Captain Marvin or Native Ways...? Difference?

Sharon just called to confirm that I received my email from her and mentioned that there is a US number to call her: 203-681-8665.

You may want to call her direct to set up reservation- she's very sweet.

Does Nativeway do a good job with getting back on time?

I took a Stingray City tour in 2006, and I remember they were pretty late getting back, and I came fairly close to missing the boat.

The tour I want would end at 2:30, so that would give us an hour cushion. You guys think that's enough?

Does Nativeway do a good job with getting back on time?

 

I took a Stingray City tour in 2006, and I remember they were pretty late getting back, and I came fairly close to missing the boat.

 

The tour I want would end at 2:30, so that would give us an hour cushion. You guys think that's enough?

The one time we went with them (Stingrays, Snorkel & Rum Point) they had us back in time to do a little shopping at the port -- about 45 minutes,-- then we caught a tender and were back on board about 5:30 p.m. (ship time). We left at 6 p.m. I'm sure they are very careful to have people back on time.

Do they provide transportation to their dock? Any idea of the cost for RT transport? There are 12 in our group, probably 3 taxis?

Do they provide transportation to their dock? Any idea of the cost for RT transport? There are 12 in our group, probably 3 taxis?

Nativeway provides transportation in a small bus from the port to their dock and then back to the port. You meet your tour at the area where you get iff the tender. It is included.

Do they provide transportation to their dock? Any idea of the cost for RT transport? There are 12 in our group, probably 3 taxis?

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With a group of 12 ,Nativeway may give you your own boat. We have only had 12 and 14 on our trips with them.

 

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There was a total of 16 people on our Nativeway boat, mostly from our CC roll call group, but a few extras. It was a nice size. Much better than the huge boats at Stingray City, I thought.

just did capt marvin last week. was a great trip. 15-20 of us. 3-stop tour. office right outside the pier. nice drive to boat launch. good crew great pictures reasonably priced package. we would go again next time in grand caymen

I just went with Native Way for a Stingray City / Coral Reef Snorkel/ Starfish beach tour. Below is my review:

WHO WE ARE: We are two adults in our mid-40s (male and female), with a 7-year-old child. We typically make our own arrangements for tours off the ship. We arrived at Cayman Islands on 11/7/17 on the NCL Escape.

TOUR OPERATOR CHOICE: I had done this in March 2006, and just selected a random tour operator in town for Stingray City and snorkel. It was okay, but very crowded. I decided to do some research this time around, and saw that the two recommended operators were Native Way and Captain Marvin. However, upon further research, I found Native Way was the superior option. First off, they're cheaper. Second, and most importantly, they keep their groups SMALL. This is very important to me. We had only 13 in our group, and they rarely have more than 16. Other companies, including Captain Marvin, have double, triple, or quadruple that.

LOGISTICAL/BOOKING ISSUES: I only have one complaint about Native Way, and it's one I've seen elsewhere on this forum. Communicating with them can be tough, and they also are a bit disorganized. FIrst off, do not use the contact form on Native Way's website, as you will often get no response. Instead, you should e-mail them at nativway@candw.ky. There is only one woman in charge of the booking process, and her name is Sharon. She's very nice, but again, a bit difficult to get a hold of sometimes. There is a Cayman phone number listed, and also a US number. However, the US number doesn't always answer, and Sharon admitted that the number "has a lot of problems", which is a bit perplexing in this day and age. (It's very easy to get a reliable US forwarding number, no matter where you are in the world.) Also, our tour time abruptly changed. We were originally booked on a 9am tour, and I was on the waiting list for my preferred time of 11:30 (which was full). Well, strangely enough, I got an e-mail the day before our tour telling me that I had been moved to the 12pm tour, which was too late for me (I had to be back onboard by 3pm). I called Sharon and she told me that BOTH times had been cancelled (9am and 11:30am), and that new tours had been created at 8:30am and 12pm instead. Really odd. I ended up going with the only doable choice, 8:30. However, as feared, our tendering from the ship ran late (as it tends to do on NCL), and I didn't get there until about 8:25, even though we were supposed to be there by 8:15 to check in. They did wait for us.

