Number Of Cruise Ships At Ports

I just checked a website that shows the cruise time tables for the different destination ports. I am cruising on the Serenade of the Seas at the end of February, going to Falmouth, George Town, and Cozumel. On the day we visit Falmouth, the Serenade will be there with Oasis. We share George Town with 7 other ships, and the same at Cozumel. Some questions for veterans cruisers:

1) How accurate are these cruise time tables? It would seem that cruises are planned pretty far in advance, so I would think they are fairly accurate.

2) Is 7 ships in one port an unusual number?

3) If 7 ships arrive at George Town, how do they handle that many people with just tenders?

4) How swamped will George Town and Cozumel be with that many people coming on shore.

Thanks for any information you can give me.

The cruise timetables are pretty accurate. 7 ships is a lot, but, each ship does a very good job of ferrying passengers ashore with their own tenders throughout the day.

The port will be crowded, book an excursion with the cruise line and be assured of returning in a timely fashion to the pier. If the cruise ship excursion is late you're covered, if you're late you risk missing the ship.

Jonathan

I just checked a website that shows the cruise time tables for the different destination ports. I am cruising on the Serenade of the Seas at the end of February, going to Falmouth, George Town, and Cozumel. On the day we visit Falmouth, the Serenade will be there with Oasis. We share George Town with 7 other ships, and the same at Cozumel. .

It took some researching, but I see you on Serenade:

~ George Town, Grand Cayman - 5 ships total Mar 4, 2015

~ Cozumel, Mexico - 7 ships total Mar 5, 2015

Ooof. Well, Cozumel will be a madhouse. Personally, I think you might be better with a ship's tour for both of those days. The line for cabs will be astronomical, in my opinion. We were in Cozumel with only Oasis a few months ago and we waited for at least 20 minutes for a taxi.

We were busy in George Town with several ships in. The beach was packed. I mean, that is what cruising the Caribbean can mean - many ships, and thousands of passengers.

Did you have plans for excursions? Both are nice beach ports. Grand Cayman is very expensive, just a heads up. :)

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This is not unusual and it does make the local towns quite busy.

Keith

We have been to many ports when there were quite a ships in port.

Grand Cayman -- some cruise lines use the island's tenders which are larger and can handle more people. We have encountered problems there. The island tenders have priority at the island's piers. On time our ship's tenders sat out in the water for an hour before they could dock. Many people missed their tours even though they had allowed enough time to get ashore. The town was mobbed. A new pier was built a few years ago -- but it also gets congested.

Cozumel has several piers thus the ships are spread out. But the town itself can get very congested. We there one time when we had to tender there as well.

We've been on GC with as many as 9 cruise ships, and it made for not so fun touring as the sites are jammed with people.

Did some rechecking. Turns out that 3 of the ships at George Town on March 4th is the Nieuw Amsterdam. Looks like they have 3 over-lapping cruises listed. Go figure...

Speaking of figures -

Falmouth Mar 3rd Serenade and Oasis - 8,000+ passengers :D

George Town Mar 4th Serenade, Conquest, Freedom, Magic, Amsterdam - 12,000+ passengers :(

Cozumel Mar 5th Serenade, Conquest, Freedom, Magic, Princess, Amsterdam, Oasis - 21,000 + passengers. :eek:

Might be a little crowded in Cozumel