Nativeway is GREAT!!

[Guest]

We just returned from our 5 nights on the Enchantment. We booked Nativeway for our Stingray City and Snorkel tour, and it was THE BEST. Sharon's husband, Sheldon, picked us up at the dock and drove us to the boat, where Mike and his partner (forgot his name) were waiting for us. The boat was clean and we had bottled water and fruit juice (they handed out cups, we didn't have our own bottles). We had 4 children in our group, ages 11-15. We all had our turn to kiss the stingrays, hold them and have them put on our heads as "hats". The snorkling on the reef was really good, saw a moray eel and lots of beautiful fish, also barracudas. There was a video photographer with us, who took the most amazing underwater pictures and filmed all of us having a good time. The tape was $44.00, DVD was $55...we had our tape in our hands as we waited for the last tender to leave at 4:30. She did a fantastic job.

 

I highly recommed Nativeway....you will love them!

Nancy

 

Until Our Enchantment Cruise

 

Until My Cruise to Hawaii on Infinity

Summit 11 night cruise

 

[ljrfrm]

Thanks for a great review. We will be using Nativeways and can't wait. I was hoping they'd have a videographer....so you answered my questions. Thanks.

 

Paradise 6/27

 

[ISABELLA]

Does anyone know Native ways web site?

We used them before, but I cannot find it. They were great.

[SpoiledMom]

We will be using Nativway on July 22 -for my daughter's 10th birthday. I am so glad to hear they have Videos/DVD's available!!!

 

Isabella - the site is http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/

[madge62]

We're thinking of using Nativeway for Stingray City. Did they require you to provide a credit card number when you booked? I wasn't sure if that was the norm, as they asked for mine if I wanted to book with them. Thanks!

[catnipper]

We were not required to pay in advance or give a credit card number prior to being there. I wished there had been a videographer there when we were there last month - nevertheless, the trip was absolutely awesome and we have some great pictures to show and enjoy! They are on webshots - hopefully my link will show up when I post this, as this is my first posting since the new message boards!

Cathy

[catnipper]

I think I have to do more than a "post quick reply. Let me try this again.Cathy

[lininak]

We did the tour with them last December and will be doing so again this December since we had such a wonderful time. Loved the video! We haven't needed a deposit or credit card number either time.

[mvbsm]

We used Nativeways last week. Thomas and Carl were great. There was no video person there for us though. They did stress us out a little when we had the last tender back to the ship at 3:00 and we were getting off their boat at 2:45. There was a long line for the tender so it really ended up not being a problem, but we didn't know that. Other than that, it was one of our favorite trips.

[steffie]

We loved Nativeway. We were there in May. Everyone was wonderful. It was sure nice only having 15-20 people instead of being packed in like the others boats that came out were. The snorkeling was great too! I would highly recommend them. When we go back we will go with them again. We did have someone taking video on our trip. Her name was Ruth. Very nice and she did a good job. They got the DVD on our ship before we left and we picked it up that night.

I would recommend this trip!!!

[sodell]

We used Nativeway last April, credit card at time of excursion; however, at that time they did not take American Express. You may want to check out the cards they do take.

 

Enjoy...it was a blast. Make sure you bring a waterproof/underwater camera. Suggest you mark it as yours, as there were several people with disposables & can easily get mixed up!!!.

[SpoiledMom]

Any suggestion on where to find disposable underwater cameras? I should have picked up a few when I was in San Diego earlier this month... but I haven't found any in Phoenix

[wendya2J]

we have found the underwater cameras at walmart, target, kmart, walgreens, cvs, ekarts...they are chain stores in our area (discount stores or drug stores)

 

hope you can find them, cause they are way cheaper off the boat than on!!

[SpoiledMom]

YEAH! I found the underwater camera here in Phoenix - what a surprise. I bought 5. One for each kid and one a piece for hubby and me.

[cactusfan]

After reading so many positive comments about Nativeway, I am making a booking with them.

 

Just to answer the question in a previous post, they did ask for credit card info. Fair enough though because we do have 8 people in our party. Here is their policy: "We ask that you provide at least 48 hours advance notice to cancel. If you do not cancel and do not show up, we will charge your credit card for 50% of the cost of the tour. If your ship is unable to dock in Grand Cayman, we will automatically cancel your reservation, at no cost to you." Sounds fine to me!

