tendering

[kellig]

When you arrive in a port that requires tendereing to get to the mainland, how long does this process usually take? When getting back on, what is the latest one should show up, or are you always assigned a return time. Thanks.

[wwinfl91]

Generally the ship will give priority to the ship sponsored tours on the first tenders that get sent ashore. Depending on the cruise line some then give priority boarding passes to its suite passengers and very frequent cruisers on the line. Then they will announce a time for everyone else to meet somewhere in the ship, generally the theater or another large room and pick up tender numbers. Once you have your number you wait until they call a range of numbers that include yours and then you get to go board a tender and go ashore. Sometimes this can mean you won't get off the ship for an hour or more after the ship has anchored.

 

Coming back is done differently. There you go back to an area of the dock where the ships tender let you off and wait in line until you get to reboard one heading back to the ship. You can come back at any time you want but make sure it is before the last tender leaves for the ship.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Happy ks]

Unless we have an early excursion to catch, we normally just relax and have a nice breakfast and wait until the crush has passed. On the return, we make sure we get back to the tender dock at least an hour before the last tender boat is scheduled. That way, we can avoid the long lines at both ends.