berbet Posted July 10, 2005 #1 Share Posted July 10, 2005 We plan to take the Stingray City stingray tour that RCC offers. Do the boats dock at a wooden dock to get in and out of the boat at Stingray City or do you have to get in and out in the actual water? How difficult is this for a larger person? Is there some type of ladder or do you have to crawl over the side? I'd hate to get out into the water there and then not be able to get back into the boat.:eek: Thanks in advance for any insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisekrazy63 Posted July 10, 2005 #2 Share Posted July 10, 2005 The boats have a stair or two on the back for you to get off and on. You are out in the middle of the sea so there is no dock. It isn't hard at all. Be sure to not miss the stingray city, it is so awesome. We have been two different times and will go back again when we go to GC next year! Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berbet Posted July 10, 2005 Author #3 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Thanks, Cruisekrazy63! We are looking forward to Stingray City! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luv_to_Cruise Posted July 10, 2005 #4 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Be careful to look at the tour photos of the ladder at the back of the boat. Some have a short ladder that is straight up/down. A few boats and most catamerans have an angled ladder, longer, but more like a stairway. It also has a railing to help you get out of the water. We always choose the boat tours that offer the stairway like ladder...I once had trouble getting back into the boat after a tour and I won't have that happen again. Also, another tip is to book a Sting Ray City SANDBAR tour. The sandbar tour is in water that is about waist deep, depending on the tide. The other Sting Ray City site is in 6-12 feet of water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berbet Posted July 10, 2005 Author #5 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Oh, thanks for the tips Love_to_Cruise. It's the sandbar one that I would be interested in. We'll be cruising on the RCC Jewel of the Sea. Do you know what the ladder situation is with the tour company they use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra46 Posted July 10, 2005 #6 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Berbet, I just returned from a cruise that stopped in GC and we did the stingray thing. I can not say this strongly enough. Do not use the cruise ship operator for this tour. These boats are cattle cars. Use Captain Marvins. www.captainmarvins.com They offer much smaller boats and they are a lot less expensive. The crew was great. As the previous post mentioned, you will be out in the middle of the ocean but it seems more like a large swimming pool. It is quite a specticle with so many boats anchored in a circle and hundreds of people in the water. If you can climb out of a swimming pool, you will be able to get back into the boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MizzCard Posted July 10, 2005 #7 Share Posted July 10, 2005 There is a ladder going down into the water, so getting in and out of the water is prety much a breeze. Don't fret, as you must wear a life preserver and you're generally about neck high in the water (depending on height of course) It's an awesome adventure that you surely won't regret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheffie Posted July 10, 2005 #8 Share Posted July 10, 2005 I completely agree with using the independent operators. We used Captain Bryan's Buccaneer because we wanted to go on a sail boat. We did 3 stops and had a marvelous time! When at the sandbar, we got to kiss a stingray:eek: and even got a stingray massage! We then went to the reef and then the Coral Gardens. We had done the ship's excursion on our first cruise and this excursion was SO MUCH BETTER! Here is their website: http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/Stingray_City_Buccaneer_Excursion.htm I am a "fluffy" person and had no trouble getting in and out. Here is a picture of my DH kissing a stingray. You can see the ladder off the front of the Buccaneer in the background. Have a great cruise! p.s. I am so excited! That is the first picture that I have figured out how to post!:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berbet Posted July 11, 2005 Author #9 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Thanks, Sheffie. The ladder looks easy. We are new to cruising and wanted to do the ship's tour only because we've heard that if the ship's tour is late getting back the ship will wait (or will get you back to the ship at their expense) but if we did an independent tour and were late getting back that the ship could leave without us. I don't think DH would relax the whole time knowing that we could miss the ship. Is the RCC tour really that bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheffie Posted July 11, 2005 #10 Share Posted July 11, 2005 bertbet- One thing that I check before booking a tour is the time. I liked the excursion we did because it left at 10:30 and got back about 1:30. This worked out well with our ship's docking time and gave us a LOT of leeway for getting back to the tender. There are even others that leave earlier and get back earlier. Cayman is a very small island. The ship's tour we took only went to the sandbar. The other places are great! We even got to see a morey eel! (Don't worry, you won't get too close to it.) I have a list of other independent companies web sites if you would like me to post that for you. Different ones have different times. I have found that I have NEVER heard of anyone getting back late from a private excursion. The companies look out for each other. Word of mouth can make or kill a company! Bottom line, I'd check out the private excursion times, and then make a decision that I was comfortable with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccrn Posted July 11, 2005 #11 Share Posted July 11, 2005 I am a large fluffy person with bad knees, and had no problem geting on or off the boat with Soto's cruises. We got great one on one attention with the stingrays, and went to the Barrier reef where we saw a shark, barracuda and moray eel, as wll as Coral and fish. It even gave us enough time to take a taxi to the tortle farm and hell afterwards. I can't recommend them highly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luv_to_Cruise Posted July 12, 2005 #12 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Hi Berbet, The other posters here are giving you good advice. The private tours can be more personal, being much smaller groups. You can have a better time and spend less money. We're going on the Buccaneer in December, this tour runs from about 10-2, our ship arrives at 7:30AM and departs at 4PM with last tender likely at 3:30. The ship excursion with NCL will probably be much more expensive. The tour operators are very concerned that you have a good time and get back to your ship on time. When you have decided on a tour, just email the tour operator with your ship scheduled arrival and departure times and they can tell you whether you can get back to the ship on time. Plan to do a liitle shopping in the town after the tour that will give you a cushion of and hour or two, just in case you are worried. Don't worry! You'll have a great time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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