Enough Time for Private Charter???

I will be in the Grand Cayman in August and our ship is there for 9 hours (7am-4pm). We are looking at doing a private charter excursion through Discount Excursions. There are 2 options: Half Day tour for 4 hours and a Full Day tour for 6 hours. With being in port for 9 hours, would there be enough time to do a 6 hour excursion (not booked through Carnival)??? We haven't ever tendered before and not sure how much extra time that takes - what I've read, getting off the ship isn't too bad, but no clue about getting back on. How much time should we give ourselves to get back on the ship? Thanks in advance!!!

Yes, you should have plenty of time. Best part about the "Private" Excurisions is that they can modify the schedule a little if they need to.

If you are there at 7 am - I would recommend an hour to get off the ship and find your tour company. So schedule it for 8 am. This way you don't have to be on the first tender (which many times will fill up with the ship's excursions). The actual tender time is only about 5-10 minutes or so once your tender is loaded.

That would give you an excursion time of 8 am - 2 pm. (which is perfect for a 4 pm departure). You will need to be tendering back onto the ship about an hour before sailing (30 minutes prior is usually the last tender). Sometimes there are lines to tender back and sometimes there are not. I would be in the tender area/line at around 3 pm to be safe. This gives you an hour to wander around town or grab a drink before you have to get back on the ship.

As long as you are in the line for the last tender, they won't leave you behind!