On our recent Spring Break Disney Cruise, we got the opportunity to use the tender boat to go into Cabo San Lucas.  Tender boats are used at ports where there are not suitable docking facilities for the ship.  In this case, the Disney Wonder was too big to go into the port of Cabo San Lucas.  The solution is that the port will provide tender boats to take cruise ship passengers into the port and back to the ship.  We hadn’t had to tender into a port before this trip and were a bit nervous about the process.

The availability of the tender boats was announced in both the DCL App and in the daily Navigator.  To get on one of the tender boats, we needed to go to the Buena Vista Theater located on Deck 4.

Once we entered the theater, we were seated in one of the rows near the top.  The theater was not very full, mainly because it was slightly later in the morning.  We didn’t need to leave the ship as soon as it as cleared by the port authorities because we didn’t have an excursion planned.  We just wanted to walk around the port.

As we were shown to our seats, we were given the following ticket:

After sitting in the theater for a few minutes, our row was called.  We were directed to go down the stairs to Deck 1 where we would board the tender.  We followed the people next to us down the stairs.

Once we got to Deck 1, our Key to the World cards were were scanned to mark us as being off the ship just like a normal port experience.

We were then led to a platform that had been extended from the side of the ship.  The platform had a mini-dock as well as a pair of staircases that led down to the dock.  There were lots of crew members around to make sure everything was safe.

I had never seen the tender platform extended from the Wonder, despite this being our fifth cruise on board.

The tender boat was pulled along side the tender platform and was tied to the dock.

We went down the stairs and were helped onto the tender boat.  There is a crew member on the dock and a crew member on the boat to help make sure everyone gets on board safely. 

There were several bench seats on the boat and we sat down until the other passengers loaded onto the boat.

Lots of signage was available to explain what was going on as well as how to find the life jackets.  As the tender boat crew is employed by the port, tipping is encouraged.

Here is the platform as viewed from the tender boat.

Once the boat was full, the boat left the Wonder and headed towards the port.

The trip into the port was very pleasant.  It might not have been as fun if the weather hadn’t been as nice or the water was rough.  Once we got to the port, the tender boat pulled up to the dock and the crew members helped us off.  It was super easy and convenient. 

The return trip was just as easy.  We arrived back at the dock where we were dropped off at previously and boarded the next available tender (there was no line when we arrived).  We headed back to the ship.  The tender boat pulled alongside the mini-dock and we were helped onto the dock and up the stairs.  We scanned our Key to the World cards and passed through the security screening back onto the ship.

Tendering was super easy and nothing to be concerned with.  I don’t know what the process would be for someone with mobility issues though.  If you have experience with this, please let us know in the comments!

If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!

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