[just4kixx]

We just did Nativeways last week and it was one of the highlights of our trip! Sharon met us at the North Pier as instructed. The tour guides, Sheldon, Mike & another young man whose name escapes me) were excellent with all of the passengers, but especially with my 11yo Special Needs DS who came back saying he loved the stingrays as much as his dog!!!!

 

We didn't have a videographer, I think you need to specifically request that ahead of time so it can be arranged. But we did take underwater cameras and some video footage as well.

 

We did need to give a credit card number to make our reservation for 13. We weren't charged ahead of time though. But there were people on our boat who had just signed up at the pier that day, so I guess you could take that chance if you wanted to.

 

Can't beat the price, would do it again in a second!

A

[Ellya]

We also loved our excursion with Nativeway. Our tour only had 9 people in the boat, so we had plenty of individualized attention! The guides were great with all the guests helping them with anything they needed and very informative! They offered refillable water cameras for $20 if you don't have one. No video was offered to us though. The driver will drop you at 7 mile beach of you like afterwards which makes a great day.

[wolfganghowell]

Not to sound like a meanie party pooper, but taking the stingrays out of the water and putting them on your head as a "hat" is not good for these amazing creatures. I would ask everyone to respect these animals - Cayman has had some problems with humans overdoing the interaction with them. I don't mean to offend anyone and I'm sure we all want to protect these animals and their environment as much as possible. Thanks for thinking about it!

[jstducky]

ok i dont know if this is a taboo question, but just how much of a tip did you give at the end of your tour? i want to make sure that i give them enough.

[wolfganghowell]

Depending on the tour and if they serve alcohol, we tip between $5 and $10. I try to factor in if we had a cheap drunk (ha), if they provided snorkeling stuff, were nice and fun, etc etc.

[Kattie]

Does anyone know the times for 1/2 day snorkeling trip. Do they have morning and afternoon and which is better or does it matter?

[SpoiledMom]

I believe they have a morning and an afternoon... The morning excursion is at 8:30am island time (9:30am ship time on the Mariner which operates on Central time).

 

They are very quick at responding to e-mails -send them an e-mail and they can answer all your questions

[SienaBlaze]

I can't say enough wonderful things about Nativeway. I will visit the Cayman Islands again and I will use them. They guys on our boat were wonderful. They were really good with the few kids we had on our boat. Everything we asked them they had an answer for. Eledon and Sharon are great.

 

 

Siena Blaze

[rthiebes]

We just got back from the July 4th cruise on the Mariner and went with Nativeway in Grand Caymen..we thought we would not compete with "cruise ship" crowds and booked an afternoon tour...12:15pm ships time. Sharon's husband met us..we had a group of about 20 with almost half being children ages 5 to preteens. They treated us nicely and were very informative, friendly and honest..since it was an afternoon tour, yes, Stingray city was less crowded and the stingrays were taking the food from our hands (some folks from the morning tours said the stingrays acted less interested and the place was packed with a sea of people!). We brought our own underwater cameras..Nativeway didn't offer any nor was there a videographer..just Mike, another guy (forgot his name) and Mike's 8 yr old nephew who wanted to "help". They really looked out for us and when we went to Coral Gardens (a coral reef about 10-12 ft deep) within sight of Stingray City, we were one of two boats there. The snorkeling was awesome! Saw beautifully colored fish, schools of fish I've never seen before and even barracudas. Mike also rigged up the non-swimmers so they could snorkel too...my only complaint..man, did we cut it close getting back to the ship, we were on the second to last tender out and we saw them closing up the dock as we pulled away (both tenders left around the same time). We saw Sharon at the dock when we first got on the boat before going to Stingray City and she just smiled, waved her hands and said for us to relax, enjoy ourselves and that she promised to get us back on the ship on time..as usual, I'm a worrier and when we weren't at the dock by 3:30pm ship time, I was sweating it a little..we made it by 3:45 (ship was due to leave at 4pm)..but still, what if the traffic had been even worse (it was bad) or the boat/truck broke down? I worry about such things:-))

[lawalz23]

Has anybody done a land tour or a combo stingray/land with Nativeways? I think that is what the family wants. Thanks!