Trying to decide what to do with our 6yr old

We are going to Grand Cayman on Freedom in December with my husband and I and our 6yr old daughter...I am trying to decide what to do....

We have 3 port stops..Key West, GC and Cozumel

I haven't figured out Key West, but probably walking and sight seeing, Cozumel is her 6th birthday so we are doing Playa Mia.

For GC, we are there 8-4 so 8 hours...I really think she would enjoy the stingray city, I did this once on a cruise and my husband and her have never been there. However, we are severe beach people! I really want to have time to take them somewhere on 7 mile beach too.

The ship tours are expensive! I have researched and best price so far is Moby Dick Tours which for us 3 is $125...not bad, but I am spending $160 for Playa Mia already so part of me is wanting to just do a non expensive beach day here....I wish there was a tour that just did stingrays and would drop us at beach, they all include a beach and cost a fortune, or include snorkeling, which at 6, she isn't going to really enjoy probably...anyone know of a tour that does just stingray city and is less than this price?

The moby dick tour says 3 hours..anyone done it? Do they generally pick you up right when the boat releases you around 8;30 ish? Can I assume we will be back by noon and still have a few hours to do a beach then? I did email moby dick to inquire...

Lastly, if we do just 7mile beach, is there an area or bar/restaurant that I should ask to be taken too? Where is best for families? We would want bathrooms, food, drinks, etc, maybe snorkeling etc, chairs, umbrellas

We would also like a little bit of time to shop. It has been about 12 years since i was here, but there is a lot of shopping right by ship correct?

sorry for the long post!

Seagrape (part of 7 Mile Beach) has everything you need...restrooms, restaurant/bar, chair/umbrellaa rentals and watersport rentals. The bus is $2.50 pp...it's only a couple miles, if that!

Shopping is right across from the tender dock.

You could check Grand Caymens website and see how much Stingray City is...it's totally doable on your own, as is a beach day!

It's easy to take a taxi to 7 Mile Beach (Sea Grape area). Ask to be dropped off at Calico Jack's which has all of the types of things you mentioned. :)

LuLu

We are doing the same cruise, but in November. My daughters have done these ports with us before and they are asking to go back to the turtle farm in Grand Cayman because in the past they were able to hold the baby sea turtles. They also want to go back to the sea lion show at Chankanaab Park. After the show, we were allowed to take pictures of them standing with one of the sea lions.Both of these parks have a shallow area for kids to swim, and pools.

Just a thought, there are tours that includeStingray city, Rum Point lunch and beach, which would be awesome for a 6 yr old. She could snorkel right there, enjoy the calm water, lunch, and make your way down to the Starfish area if you like. It may be a little more expensive, but you'd save on cab fare and lunch costs!

I second the stingray city/Rum point option. Its a great beach and the food is actually very good. Native ways tours is relatively inexpensive. We used them and couldn't have been happier! My kids want to go back to GC, do that tour again even tho they didn't get in with the rays because they were scared, they stayed on boat or my son who stayed on my back, and enjoyed it just the same!

We loved the stingray sandbar (done it twice now) and so did our (then 4 year old and again at 5 years old). I would do it again in a heartbeat. We did the stingray sandbar, snorkeling and rum point with Nativeway. They did an excellent job and it was the best excursion of the cruise. I highly recommend them. I have a review in my signature line that has tons of pictures from the excursion if you are interested. :)

nativewayssports does both stingray city and Rum Point.