RC Grand Cayman Excursion stingrays???????

[yankeeprincess]

Want to know if the stingray/snorkel catamaran excursion is worth the money? Will cost us about $200.00 for 4 people. Please, anyone out there have any comments about it?

[matj2000]

There are many tour operators that do this excursion. Look online, you can probably find it for cheaper..

[marci22]

Check out the Ports of Call boards for reviews on different excursions. We did Rays, Reef and Rum Point with Nativeway watersports and they were very good. http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/ There were only 21 people on our tour.

 

If you want info on a specific ship's tour, please list the exact name of the tour. You can also try googling the tour with the exact number included. I've found lots of reviews this way.

[CleoPat]

$200 for four people does not sound expensive to me. How long is this excursion?

[fish6]

Want to know if the stingray/snorkel catamaran excursion is worth the money? Will cost us about $200.00 for 4 people. Please, anyone out there have any comments about it?

 

We did the stingray tour through Moby Dick's.....well worth it. Check out their website www.mobydicktours.com. I would go through them over the ship excursion......less people on the tour so we had more interaction with the stingrays.

[nesheiml]

We did a stingray tour with Nativeways and would definitely use them again. It was awesome and we also stopped to snorkel in a couple places.

[bob123]

Want to know if the stingray/snorkel catamaran excursion is worth the money? Will cost us about $200.00 for 4 people. Please, anyone out there have any comments about it?

 

Definitely worth the extra money. Crystal clear water, lots of stingrays (don't let the name fool you. They are gentle, and you can hand feed them). But check on-line or on the excursions board here at Cruise Critic. Better deals out there than with the cruiseline.

 

bob123

[Liztoybiz]

It has been several years but we loved our private excursion with Nativeway. We booked a boat for the seven of us and they did our stops in reverse order of the ships so we weren't as crowded. Have done the ship's tour as well. The price is fine but if you hate crowds, you might do some independent research. Either way, it is a BLAST. Just one word of caution. Do NOT wipe your hands on your thigh after feeding the rays. I had Dark Vadar give me a hickey that was 4 in. in diameter. You could hear me screaming for miles...lol

I am not trying to scare you, just learn from my mistake. You can imagine the looks I got at the pool the rest of the week.

 

Have fun!

Liz in Kingwood

[Cuizer2]

I've done this tour twice. The first time in August 2004 through Royal Caribbean and the second time in June 2007 through Captain Marvin. The next time I am in Grand Cayman I'll likely give Nativeway a try. This is my favorite shore excursion. We did more with Captain Marvin and paid less, but I enjoyed the Royal Caribbean tour more because we had more food to feed the stingrays with, and I really enjoy feeding the stingrays.

 

Here are some pictures from Stingray City ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jebl]

I did this several years ago with Captain Marvin. I would recommend a private tour over the ship's excursion. Smaller groups with more indivudalized attention.

 

You will love the 'rays. So cool to hold them and feed them . They feel like giant Portobello mushrooms!!!

[Mack2]

$200 for 4 people really isn't that bad, although when we went to the Caymans, we booked privately through stingraysailing.com.

 

I prefer going on excursions outside what's offered by the cruise line. The ships use tour operators that tend to throw as many people as they can onto a tour boat.... You end up getting packed on a boat like cattle.

 

on our privately run tour, there were about 24 people on the boat... I would go with the other posters here and also recommend a private tour for the Stingray sandbar.

 

Of course, since I've used Chip at Stingraysailing.com, I recommend them as well... but I believe any of the private tour operators offer a similar experience than getting on a cruise sanctioned cattle boat which may not be as much fun or as enriching as a boat that takes fewer people to swim with the stingrays.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147365-d1420499-Reviews-Stingray_Sailing-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

 

[lovetocruise444]

I would never book this through a cruiseline. I always book through Island Marketing Ltd. They adjust their stops to make sure they aren't at Sting Ray City when the cruise ship excursions are there. It's much nicer to go with a private operator and have 30-40 people on your boat instead of going with the cruiseline with up to 200 people on the boat! It's always much cheaper than the cruiseline too.

[abhb]

Did this tour with Captain Bryan. Less than 20 people on tour and it was about $35 pp. Stingray City is well worth the money!

[MJN]

Hi, I can't remember if we used Captain Bryan or Marvin but it was one of the non-ship tour operators and it's like others have said...way less people. It was LOTS of fun though and highly recommend it. So much fun....remember to shuffle your feet so you don't step on one!

[joyride21]

Check out the Ports of Call boards for reviews on different excursions. We did Rays, Reef and Rum Point with Nativeway watersports and they were very good. http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/ There were only 21 people on our tour.

 

We used this company as well and were very impressed. One of the best excursions I've done!

[earn]

You have to do this trip with someone! It is the best thing we have done off a cruise ship. We treid to go with Stingraysailing, but they booked up really quickly and recommended Moby Dick. They were great. We wanted to go to the beach and they helped find us a bus to the beach and agreed where and when they would pick us up for the tour. They arrived dead on time to pick us up and were very well organised. there were about 20 people on the boat with 5 crew. We skipped the stingrays as it was very busy on the sandbank when we arrived and moved over to the reef to do some snorkelling. That was fun and one of the crew seems to have a relationship with a very large eal, which he entices out and you can take picture of. We went nto the sandbank once the mob had left, and spent as long as we all wanted there. They had buckets of fish and there was no limit to the ammount you could feed the rays. The guys were great with the kids and those a little less confident. All in all a great trip. They also recommended a bar where we could watch the queue for the tender reducing before standing in it.

[Jasmine11381]

It's amazing and TOTALLY worth the money!!! The stingrays are way larger then the ones you see in your local aquarium and they are very friendly. I also enjoyed this because the stingrays aren't in pens or cages they come up to you willingly in the middle of the ocean (on a very large sand bar). You will really enjoy it, I absolutely recommend it....ENJOY!!!! :D

[ciera123]

Last June we did a wave runner tour out to Stingray City, then on to a beach and finally back to the resort where we started. We had the option of staying at the beach for as long as we wanted. We stayed off to the side of the crowds, and our guides were a lot of fun!

[bethco]

Stingray City is THE thing that you should definitely do in the Caymans. I have been twice. First time was on a cruise ship excursion where I was out there with a huge number of my best friends and it was great. The next time I went with Moby Dick. We left just a bit later and did the snorkel first. So by the time we (much smaller group) reached the stingrays, most of the other boats were leaving or already gone. It was so much calmer and the guides were able to take time with us. I felt that I more than got my money's worth going with Moby Dick.