Epic: Tender Reservations Question

[lindseylu8]

Hello,

 

I see people are recommending making reservations for tendering to GSC and I plan to do that. My question is then can we also make tender reservations for Grand Cayman? We booked an excursion on our own- not through NCL and they have our start time for the excursion at 9am.

 

We are in Grand Cayman at 7am and I was already thinking tendering could take a while for us but now I am really concerned we wont get off in time.

 

Any advice appreciated

Thank you

[Kfamilycruise]

Make your tender reservation first thing when you get off the ship to get off with the first group and you should be good to go.

[SSMcruises]

Last week on the Escape tender tickets were available the day before for Grand Cayman. We were in group 5 I think and off by 830am and we're early for our private excursion. For great stirrup they did not show up until about an hour before they changed that stop.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[paradiseawaitsme]

Do we have to make tender reservations if we book an excursion through NCL?

[TexasCigarGuy]

I'm on the Epic now. Once onboard you can book tender tickets via the touch screens around the ship, your cabin television, the entertainment booking/box office desk or the iConcierge phone app. Those I know for sure. Maybe also the shore excursion desk but I don't know about that one.

 

Be aware though that not everything always works as it should. For example I was able to book my Grand Cayman tender tickets via any the above methods, however Great Stirrup Cay tenders did not show up on any of the do-it-yourself systems, and I had to go down to the box office to book those.

[Tiggertastic]

Use your room tv to book.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[lindseylu8]

Thank you for all the replies. The excursion we booked does have an 11:00 option as well, though we didnt get to select - they auto assigned us, I think based on what time we dock.

 

Do you think we should try to switch to the 11am? I am worried we may not get off in time. Any advice appreciated.

 

thank you

[LMKakaThing2]

I recommend booking your tenders when you're in the terminal waiting to board. Once checked in and waiting to board, you can start making tender reservations via the iConcierge app if tender times are available. I did it in January for the Epic and was able to get the first tender for both Grand Cayman and GSC.

[lilly2015]

Do we have to make tender reservations if we book an excursion through NCL?

No, you don't, it is part of your booked excursion.

[lindseylu8]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I think Ill leave it for 9am but if I cant get an early enough tender once I get on board I will call the excursion operator & try to switch at that time. I would rather do the early .... as long as we can get off the ship in time :)

[paradiseawaitsme]

Thank you Lilly2015 for the reply. We have always been docked at the ports so have no idea what to expect when tendering.

[lilly2015]

Thank you Lilly2015 for the reply. We have always been docked at the ports so have no idea what to expect when tendering.

You are welcome 😊

On my last Epic Cruise the meeting point for excursions with tenders was mostly the theater but was announced over and over on the PA - hard to miss 😉

 

Happy Sailing 😎⛵

[Notaworryintheworld]

I recommend leaving as early as possible for the tender there. We were on the epic yesterday at gsc and unless you got off first thing, there were ridiculous waits to get a tender. Some waited over two hours before making it on a tender. Very frustrating.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Georgia_Peaches]

Use your room tv to book.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Just got off the Epic today and tried to use the room tv for making reservations. Was about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. I would go through the proper steps to make my reservations, get a confirmation, only to learn when I showed up at the venue that there was no record of my reservation. So I recommend that you do face to face reservations with an individual (box office, restruant, etc).

[Snit13]

Was there anything about our recent EPIC cruise that wasn't frustrating? If so, we missed it. Worst cruise we have been on out of 34 cruises. I am exhausted from fighting their non working systems. I need a vacation.

 

To top it off Turnpike North out of Orlando was bumper to bumper all the way and at least 3 accidents. We left PC at 9:30 and arrived home at 1:30. Normally a 2 1/2 hour drive door to door.

[johnrich]

I'm on the Epic now. Once onboard you can book tender tickets via the touch screens around the ship, your cabin television, the entertainment booking/box office desk or the iConcierge phone app. Those I know for sure. Maybe also the shore excursion desk but I don't know about that one.

 

Be aware though that not everything always works as it should. For example I was able to book my Grand Cayman tender tickets via any the above methods, however Great Stirrup Cay tenders did not show up on any of the do-it-yourself systems, and I had to go down to the box office to book those.

 

 

 

Glad it wasn’t just us. We were also able to book our Grand Cayman tender tickets but not GSC. We tried in room, on app, and at a kiosk and gave up. Didn’t bother going to the box office. We just assumed it was going to be a free for all like many things this week were.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[lilobelle]

Oh wow! You guys are making me very nervous. We sail for the first time on NCL for Christmas. I don’t do disorganized and “free for all” well. If two of my party have an excursion on their private island, will they let me get off with them or do i need to get my own tender ticket?

[LynnKY]

Can you get tender tickets on any ship or is this just on the bigger ships? We are sailing on the Dawn next year and will need to get off as soon as we can at one of the ports. I apologize for not staying on topic.

[Shidah]

We had a really good week actually. Tendering was long to Grand Cayman and GSC due to waves, so only one person could board at a time. So people not confident walking on a moving bridge delayed the whole process. We were on the 3rd tender to Grand Cayman and it went relatively smooth. GSC the same. I was talking with a lady in the spa later in the day, and she said she did not go to shore since she gets seasick and knew the tendering would be rough, which was smart on her part. We don't get sea sick, so the tender delay was fine. I can't stress enough, booking the Haven makes a huge difference, and we wouldn't cruise without staying in the Haven. If you book the Haven, you don't need to worry about tendering reservations, the concierge escorts you down whenever you are ready.

[jenahfor]

Just off the Escape.. Booking tender was easy off the app, but believe you could use tv or touch screens in hallways. We chose a late time as we had not booked an excursion and wanted a leisurely start to the day. They were calling groups quicker then anticipated, we were able to leave when we wanted to (didn't wait for our group to be called). Meeting was in the Escape theatre, but we didnt' even get into it, they just ushered us down to 4 and onto a tender. There were 3 ships in port the day we were there, it was packed, beaches were crowded.

[ramidon1]

Oh wow! You guys are making me very nervous. We sail for the first time on NCL for Christmas. I don’t do disorganized and “free for all” well. If two of my party have an excursion on their private island, will they let me get off with them or do i need to get my own tender ticket?

 

This was approximately my 30th cruise and I have to say this was absolutely the most frustrating and unpleasant experience we have ever had. After waiting in line for 4 hours to board the ship, it seemed that nearly everything we wanted to do had a waiting line. It was frustrating to say the least. Booking tenders and shows never worked for us on the app or tv and the box office was only open a couple hours 2x a day and always had a line. Specialty dinner reservations were sold out online, on the tv & on the app and the line to book at the hostess stand was almost always long and definitely always slow...3 or 4 people in line = at least a 30 minute wait.

 

This cruise on the 11/18/17 Epic was not my first on NCL but it was by far the worst and most likely my last.

[randyfipps]

Got off the Epic on Saturday the 25th. I went down to the guest services desk and they put us on the number 4 tender which was around 8:00am, I told her we didn't have to be that early but she said if you have number 4 you can go anytime after it has been called without waiting. When they made announcements for the ferries they called1,2,&3 first then 4, then 5 & six and said also 1,2,3,& 4. also the tender you have for Grand Cayman was the same number for GSC. Hope this helps.

[lisaem79]

This was approximately my 30th cruise and I have to say this was absolutely the most frustrating and unpleasant experience we have ever had. After waiting in line for 4 hours to board the ship, it seemed that nearly everything we wanted to do had a waiting line. It was frustrating to say the least. Booking tenders and shows never worked for us on the app or tv and the box office was only open a couple hours 2x a day and always had a line. Specialty dinner reservations were sold out online, on the tv & on the app and the line to book at the hostess stand was almost always long and definitely always slow...3 or 4 people in line = at least a 30 minute wait.

 

This cruise on the 11/18/17 Epic was not my first on NCL but it was by far the worst and most likely my last.

 

This was my first cruise and all the waiting irritated me. And the majority of the staff was new so it was hard for them to handle all 4,700 of us. I'm going to try NCL again in hopes that things are different on other ships or at other times of the year.

 

I had a tender for GSC, waited in the Manhattan room for 45 minutes before any announcement was made that the tenders were moving slow due to the water. At the 1 hour mark I left, I didn't want to waste any more of my vacation on WAITING.

[KenCT]

I just got off the Epic yesterday. Can't get more up to date than that. I couldn't have cared less about Great Stirrup and as it turned out we stayed on the ship. But I had booked a stingray tour beginning at 9:00 on Grand Cayman and had the same concerns as OP. This is what I did. As soon as I could do so after boarding, I personally went to the Box Office where I reserved two seats. We were assigned to Group 1 and advised to go to the Manhattan Room by 7:45 even though the ship doesn't officially anchor until 8. We did exactly that. There were probably 100 people ahead of me at that point. Were I to do it again, I'd probably go at 7:30. We took our place in line and about five minutes later Group 1 was called. We were among the first people off the ship and were at our meeting point at the Port Watler Terminal by 8:30. In fact, we got to the meeting point before the tour guide!

[Shidah]

KenCT, sounds like great planning! The singrays are awesome in Grand Cayman!