STINGRAY CITY: Doing Stingray City in a small group was FAR superior to my crowded-group experience in 2006. We got a lot more personal time with the stingrays, and perhaps the highlight was when the guide threw food into the water, and TONS of stingrays swarmed around us. I didn't get this experience in 2006, as the group was too large in that instance for the stingrays to noticeably swarm around a few people. The only downside to having a small group was that the stingrays ditched us when a bigger group next to us started feeding. However, we were about 8 minutes from leaving when that happened, so no big deal.

CORAL REEF SNORKEL: This was okay, nothing special. The water was clear and we could see fish, but it was also fairly deep (they said 10 feet, but it looked more like 15), so in many cases they were way below you. There was also a strong current, so it was important to have both a life jacket and fins. I use a yellow snorkeling belt (google it), which I find far superior to a life jacket. They had life jackets for anyone who didn't bring one. Our son didn't do this part, so his mom and I took turns snorkeling.

STARFISH POINT: I had believed that this would be a place with giant starfish where the tour guide would bring them over to us, but it wasn't like that at all. Instead, it was a rather ordinary beach which happened to have a lot of regular-sized starfish on the ocean floor. Water was very shallow -- probably about 2 1/2 feet. Our son quickly got bored of the starfish (as did everyone), and he ended up playing in the sand with 2 girls his age who were on our tour. We just kinda hung out during that time. Could easily have skipped this stop and wouldn't have missed much. You can select tours without this stop if you want.

SEVEN MILE BEACH: You have the option to be dropped off at "Seven Mile Beach" instead of being brought back to the ship port. Then it would be a $20 cab ride back to the port. Nobody wanted to do that, but instead it was requested that we just stop there briefly for a few photos and quick look at the beach, and the driver agreed. I have to say that it's a very nice beach, with crystal clear water. Not sure if there's any snorkeling, as we weren't there long enough.

THE BOAT: The boat had a small bathroom, and they provided water and some cheap fruit punch (which wasn't very good, but it was free). Neither was very cold, but it was cooler than room temperature. The boat itself was not large, but plenty big enough to accommodate the group. You could also sit on the roof with the captain, which was fun (though a bit windy!)

TRANSPORTATION: Native Way drives you in a van, rather than a big bus, because their groups are never large. This gets you to the destination quicker, and is more pleasant.

COST: It was $45 for each adult, and $35 for our child, making it a total of $125. I did not see any excursions cheaper, and in fact many were more expensive.

OVERALL: Despite its logistical and booking challenges, I was happy with Native Way and would recommend them. In fact, my parents will be visiting Cayman soon, and I am directing them to Native Way for their excursion, as well.

I am in Grand Cayman in May 2018 and reached out to Nativeway for availability 3xs and have yet to hear back from them. Has anyone ever had this issue who has used them?

I seem to be having the same Issue with my Sailing on Jan. 2018

I seem to be having the same Issue with my Sailing on Jan. 2018

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While I have never booked with Capt Marvin, I can say that I have booked several excursions with Nativeways over the years. I absolutely recommend Nativeway's excursions as they have been excellent each time. They do keep the groups smaller than the other tour operators and they make sure to get you to Stingray City when there are fewer other boats (this hasn't been possible every time though due to the large number of tours). The $65 cost for the Rays, Reef, and Rum point tour includes an excellent lunch. We will be doing this tour again in March!

Dave

I ended up booking with Stingray Sailing because Nativeway never responded. I tried not only the form but contacting them directly several times by email (and yes I had the correct spelling). I'm not trustful of a tour provider who doesn't respond to emails.

I wanted to use Native Ways but can't them to respond either. I left her a telephone message, sent an email and filled out the online form. Disappointing because they do get great reviews.

