would go even later as there is no guarantee you'll get the tickets for the first boats.

No tickets are required on the way back, the tenders ran all the way to 12:30am.

On the 2nd day, tenders started at 7am and once again those with shore excursions got priority. Due to the short time the ship was anchored (leaving at 1pm), no tender tickets were issued and it was a first come first served basis for independent travellers.

By the way, if you get seasick, do not do any of the speedboat tours. They can be extremely bumpy!

By official shore excursions, are they the ones done through RC?

Do you know exactly where you tendered? Off Patong beach? Are there different locations to tender off Patong beach?

I am now looking at doing a private charter and might even stick to the Phuket area, as we are not keen on getting seasick! And don't want to spend a lot of time just speeding somewhere. This other one i found is called River Rovers and they don't go out far from Phuket.

Do you know what time you were supposed to tender? Ours says 7am, but maybe they get in later sometimes.

Thanks for all your help - we are first time cruisers too!

Did you enjoy your experience?

Yeah official shore excursions are ones booked through RC.

We were tendered off Kalim Beach, there were 3 other cruise ships there at the time.

We tendered at 8am even though our itinerary said 7am. Didn't really bother us.

Other than the seasickness on the speedboat we really enjoyed the islands. Although you could choose to, we didn't spend any time wandering in Phuket.

Thanks so much for your help Suvat! Really appreciate it. Looking forward to it now.

Thanks so much for your help Suvat! Really appreciate it. Looking forward to it now.

Lyrical71, I was just on Mariner of the Seas and we anchored in Patong Bay and you are tendered in. I have the shore excursion brochure which I can email to you if you like.

We ended up going on the official RCL excursion to Phi Phi Islands.

 

Ship arrived at Phuket at about 8am and those with official shore excursions got priority, so we were glad we went with RCL.

 

Those who wished to go to shore on their own needed to queue up at the restaurant at 9:30 to get free tendering tickets. I think the first non shore excursion tender boat departed around 10-10:15am. The tender process itself takes about 20 mins and the boats come very frequently.

 

Therefore if you wish to book your own shore excursions, I would not recommend anything which starts earlier than 11am. I would go even later as there is no guarantee you'll get the tickets for the first boats.

 

No tickets are required on the way back, the tenders ran all the way to 12:30am.

 

On the 2nd day, tenders started at 7am and once again those with shore excursions got priority. Due to the short time the ship was anchored (leaving at 1pm), no tender tickets were issued and it was a first come first served basis for independent travellers.

 

By the way, if you get seasick, do not do any of the speedboat tours. They can be extremely bumpy!

Hi, suvat

I'll be on Mariner in phi phi island. I think to choose ship tour , as you did, and I would like to know if during tour we'll stay all time on speedboat , going down in sea from boat to swim or there will be stop on the beaches. I don't swim very well and i would like stop a little time on beach.Shortly...will we be the whole day on boat or will there be some breaks on the beaches? Sorry for my terrible english... I hope you understand my question! Thanks!

As a point of information, it has been said that according to contract you may debark at any time - they do not have the right to prioritize who leaves first. Cruisers have insisted and won the argument. Anyone else have the same info?

I'd not take the chance to do an independent tour. The seas around Phi Phi are beautiful and usually very calm but can change very quickly without any warning.

We just got off the Millennium and were tendered in Patong Beach...the only ship there.

For another tender port on the trip, We went to Guest Relations a few days before arriving there, told them we had a private tour booked at a certain time and asked for priority tender tickets. They were very accommodating and gave us the tickets (we asked for 4 and got them, all the other people were Elite and had their own).

We did a ships tour in this port to James Bind Island and stilt houses because it is about a 2 hour drive both ways and there is major traffic. But I know others did private tours and had no problem meeting the ship.

Good luck...enjoy. Beautiful place.

Check with RC to ensure you are tendering……then you will be at Patong…..so you will be at the Northern end (known as Kalim beach), otherwise you will be at the Southern end of the bay…..

We once (Legend of the Seas) was docked at the Deep Sea Port, which is more for the Star line……..

Hello

My partner and I will be on the mariner of the seas in Jan 2015, it involves 2days in phuket.

This information is exactly what i was after :)

I called RC today and the guy couldn't really help, he said it depends on the weather and for me to ask on day 1 of the cruise.

At current there is only 1 excursion for Phuket. I hope more become available soon.

Was there a James Bond island tour?

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Any information on the Princess trip to phi phi island please ...it looks very expensive $149 pp😣

Just want to fully understand what we get for that. As in Feb we are due to dock at 8am leave at 5pm

However if we dock late and have to tender it seems to expect to "start" the trip at 10am... then the last tender bk is 4pm... so the days are sooo short 😣

I'm finding this on all the ports tbh. It's frustrating getting such a short time, when everything is 2 hrs away in Vietnam and Malaysia etc 🙄