Tender problem on Norwegian Sky 12/9

I'm considering myself very lucky right now. We're on the Sky and yesterday we stopped in GSC. We planned on spending the whole day on the island but at 2:00 it got cloudy so we decided to head back to the ship.

From listening to people talk around the ship, apparently the water got rough around 3:00 and the tenders took over an hour to get back to the ship. I heard many people were sick and that they had to take turns running down the gang plank to avoid hitting their heads on the doorway.

Is this something that happens frequently? The bartender said it almost never happens but after listening to others talk about how bad it was I may never take a tender again!

This is something that happens very infrequently but it can and has happened across the cruise lines.

Weather can change quickly.

Keith

I am just really thanking my lucky stars! I don't do well with motion as it is. Considering that this is the "booze cruise" I cant even imagine having to deal with that.

You are fortunate. This happened to us once where we got back early and all was well but for those on a tender later in the day they were not doing well and several people got sick.

Keith

The world is a dangerous place full of moving gangways. [emoji23]

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Was this just from the swells/waves?

i really wish they can build a dock at GSC. It seems the Breakaway calls to this port is a hit and miss due to weather

Was this just from the swells/waves?

I guess so? It didn't seem that bad on the ship although I did stumble a little bit in the shower. The stories around the ship kept going throughout the next day. I even heard people on the top of the tenders were vomiting and it was coming down on the people below. What a nightmare!

Seems like we always have rough seas when sailing around the Bahamas in December. One time coming back to Fort Lauderdale from Nassau, we had 40-foot swells. It was nuts.

Although our tender was fine, I heard similar stories regrading the tenders a few hours after ours to GSC in November. Also going to Grand Cayman, the gangway was moving a lot, so only one person could go across at a time. The main concern was watching your feet so they wouldn't get hit by the gangway. This made the loading process very slow, and a long time to sit on the rocking tender. We don't get motion sickness and we were fine, but I met someone in the spa that said she avoids all tenders because of this very issue.

This is why GSC is missed so often. Weather looks perect but then the swells come up.

i really wish they can build a dock at GSC. It seems the Breakaway calls to this port is a hit and miss due to weather

That would have to be one very long and expensive dock to reach water that would be deep enough for most ships. ;) Unfortunately the water around the Berry Islands is quite shallow (how the Bahamas got it's name Baja Mar means low sea in Spanish). When on the kayaking excursion on GSC we were told that there are times you can walk from one island to another in the Berrys because the seas between them are less than two feet deep....

That would have to be one very long and expensive dock to reach water that would be deep enough for most ships. ;) Unfortunately the water around the Berry Islands is quite shallow (how the Bahamas got it's name Baja Mar means low sea in Spanish). When on the kayaking excursion on GSC we were told that there are times you can walk from one island to another in the Berrys because the seas between them are less than two feet deep....

Interesting trivia, thank you.

We travel in February and have been able to stop both times GSC was on our itinerary.

That would have to be one very long and expensive dock to reach water that would be deep enough for most ships. ;) Unfortunately the water around the Berry Islands is quite shallow (how the Bahamas got it's name Baja Mar means low sea in Spanish). When on the kayaking excursion on GSC we were told that there are times you can walk from one island to another in the Berrys because the seas between them are less than two feet deep....

Royal Caribbean was given permission to build a dock on their island that is next to GSC. Will be interesting to see how they design to the dock. Hopefully in the future, NCL can use similar designs for their own dock

Our return tender to the Epic at Thanksgiving was very rough. Storm rolled in as we left the island and by the time we got back to the ship we were rocking and rolling and it was extremely difficult for the crew to keep the tender at the ship and the gangway accessible. Little scary at the time actually.

We were on the Sky this weekend and watched situation on Saturday unfold from the deck right above the tender. The tender had to sit out at sea for at least an hour in very rough seas until the Sky could be positioned to block the waves. Once the tender was able to get near the ship it was very scary watching them unload due to the waves. There were so many people getting sick. The captain of the tender and the NCL staff working to help the people get off did an amazing job. This situation could have easily turned deadly. After they unloaded the tender they had to go back and pick up the final load and repeat. We were very thankful as well that we left the island around 1:45.