Not sure what the problem is...I got a reply to my e-mail within 24 hours. Are you using their correct e-mail (nativway@candw.ky)? I have used Nativeways 5 times and am scheduled for #6.

From: nativway nativway [mailto:nativway@candw.ky]

Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 1:22 AM

To: David Elliott <nz4b7s@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: Availability for March 7 Rays, Reef and Rum Point

Hi Dave, Pleasant Greetings from Grand Cayman...and thanks for contacting us! Yes, we do have availability. The tour departs the cruise ship pier at 11:30 AM ship time and completes at 4:45 PM Ship time. Let me know if you would like to reserve space.

Best Regards,

Sharon Ebanks

----- Original Message -----

From: David <******@gmail.com>

To: nativway@candw.ky

Sent: Tue, 19 Dec 2017 07:40:08 -0500 (EST)

Subject: Availability for March 7 Rays, Reef and Rum Point

Hi, Do you have availability on March 7, 2018, for 4 adults on the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour? We will be arriving on the Liberty of the Seas.

Dave

I've emailed Captain Marvin and Native Ways this week, and have not gotten a response either.

Notice the spelling of the e-mail (nativway@candw.ky) is missing the "e" in Nativeways. I know that Nativeways are very busy, so be patient...I think you will find their tour worth the wait!

In a last ditch effort, I looked on social media for a page for Native Ways, and I found one! On there, it had their email. I sent them an email and let them know that I had completed the form, and had not heard back. I heard back this morning and am all set. If you are trying to reach them, email them at nativway@candw.ky

I complete their form twice & then sent an email all since 12/31/17. No response what so ever. :(

I sent Native Ways an email and they responded within a few hours. Unfortunately, they were already booked for our cruise.

Hang in there Betty! The Nativeways excursions are worth the difficulties in contacting them. I recommend sending Sharon @ Nativeways an e-mail every day until you hear from her. You might want to call Sharon's US telephone number. I can honestly say that Sharon has answered every e-mail and phone call I have placed.

Dave

I am also having trouble, I sent an initial enquiry on weds evening UK time and had a response next morning telling me the tour I wanted was fully booked, Ive replied 3 times since saying `I would book on the one she had available and no response. Very frustrating. I will have to work out the time difference and phone them.

We just got back from a week on the Liberty of the Seas (Jan. 21-28) and I want to put in a good word for Nativeway. We did the Stingrays, Snorkel, and Rum Point trip for the second time (first in 2013). We got an early tender (around 10 am), arrived in plenty of time in port for a little shopping, left at 11:30 for our excursion, and got back a little before 5 to catch a tender back to the ship.

There were only four of us on the tour (on a good-sized boat) with 2 crew -- Captain Solomon and an assistant. Solomon gave us very personalized attention with the stingrays -- so much so that people from other tours were coming over to see "our" stingray, as their guides couldn't see to all of them. Got to hold, feed, and kiss a female that had lost its tail. He caught a male also for us to see.

For snorkeling, he swam with us and coaxed a moray eel out of the coral with some bait octopus.

At Rum Point, lunch was taken care of -- it had been ordered from the boat. We stayed there about 1.5 hours. We were on our way back to the Yacht Club (where the boat is docked) at 3:45 and back on the ship before 5:30.

I highly recommend this trip. The people who had gone in the morning before us were raving about it too.

If you have trouble contacting Sharon Ebanks, call her on the US phone number at 203-681-8665.

Thanks for the positive feedback on Nativeways Hawk! Its always good to get independent confirmation from someone else who enjoyed their excursion as much as we do. Nativeways treats you to such a great day, I hate to see people looking elsewhere when they do not receive any response from Sharon. All I can say is send Sharon an e-mail daily and call her every other day! It will be worth the trouble.

Dave

I agree Dave. Just keep calling. Sharon checked us in and drove us to the yacht club to catch the boat and picked us up at the end, and she was on her phone almost all the time, coordinating all the details.

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