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Why Do Cruise Lines Bother with Tender Ports?

need2cruisesoon

By need2cruisesoon,
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DCLCrazy

DCLCrazy

Posted
Posted
It is nowhere near that simple. With larger and larger mega ships the bigger problem is often the depth of the harbor and/or the breadth of the navigable channel approaching it. Could easily cost more than the entire GDP of the island nation to adequately dredge it out.

 

And as for who invests the money for the facilities: usually it is the cruise line, not the port city. See Falmouth, Labadee, Harvest Caye, Amber Cove etc. And even at home ports if the cruise line wants the facilities upgraded to their specs, directly or indirectly it mostly comes from their pockets: see the renovations of Terminals 4, 19, 21 and 26 at Port Everglades last decade--all funded for the most part by Carnival Corp.

 

 

 

Not only the logistics of depth, but I believe there are some ports where building a docking port would disrupt a barrier reef. I believe that is the case in the Cayman Islands.

 

 

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Hamradiocruiser

Hamradiocruiser

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While I understand that tender ports pose difficulties for some, I usually like them. I like the ride in and out. Watching port details resolve themselves as the boat gets closer. Motoring away for the ship, getting the full impact of its size as more and more of it comes into view. Time on a tender lets me gradually adjust to the destination. A little peace and quiet before the maelstrom of tour group assembly or the stifling wait for an elevator.

I agree, and it gives you a different perspective as you approach the port. I can usually get some neat pictures too.

 

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new_cruiser

new_cruiser

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Depends on where you are and what you want to see.

Just completed the Society Islands cruise in the South Pacific on the Windstar Spirit. All ports were tendered, except one, because there are NO piers in Bora Bora, Moorea, Taha'a, Huahine. Of course, with only 140 fellow passengers on board this phenomenal ship, tendering was very easy!

On Windstar ships, tendering has the advantage that the water sports platform can be deployed. It can't be while docked. And with ~ 150 to 300 passengers, there are no tender tickets and little or no waiting. I love the ports (anchored or docked) that small ships allow one to access.

 

As others have mentioned, the ports without docks are often lovely, unspoiled less touristy.

 

Even on Crystal Serenity (~1000 passengers) in Ketchican, we didn't have tender tickets. There was a wait of about 25 minutes to board the first tender because they were boarding about 100 people on to an excursion boat. They were running 3 tenders which was enough that we didn't have any other waits. Ketchican has docks but not enough for all the ships that day.

 

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need2cruisesoon

need2cruisesoon

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On Windstar ships, tendering has the advantage that the water sports platform can be deployed. It can't be while docked. And with ~ 150 to 300 passengers, there are no tender tickets and little or no waiting. I love the ports (anchored or docked) that small ships allow one to access.

 

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Not to hijack my own thread but how nice - Windstar.

 

Always wanted to try Windstar.

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NMLady

NMLady

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I don't get it.

 

Get to a destination that requires tendering and then you'll spend a good hour or two to and fro only to get precious hours at that port.

 

Just skip the tender ports and get me to a island, city that has invested the money and resources to build a adequate dock, pier for cruise passengers.

 

Sounds only reasonable right?

 

Then you should choose cruises that only dock. But as for me I like to visit a variety of ports and many of them such as Cabo San Lucas Mexico, Dubrovnik Croatia, Lahaina HI and Juneau AK have no dock so require a tender. I loved visiting those ports and was glad to tender.

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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We had two tender ports on our British isles cruise last month on the Caribbean Princess. We're fortunate to have priority tendering from the ship--but did not really need it. There wasn't a long line when we went down to tender. The worst part for some passengers was the line to get back to the ship in Guernsey. Some told us they waited two hours for a tender. The water was much rougher in the afternoon than it had been in the morning, slowing down the process of getting people off the tender and onto the ship. We went back to the ship earlier--around noon instead of waiting until 1:30, the supposedly last time for a tender. They finally finished up around two hours late.

 

We've stayed on the ship in Grand Cayman so as not to have to tender. Our worst wait ever was for a tender in Bar Harbor on a Holland America ship. The problem that time was that they had an excursion that left directly from the ship on a smaller boat--and stopped tendering while that excursion boat filled.

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sloopsailor

sloopsailor

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Then you should choose cruises that only dock. But as for me I like to visit a variety of ports and many of them such as .... Juneau AK have no dock so require a tender. I loved visiting those ports and was glad to tender.

 

Juneau has four docks for cruise ships. It is unusual to have to tender there, and that is only when there are five or more ships in port and yours got the short straw. In the image below you can see four ships docked in Juneau. We were at AJ Dock, the dock furthest from the center of town at about 1 mile in the distance just barely visible in front of the bus.

 

IMG_0714s.JPG

Edited by sloopsailor
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sloopsailor

sloopsailor

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We wouuld not have been able to enjoy Mykonos ifcruise ships did not tender. that fabulous Greek island only has a dock large enough for tenders.

 

Mykonos does have a dock. Here is Celebrity Reflection, a 3,000 passenger ship, gently approaching the dock on our Med cruise in 2012. We were supposed to tender here - our only tender port on that 14 night cruise - but for some reason we docked instead. Norwegian Spirit had to tender instead, however.

 

And like you said, it is a fabulous island and not to be missed, tendering or not.

 

CIMG1149s.JPG

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leaveitallbehind

leaveitallbehind

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As it is RC private island it makes sense.

 

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Other cruise lines with similar destinations have done this and RCI recently reached an agreement with the Bahamian government regarding this addition to Coco Cay. I believe the work is underway now. And it does make sense as this port of call is frequently missed due to adverse sea conditions preventing safe tendering. (Happened to us one time).

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goldenrod

goldenrod

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Tendering is part of cruising and Will always be and even more so as ships get larger and larger! Unless you can afford to cruise on a private boat, we happen to enjoy the experience and the ports we get to see!

 

 

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Lola53

Lola53

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When tendering is the only way ships have to allow passengers to get to a port, I'd rather tender than not be able to visit the port. :)

 

Totally agree! Sometimes a new Port opens up and if tourism is good they can then afford to build a dock. Example Ketchikan and Icy Strait used to be tender ports.

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PoppyandNana

PoppyandNana

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Very Lucky.

 

We did X BI cruise and Edinburgh (Newhaven) was easily 20-30 minute tender ride plus loading all the people on the tiny boat and the queue on ship which ended up well over an hour and a half.

 

On our cruise to the BI in May, 2016 there was one port, I forget which, that had a major imbroglio on the return tenders. We were lucky and got on one of the first tenders back towards the end of the day. Just then a large number of shipping tours returned at the same time. Took people upwards of two hours to get back to the ship. Lots of angry passengers.

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Jade13

Jade13

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I don't get it.

 

 

 

Get to a destination that requires tendering and then you'll spend a good hour or two to and fro only to get precious hours at that port.

 

 

 

Just skip the tender ports and get me to a island, city that has invested the money and resources to build a adequate dock, pier for cruise passengers.

 

 

 

Sounds only reasonable right?

 

 

 

No, you would miss many exotic ports such as San Blas Islands and most of the islands in Iceland, and everywhere in Antarctica as some examples. You wouldn't be able to visit Grand Cayman either.

 

And you would miss our favorite, all of Galápagos Islands where we have been more than once. Another favorite of ours, Komodo Island in Indonesia has no dock. We flew to the nearest town and chartered a boat to get there last year. Bar Harbor in the US requires a tender if coming by ship.

 

 

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Jade13

Jade13

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Then you should choose cruises that only dock. But as for me I like to visit a variety of ports and many of them such as Cabo San Lucas Mexico, Dubrovnik Croatia, Lahaina HI and Juneau AK have no dock so require a tender. I loved visiting those ports and was glad to tender.

 

 

 

Juneau Alaska has a dock.

 

 

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