The Award for the Longest Celebrity Tender - My Entry

[need2cruisesoon]

Celebrity Silhouette, Edinburgh on 7/19 Port of Leith.

30 minutes by tender:

Seemed like we should have ferried instead:

 

Then no tender for an hour because the tide had rescinded:

[4774Papa]

Bali, Indonesia,

Celebrity Infinity, Feb 2013. 2.5 hours late getting clearance; another hour waiting for the tender; 45 minutes to load the tender; 30 minutes to arrive in port; another 35 minutes to unload the tender.

[Wastegirl]

Another 'hands up' for Bali - we didn't have to wait too long to get on the tender but a good 30+ plus to get to the Port, then coming back a good hour waiting in the line up and another 30+ minutes to get back. Plus our tender broke down twice, once next to the ship and we hit the side, hard :eek:

 

Even worse though was Yorkey's Knob outside Cairns in Queensland, Australia - we waited 2 hours to board a tender, rough 30 minute ride to the offloaded, then that night returning in the dark, in a darked tender, in rough waters - going more backwards than forwards with water rushing through the tender. Then once getting back to within sight of the Solstice having to sit in rough conditions waiting in line - still in the pitch black dark - for another 30 minutes before they progressed in the line up to dock by the ship and unload us. That was just the beginning because we had elderly people fainting, medical teams rushing back and forth. It was a scary experience, my next Celebrity cruise only has one tender port in a calm bay, glad of that.

[Wastegirl]

Oh and I forgot, on the tender ride back from Yorkey's Knob people were panicking, yelling we were going to sink even some screaming. It was an experience.

[Beanb41]

Esperance Australia in February this year would have to be the longest. Lined up to come back at 2.30 in the afternoon and arrived back on board at 11.30 at night. Had to wait for local catamaran to take passengers back on board because of the rough weather.

The issue could have been alleviated if the Solstice had been put beam onto the sea which would have provided a lee for the tenders, but that's too easy. Similar reason for the issues at Yorkey's knob posted earlier. Yorkeys Knob was the B2B of the Esperance cruise

[Wastegirl]

Hi Beanb41 - we were only on the second half and it was nearly enough to put me off sailing Celebrity again and I certainly won't sail with them if it involves a lot of tender ports. In fact if it had not been for my really great cruise on the Century previously, I would have been put off Celebrity entirely.

 

Interesting to hear your explanation because I have been in just as rough seas on a HAL tender (in fact rougher) and while awkward they handled it very well but I think their ships and tender drivers are more experienced at tendering.

 

On the Solstice b2b round Australia there was a lot of unhappy Vegemites :D

[Beanb41]

Hi Beanb41 - we were only on the second half and it was nearly enough to put me off sailing Celebrity again and I certainly won't sail with them if it involves a lot of tender ports. In fact if it had not been for my really great cruise on the Century previously, I would have been put off Celebrity entirely.

 

Interesting to hear your explanation because I have been in just as rough seas on a HAL tender (in fact rougher) and while awkward they handled it very well but I think their ships and tender drivers are more experienced at tendering.

 

On the Solstice b2b round Australia there was a lot of unhappy Vegemites :D

 

We were also on that B2B. What really peeved me about the Solstice tendering system was in Bali. We had number 5 tender and it took over 2 hours using ships tenders and two local tenders to get off the ship. The queues getting back were an absolute joke. Were it not for ships officers continuously bringing ice towels and cold water drinks I think there could have been a lynching.

In comparison with the Century which we were on last December when we tendered into Airlie Beach for example they used the ships tenders and 4 large local catamarans. Everyone moved back and forwards very quickly. If large ships are to continue to visit ports which require tendering they should ensure there are adequate vessels to do the job. I note that Esperance has now been excluded from the Celebrity schedule.

[vacation luvver]

My vote is for the Celebrity Summit in Bar Harbor, Maine. It was pretty bad when we arrived in Bar Harbor, and the tour guide told us that since we were an hour late, we wouldn't be able to do some of the sightseeing that we had already paid for.

 

But going back to the ship was much worse. My friend and I had Celebrity Select Dining, and before the cruise, I had called Celebrity and told them which sightseeing tour we would be taking in Bar Harbor, and I was told that I could make a dinner reservation for no earlier than 7:30 PM, so I made our dinner reservation for 7:30 PM.

 

At 6:45 PM, we got on the end of an extremely long line to wait for a tender. It was pouring cats and dogs. At 7:30 PM, we were still standing on the line, which hadn't moved at all. It was still raining. Finally, we got on a tender, which was nice, except that the tender driver was extremely reckless, and the tender crashed into some rocks, and the air was thick with the smell of gas fumes. My friend and I had to wait for the second boat that came along to bring us back to the ship (we weren't able to run quickly enough to get on the first boat), and by the time we got on the ship, the dining room was closed to people who wanted to walk in, so we went to the buffet. Even though we got to the buffet at 11:15 PM, and the daily newsletter said that the pizza station would be open until 1:00 AM, it was closed. Luckily, fruit and salads were available.

 

Almost as bad was the Celebrity Silhouette, where there were very long, unexplained delays getting off the ship at each tendered port. At one port, even though the ship's personnel insisted that we would all have enough time to do the sightseeing that we had already paid for, they eventually had to admit that some shore excursions were cancelled, because there was no way they could people off the ship and into tenders in time.

[donaldsc]

Although I was not on it, the longest tender wait was probably the cruise that stopped at the Falklands a few years ago. The ship had to leave the anchorage quickly because of bad weather and when people came back to the harbor to take their ride back to the ship - there was no ship. The Falklanders put them up overnight and the ship returned the next day to pick up the stranded passengers.

 

This is a reference to the incidenbt -

 

http://en.mercopress.com/2005/02/04/penguin-news-update

 

DON

[hapicruisin]

Esperance Australia in February this year would have to be the longest. Lined up to come back at 2.30 in the afternoon and arrived back on board at 11.30 at night. Had to wait for local catamaran to take passengers back on board because of the rough weather.

The issue could have been alleviated if the Solstice had been put beam onto the sea which would have provided a lee for the tenders, but that's too easy. Similar reason for the issues at Yorkey's knob posted earlier. Yorkeys Knob was the B2B of the Esperance cruise

 

We were on that cruise also, though we got back on board by about 2pm. People who were left for hours on Esperance were told by people living there that the Captain had been offered the option of docking at Esperance, free of charge, but refused to do so. There was a great deal of grumbling from a lot of people on board who would have been very cold but for the fact that so many of the locals were bringing out blankets etc for the passengers who were manly in t-shirts and shorts as they were not expecting to be off the ship until 11 pm.

 

A couple or so days after that the Captain was no longer on board and we had a new Captain.

 

We didn't bother to get off at Bali or Yorkies Knob. Not very good organisation with all the queuing for tenders. Was really disappointed. Have been on lots of Celebrity cruises but never had this experience on a cruise before. It was a B2B and a long, nearly 40 night, cruise, but they should have got their act together better than that.

[chamima]

Bali, Indonesia,

Celebrity Infinity, Feb 2013. 2.5 hours late getting clearance; another hour waiting for the tender; 45 minutes to load the tender; 30 minutes to arrive in port; another 35 minutes to unload the tender.

 

 

 

And then it was pouring rain! :( :p

[chamima]

I have to say that when it comes to ports and especially tender ports - Princess seems to do a MUCH more efficient job than Celebrity.

I don't know what they do differently but it has always gone more smoothly for us with Princess.

:confused: