NCL Tendering

[realnice46]

I’ve booked a cruise on NCL Pearl Greek Isles&Croatia cruise and noticed that out of 8 ports we are tendering in 6 of them. On a recent Mexico cruise we met quite a few people on a NCL ship who complained about 2 hour tendering times as well as other complaints about their ships.  For those of you who sail NCL is this the norm? I’m a little concerned as this is not an inexpensive cruise compared to other lines, have I made a mistake?

[TVNews]

In our experience, tender times can vary substantially from port to port and cruise to cruise. A general rule of thumb:  When the tenders are operated by the port (i.e. Santorini), things go very smoothly since they are so used to doing it. When the ship handles the tenders, it seems to come down to the experience of the crew. On our last cruise aboard the Epic, tendering in Patmos was a nightmare (disorganized, lengthy delays etc) which we attributed to the fact that the island is not a frequent destination.

Smoothest tendering experience ever was aboard the Norway which carried its own tenders that could each handle 500 passengers... but now I'm dating myself. 😉

[mapleleaves]

I was on the GEM last Sept for a Greek Isles/Croatia cruise.  We tendered at 2 ports but were scheduled for 3.  No problems at all with the tender process.

 

(Santorini was a disaster due to the horrendous line for the cable car. 2 hrs wasted !  Be sure to take a ships tour to Oia in order to avoid the cablecar line going up to Fira. And google to find how many ships are in port with you and their departure time to see how busy the cable car line will be on the return)

[KeithJenner]

What are your ports? Most ports in Greece/Croatia are ones you dock at, but some can vary based on how many ships are in port.

 

My guess is that your 6 tender ports include some where you may tender but probably won’t.

[BirdTravels]

44 minutes ago, realnice46 said:

I’ve booked a cruise on NCL Pearl Greek Isles&Croatia cruise and noticed that out of 8 ports we are tendering in 6 of them. On a recent Mexico cruise we met quite a few people on a NCL ship who complained about 2 hour tendering times as well as other complaints about their ships.  For those of you who sail NCL is this the norm? I’m a little concerned as this is not an inexpensive cruise compared to other lines, have I made a mistake?

Considerations

 

The Pearl is a smaller ship (less than half the passengers than the Epic mentioned above). We have been in 1+ hour tender lines on the Epic in Grand Cayman and know the frustration. 

 

Large tenders from the port are faster to load than the lifeboats on the ship. In general, it has nothing to do with the experience of the crew. Each time a tender arrives and departs the tender dock, it take time. 

 

I have found that the "tender" designation on the website is often the worst case and you may dock at more ports. That is a question from prior passengers for the specific ports you will call in. For example, on my last cruise, Cozumel was listed as a tender port. We have never tendered at Cozumel and didn't on that cruise. 

 

If you determine that the port is really a tender port, consider a NCL shore excursion because they will get priority on the tenders. 

 

[mjkacmom]

35 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

I was on the GEM last Sept for a Greek Isles/Croatia cruise.  We tendered at 2 ports but were scheduled for 3.  No problems at all with the tender process.

 

(Santorini was a disaster due to the horrendous line for the cable car. 2 hrs wasted !  Be sure to take a ships tour to Oia in order to avoid the cablecar line going up to Fira. And google to find how many ships are in port with you and their departure time to see how busy the cable car line will be on the return)

My son just got back from Colombia, sad the wait was 2 hours for cable cars to Monserrat, so they walked uphill for 1 1/2 hours. Remind me to avoid anything involving cable cars.