Tender Process

What is the tender process for those not on a ship tour? Any stories of long waits?

What is the tender process for those not on a ship tour? Any stories of long waits?

They have been using the ticket number system.

If not on a tour or in a Suite, you go and get a number the night before. They call numbers, you go to the tender and board. Once the main crowd is done, it is easy and simple.

Each cruise tendering will change. If the seas become rough during the morning, some will make the trip, others won't. The trip back to the ship on those days is an adventure.

If there are many tours and many ambulatorily challenged Elite passengers that want to tender a shore... get ready to wait.

Our last couple of cruises when tender tickets were needed they were given out early in the morning. There were a couple of ports where there were very large tenders used in addition to the ship tenders so they didn't use tickets -got ashore quickly.

On the Celebrity cruises we've been on during the past several years tender tickets for those who do not have tender priority have been issued in the morning. While we have had tender priority tickets on every Celebrity cruise we've ever taken it is my understanding that for those who need tender tickets the staff issuing them may be set up earlier than the previously announced time. For example, if the Celebrity Today states that tender tickets will be issued starting at 7 AM those who want an early ticket may find that if someone in their party arrives at 6:40 AM the staff is ready to issue tickets.

And some stateroom categories other than suites also receive tender priority tickets. High levels of the Captain's Club also receive them. So we have been on cruises where a surprisingly high number of passengers have tender priority.

I have never experienced general tender tickets being issued the night before on Celebrity. The exception being priority tickets left in your cabin the night before, if you qualify with your Captain's Club level.

We were on one cruise where tendering was a disaster, took 2 hours for our tender number to be called. Otherwise, we really have not had issues with getting a ticket in the morning and disembarking quickly.

Strong swimmers never need to wait for a ticket.:D

17 days, only 17 days

We tendered in two ports in New Zealand, no priority, no tours booked so we enjoyed a lazy breakfast in the MDR, went and picked up our tender tickets after breakfast, after the rush and had no lines to deal with. In Santorini you really need to have status or book a ship's tour because they make two stops for tendering and if you in the general line it will be a long wait to get ashore and a long wait for the cable car up to the top of cliff.

What is the tender process for those not on a ship tour? Any stories of long waits?

Never any wait. We would meet very early in MC, and The Michael's Club concierge always accompanied us out to the very first tender.

Tendering can be a royal pain in the rear or fairly quick and routing.

It depends on the port.

Other factors are

1) distance from where ship is anchored to dock;

2) the port authorities in the port;

3) what boats are being used to tender;

4) the weather.

We had a terrible time in Bali, Indonesia on Solstice because the local authorities kept demanding more bribes. Also, the ship was forced to use local tender boats, which were huge, but took 45 minutes to load up and almost 45 minutes to unload.

Our tending into Yalta, Crimea (then Ukraine) was cancelled due to stormy weather and rough waves.

Tendering into Santorini was slow for non-ship excursion folks since the Greeks demanded the ship only use local boats to tender. We had an excursion and got of early.

Tendering in a place like Mykonos was a breeze, since the ship was anchored very close to the dock. In fact, this is one port where tendering might be superior to docking, since the dock is a mile for the city.

Tendering in Punta Arenas, Chile was very slow, not sure exactly why.

If you tender and don't take a ship's excursion (do that if you want a full day tour), find out when the tender tickets are given out and get in line about an hour in advance.

This is probably a stupid question, but who gets tender priority? Our next cruise will be our first in AQ. Do we get priority? Probably not :rolleyes:

Elites once received priority tendering tickets, but I think that practice has been abolished.

Elites once received priority tendering tickets, but I think that practice has been abolished.

There have been conflicting reports about whether elites have been receiving priority tendering. I would love to hear from a few people that I've traveled in the last month that are elites or elite plus, to learn if they received priority tendering.

Elites once received priority tendering tickets, but I think that practice has been abolished.

We still got them 2 weeks ago in santorini on Equinox.

It's still listed on the Captains Club benefits as an elite perk.

But the we know how accurate the website can be.....

There have been conflicting reports about whether elites have been receiving priority tendering. I would love to hear from a few people that I've traveled in the last month that are elites or elite plus, to learn if they received priority tendering.

We have elite status and were offered priority tendering in Juneau3 weeks ago.

