Best tour company for the rays.

I would like to take my family and friends to see the rays outside of the cruise excursions. What would be the best non-cruise company to use? Also,looking to see seven mile beach and the island some. Should I do this with a company or on my own? All comments are so very appreciated. Finally are there any private excursions worth booking?

Nativeway water sports. Rays, Reef and Rum Point

Awesome!!

We used Stingray Sailing. They were great! It was a catamaran and we were not crowded at all (even though they took a couple extra people along from another tour because of a family emergency with the other operator). "Chip" and his crew took great care of us and we had an experience we will not soon forget (we were ages 13 to 81)! We especially appreciated that our crew didn't "manhandle" any of the rays. There were several other operators that were lifting rays out of the water and placing them in tourists hands and on their backs.....Chip used fish to get them to come up and swim up to us but never were any of the rays picked up and handled to get the perfect picture (so to speak). They had a photographer on board (Catherine) who took awesome pictures and there was no pressure to buy them. We did however buy them because the price was right (all 80 pictures she took for $50) and they were truely good shots (we didn't need to worry about bringing a waterproof camera along!). Highly recommend Stingray Sailing! They took our payment with paypal and it was nice that everything was paid for when we got there.

We used Nativeway and had a wonderful time this last time (we have done this twice). I have a full review of our day with them and plenty of pictures if you are interested (in my signature line).

Another vote for Stingray Sailing. Chip and his staff were great.

We used Nativeway and had a wonderful time this last time (we have done this twice). I have a full review of our day with them and plenty of pictures if you are interested (in my signature line).

Mitsugirly how old was your daughter in these pictures? Considering taking the same excursion with my almost 4 year old but not too sure how he would do with something like this, not a lot of experience in water just yet..

For those of you suggesting private companies - can you please add how many passengers were onboard for your excursion?

Thanks.

For those of you suggesting private companies - can you please add how many passengers were onboard for your excursion?

Thanks.

For our trip out with Chip (Stingray Sailings), I would guess no more than 10. But it was a few years ago.

Mitsugirly how old was your daughter in these pictures? Considering taking the same excursion with my almost 4 year old but not too sure how he would do with something like this, not a lot of experience in water just yet..

We have been twice now. So the first time she was 3 and the second time she was 5 years old. She loves the water and loves cruising...she's a very experienced cruiser at the age of 6 now. She has been snorkeling since she was 3 (well, with goggles and holding her breath) and has been swimming since she was 4. So, I don't know how well your little one is with water and "out of the ordinary" things, but mine will do anything...including jumping off a 2 story deck into the ocean by herself and zip lining in the jungle by herself at 3 years old. Yea, she's a little "extreme" for her age. :p :D

For those of you suggesting private companies - can you please add how many passengers were onboard for your excursion?

Thanks.

With Nativeway when we went, we had 10 people total I believe. That was us 3, 4 friends from the cruise that we have known for awhile and cruised with and 2 others from our cruise that we didn't know. :)

Many thanks for all of the recommendations.

A lot of the tours offer multiple destinations within one package (i.e. seeing the rays and rum point) Did any of you do a package tour? If so what do you recommend or don't recommend?

Thanks again!

How about the mobydicktours, just checked out their website and seemed pretty good, but always tough to tell from individual sites? Any input would be appreciated.

If you are up for some adventure, try Fat Fish Adventures.

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Mitsugirly how old was your daughter in these pictures? Considering taking the same excursion with my almost 4 year old but not too sure how he would do with something like this, not a lot of experience in water just yet..

We used Nativeway last week. We had kids ages 4,5,9, 10 as well as seniors in their mid 70's. We did the Island and Rays tour. It was fantastic. I have pictures I can email if you want. Kids loved the turtle farm and the boat ride to the stingrays. The adults loved the island tour and the information given as well as the private boat ride.

We used Moby dick tours on our first trip to the island and we had an absolute blast with them. They were very personable and very accommodating. The we're also very informative. I would highly recommend them. Now we are returning in May and I am wanting to see something new so looking for other things to see and do there.

Whoever you decide to use, check their policy regarding whether they still run the excursion regardless of how many people book!

We booked a highly recommended/popular vendor from CC and TA boards and he cancelled the tour bc "it wasn't worth it to run with only 4 people"

He had emailed me on cruise but we had no internet so we were unaware and were waiting at meeting spot in terminal.

Fortunately Kevin from Cayman Eco Advetures was at next tent and our original vendor called him, asked him to hand his cell ph me to me....he explained that they don't run the excursion with so few people but Kevin was a colleague who offered same excursion.

We ended up having an AMAZING time with Cayman Eco Advetures- group of 9 of us total- they will run the excursion with as few at two people!!

We went to see stingrays--it was spectacular, we had intimate group with all the Rays while the cruise line board had 25-40 ppl in the water!

We then snorkeled At the reef and took a quick trip to starfish point.

Kevin had free water and sunblock on board & soda cans for sale. Kevin watched the time, he made sure he knew everyone's tender times and offered to drop people anywhere (restaurant, etc) on route back if they didn't want to head to terminal.

