Private trip and missing the boat !!

[lynnek]

I am considering booking a private trip to stingray city with stingray sailing in Grand Caymen. This trip seems to get back to the ship about 1.5 hours before the ship sails. Would this worry anyone about missing the ship, as only done cruise line excursions before. Also if anyone has any tips about booking privately please tell.

[golferfreddie]

I am considering booking a private trip to stingray city with stingray sailing in Grand Caymen. This trip seems to get back to the ship about 1.5 hours before the ship sails. Would this worry anyone about missing the ship, as only done cruise line excursions before. Also if anyone has any tips about booking privately please tell.

 

We always book private and never had any troubles. We used Captain Marvin in GC for the stingray city trip last fall and loved every minute of it. They have been doing it the longest and are located very close to the port.

[cb at sea]

Reputable tours will do everything in their power to make sure you're on time...it's their livlihood....they'd be out of business if folks couldn't trust them!

1.5 hours is plenty of time...you have to be onboard 30 mins. prior to sailaway.

[Cecethekittencat]

We've never had a problem on private tours either ... always made it back in plenty of time.

 

The caveat to that is ... when we've done tours in the Med that were very long (like 10 hours) and did cut it close to the sailing time, we booked them through the ship to have the peace of mind to enjoy the day with no worries of missing the shp. Sometimes ... the extra $ spent on the ship's tours are just worth it ... anyone that's tried to navigate the central train station in Napoli would certainly agree as we did that and highly regretted it! :eek:

[KEG21552]

We have also done many private tours in Grand Cayman. The only advice I would offer is to check how many ships are in port that day. It is a tender port and if there are many ships, the dock is a giant hot mess. The last time we were there with about 10,000 of our closest friends, the lines were not clearly marked and everyone was lining up for last tenders. As I am somewhat directionally challenged, I had a few anxious moments, but we did make it back in plenty of time.

Karen

[24butterfly]

I am considering booking a private trip to stingray city with stingray sailing in Grand Caymen. This trip seems to get back to the ship about 1.5 hours before the ship sails. Would this worry anyone about missing the ship, as only done cruise line excursions before. Also if anyone has any tips about booking privately please tell.

 

That's plenty of time. Like everyone said b4, if it's a reputable company, they'll have u back in plenty of time--1.5 is plenty. Also, the cruise line will tell you that if you're on line at the tender at a certain time, you should have no problem. Enjoy.

[Mack2]

We've done several private tours on Grand Cayman over the years... As long as you give yourself 1/2 hour AT the tender pier, you should be good.

 

This last trip, we booked a tour through Stingraysailing.com, similar to Capt. Marvin's (I guess) and highly rated on Tripadvisor.

 

Both Stingraysailing and Capt Marvin's have been highly recommended by folks on Cruise Critic.

 

 

edit:

I know the highly recommended private tour companies will probably be VERY conscience of your departure time... Even when we were heading back to Georgetown, Chip (from stingraysailing) offered to drop folks off at Seven Mile Beach, but told everyone to make sure to leave by X:XX time to get back to the pier.

We all wanted to do T-shirt shopping, so no one went, but we had plenty of time.

[brenderlou]

DH and his dad just did a private excursion to see the Sting Rays using Moby Dick's. No problem at all getting back to the boat and they had a great time!!!

Just make sure the company you are using is reputable and you'll be fine.

Enjoy!!!

 

p.s. A good tip to book a private excursion is to go to the Port of Call thread and find the port you want to book an excursion. There are usually very good recommondations for the popular local tour companies. Also go to TRIPADVISOR and see if there are reviews from others who have used them.