We were on the Sky this weekend and watched situation on Saturday unfold from the deck right above the tender. The tender had to sit out at sea for at least an hour in very rough seas until the Sky could be positioned to block the waves. Once the tender was able to get near the ship it was very scary watching them unload due to the waves. There were so many people getting sick. The captain of the tender and the NCL staff working to help the people get off did an amazing job. This situation could have easily turned deadly. After they unloaded the tender they had to go back and pick up the final load and repeat. We were very thankful as well that we left the island around 1:45.

I didn't even think to look off the side of my balcony because I had no clue what was going on out there. On the ship it really just didn't feel that bad. I have never been so thankful in my life and I will never tender to GSC again! The cruise was great though. Hope you had a good time!

The weekend trip on the Sky was great. This was our second time and would go again. I would tender again but be more aware of the weather report before leaving the ship.

Someone should save this post for the numerous posters who complain about skipping GSC even though, in their expert opinions, there was no reason not to tender.

Look up on YouTube....

NCL JADE liifeboat/tender collision in Falmouth UK.

Safe sailing everyone

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Unfortunately, my wife and I were on this tender. When we first started, most people were laughing as the boat bounced and swayed. The laughter didn’t last very long when we began to realize how difficult it was going to be to get back to the Sky. They did manage to dock the tender initially, but it was literally slamming into the side of the Sky, and no one was able to get off the tender. We proceeded to go around back of the Sky, and sat there for at least an hour. Quite a few people were getting seasick, and the kids on board were terrified. The Sky turned to try and block the waves, and the tender managed to dock on the other side. It was still moving so much that the gangplank railing got bent from hitting the top of the access port on the Sky. They did manage to get everyone off, but it was a slow and scary process. We were on top, soaked and freezing. All in all, not a fun experience. My only issue was that no crew on the tender said anything about what they were trying to do to get everyone off. My guess is that they weren’t entirely sure they could do it. I really thought that we were going back to the island..

Still had a great cruise despite this ordeal. Definitely a story for the grandkids down the road.

Unfortunately, my wife and I were on this tender. When we first started, most people were laughing as the boat bounced and swayed. The laughter didn’t last very long when we began to realize how difficult it was going to be to get back to the Sky. They did manage to dock the tender initially, but it was literally slamming into the side of the Sky, and no one was able to get off the tender. We proceeded to go around back of the Sky, and sat there for at least an hour. Quite a few people were getting seasick, and the kids on board were terrified. The Sky turned to try and block the waves, and the tender managed to dock on the other side. It was still moving so much that the gangplank railing got bent from hitting the top of the access port on the Sky. They did manage to get everyone off, but it was a slow and scary process. We were on top, soaked and freezing. All in all, not a fun experience. My only issue was that no crew on the tender said anything about what they were trying to do to get everyone off. My guess is that they weren’t entirely sure they could do it. I really thought that we were going back to the island..

 

Still had a great cruise despite this ordeal. Definitely a story for the grandkids down the road.

Thank goodness you had the option to go back to the island if necessary. Tenders can be no fun, and often are not for the faint of heart. We have been on one of the luxury lines and they tender every port. Their tenders are small, about a 75 person capacity. Imagine bouncing around in one of those with no air flow, in 10 foot seas. It can be dicey.

I’m not positive we could have gotten back to the island. But they likely considered it.

The tender was a good size, so I cannot even imagine a 75 person tender on rough seas. Think I will pass on that..

This happened to us in Cozumel on the Norwegian Sun. We were coming back from an excursion and the weather turned very windy, churning up the sea. We sat in the ferry boat for about an hour waiting for the tender ahead of us to leave. We found out later that a crew member had fallen overboard trying to help passengers get from the tender to the ship. Weather can change very quickly on the sea!!