Enjoy your trip! You can't go wrong with a stingray city excursion with one of the local vendors.

Whoever you decide to use, check their policy regarding whether they still run the excursion regardless of how many people book!

We booked a highly recommended/popular vendor from CC and TA boards and he cancelled the tour bc "it wasn't worth it to run with only 4 people"

He had emailed me on cruise but we had no internet so we were unaware and were waiting at meeting spot in terminal.

Fortunately Kevin from Cayman Eco Advetures was at next tent and our original vendor called him, asked him to hand his cell ph me to me....he explained that they don't run the excursion with so few people but Kevin was a colleague who offered same excursion.

 

We ended up having an AMAZING time with Cayman Eco Advetures- group of 9 of us total- they will run the excursion with as few at two people!!

We went to see stingrays--it was spectacular, we had intimate group with all the Rays while the cruise line board had 25-40 ppl in the water!

We then snorkeled At the reef and took a quick trip to starfish point.

Kevin had free water and sunblock on board & soda cans for sale. Kevin watched the time, he made sure he knew everyone's tender times and offered to drop people anywhere (restaurant, etc) on route back if they didn't want to head to terminal.

 

Enjoy your trip! You can't go wrong with a stingray city excursion with one of the local vendors.

That is good to know.

It would be helpful to have the name of the company that cancelled on you.

This isn't intended to knock the company-just spreading the word that some tours won't run without a minimum # of ppl:)

We weren't aware of this and I always check now as I believe it's important.

We originally booked with Moby Dick tours for 28th of the month. Someone emailed me on the 25th explaining there was a problem and they'd like to move us over to another operator that they work with (eco) for the stingrays tour.

Again....since we didn't have internet or data our phones were shut off and we had no clue they were cancelling! Their staff did go the extra step to call Kevin on his cell to see if we were standing there waiting for someone from Moby Rick tours to show up.

Once he had me on the phonen, he explained they don't run with so few ppl.

You pay the day of tour so it ended up working out.

I was very grateful for Kevin from eco and the trip was terrific!

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If you are up for some adventure, try Fat Fish Adventures.

 

 

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WE just booked with them today for our cruise in June. Really looking forward to this one!

I am looking into booking with one of the tour companies and they indicated that the meeting time would be @8:15 in the morning. Our ship is scheduled to dock at 8:00am. Certainly this would be not allow enough time to get off the ship. The tour company said that Royal Caribbean would be on Florida's time and would actually arrive at port at 7am Cayman time. If this is the case it should work out. Can anyone confirm this is the case with Royal Caribbean. The cruise would be during the summer which means Florida would be on day light savings time. Evidently Grand Cayman does not observe day light savings time.

I am looking into booking with one of the tour companies and they indicated that the meeting time would be @8:15 in the morning. Our ship is scheduled to dock at 8:00am. Certainly this would be not allow enough time to get off the ship. The tour company said that Royal Caribbean would be on Florida's time and would actually arrive at port at 7am Cayman time. If this is the case it should work out. Can anyone confirm this is the case with Royal Caribbean. The cruise would be during the summer which means Florida would be on day light savings time. Evidently Grand Cayman does not observe day light savings time.

This is true. Cayman does not do daylight savings. In the summer, they are one hour behind Miami time.

Sailed on Serenade of the Seas 28 Feb - 7 Mr. Stopped in the Caymans on 4 Mar. We booked with Capt Mario on Aquarius Tours. Cost was $100 for 2 people. I'd book it again, we had a blast. Mario is very personable and has been doing this for over 25 years. We had about 20 people if that on the boat, not crowded at all, plenty of room. 3 stops, Snorkel, Starfish cove and Stingrays. Mario times and judges the stops to arrive to maximize your time with smaller crowds. He advertised the tour for 3 hours at sea but we spent almost 4 and still got back in time to embark on the ship. He has plenty of free cheese pizza and punch which tasts pretty good after snorkeling then he takes numerous photos of you snorkeling and with the rays which you can download free. I just downloaded my photos and was impressed with the clarity. The water was too deep to take my own camera out with the rays as the water is about waist high but the waves could bring it up to neck level.

How about the mobydicktours, just checked out their website and seemed pretty good, but always tough to tell from individual sites? Any input would be appreciated.

I have been to GC three times and all three went out with Moby Dick. First time with my kids 5,7,10 and the second and third time with adults.

Mark and his staff are great, the staff is amazing and they go to the less crowded areas

We used Moby dick tours on our first trip to the island and we had an absolute blast with them. They were very personable and very accommodating. The we're also very informative. I would highly recommend them. Now we are returning in May and I am wanting to see something new so looking for other things to see and do there.

We are scheduled with Moby Dick tours the week after next. How many people were in your group?

Is anyone scheduled for April 16th with Acquarius Sea Tours to see the rays?

We are scheduled with Moby Dick tours the week after next. How many people were in your group?

I think we might have had 6-8 in our personal group. But the boat we went out on was full. You will love it!