We just returned from an Adriatic cruise on the Constellation. The only tender port was Kotor, Montenegro (other than Venice, our origin point and overnight which required boat transportation from the port to Venice, which was more like a water shuttle). No tender tickets were used at all for Kotor (we do have Elite status). There was a short wait to board when we went (maybe 15 minutes) which was well after breakfast (probably 10 am or so). They used local tenders as well as Celebrity tenders.

On other itineraries, we have received priority tender tickets in our stateroom the night before. It's almost impossible to predict how it will work on a specific cruise. As others have said, the weather can also play a factor. This can affect your timing when you book outside excursions. If you book an outside tour, ask your tour operator how they handle it. Obviously, they work with it all the time, so they probably have many more data points on how it goes.

Have a great cruise!

There have been conflicting reports about whether elites have been receiving priority tendering. I would love to hear from a few people that I've traveled in the last month that are elites or elite plus, to learn if they received priority tendering.

We received priority tender tickets on the Infinity coastal cruise a few weeks ago. They were left in our stateroom the night before each tender port.

But by the time we were ready to leave the ship they had already gone to open tendering, so we did not need them.

Tendering can be a breeze or it can be a nightmare. If one is at a port which requires use of ships tenders and everyone wants to go ashore then waiting for a tender can take some time. An example is Bali in Indonesia. This is a very popular tender port and nearly everyone wants to go ashore early. We were there on the Solstice (2800 passengers). Bali is the home port for many of the crew and as this ship only visits once a year local crew members were ashore first, followed by ships excursions and then by Elite and above and then tender tickets. We had tender No 4 yet it still took us nearly 2 hours to get ashore as ships tenders were used. Coming back everyone gets in the same queue and its first come first served. In other tender ports where shore based tenders which could take larger numbers no tender tickets were required. It is very much a horses for courses and may vary right up until the last moment. If you want to be assured of an early tender then book a ships excursion or cruise more often to become Elite status and above

Tendered in St Thomas 2014. got 'priority' tickets coz 'Elite' (horribly titled IMHO).

our friends from Canadia asked is to wait for them on shore as they didnt have tickets. We waited in a queue for over half an hour. they were using lifeboats off the eclipse which was good especially as we got to chat with the driver [emoji41]

got to the shore where our friends were waiting for us !! half an hour they said. apparently the eclipse was full of 'elites' and the rest did not have to wait . Hilarious to me .

However the return journey was tedious listening to elites from the country just south of my friends venting about the elites being treated so bad [emoji32]

massive queue at Guest Relations ensued . It gave us lots of entertainment though [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

If I am in a suite, where do I get the tender tickets? Are they left in my suite even if I do not book an excursion?

Vivian

If I am in a suite, where do I get the tender tickets? Are they left in my suite even if I do not book an excursion?

 

 

 

Vivian

Yes, w always find them when we go to bed. Suites say to go to Michaels and they walk you down with elites who meet with their tickets in ensemble lounge

If I am in a suite, where do I get the tender tickets? Are they left in my suite even if I do not book an excursion?

 

Vivian

PS and RS (RefS & SigS as well on the Reflection) - we just meet the MC Club concierge at Michael's Club (during the prior evening, she or he briefs you about the approximate time to meet), and s(he) would escort us out to the first tender.

On occasions, when we missed the early meet at Michael's Club, the butlers had also escorted us to the tender, but we never asked them directly. Instead, we "delicately" imparted our plight, and if the butler volunteered to walk us down (so far, 100% of the time), we would gratefully accept their help. This differs from NCL where escorting you to the tender via secret elevators and passages is one of the official duties of butlers.

Probably true for CS as well - no first hand experiences here. Not sure about Sky suites as we have no first hand experiences there either.

In addition, you would have the tender tickets in your suite, yes. We've never need to use them - so again, no first hand experiences.

If I am in a suite, where do I get the tender tickets? Are they left in my suite even if I do not book an excursion?

 

Vivian

On our recent Infinity sailing, you just went to Michael's Club and the concierge would escort you down. There were no tender tickets distributed and the MC concierge and our butler both explained the process. The first time a group of us were escorted to the front of the tender line it was a little awkward because you go past those that were already in the line. Our concierge, Erick, announced us as suite guests to the Celebrity person at the tender door and aboard we went. Those in line heard him, so understood the priority. We never received any negative feedback. Heading back aboard there is no priority... you just line up together.

Any updates on tendering process?

I am especially curious how elite plus passengers are processed...do they get tickets or do they go with the "suite" people to get on the tenders?