Confused with Excursion choices for Western Caribbean

[vacationdreamer]

We are sailing on the Voyager 4/8/06. We want to book a Dunn's River Fall excursion in Jamaica and a Stingray City excursion in Grand Cayman...but which one? There are so many listed on the ship's list of excursions that I am totally confused. Any suggestions?:confused:

[OPSoccermom]

I would do Stingray City with an independent operator. There are many very good operators (Nativeways) in Grand Cayman. If you have to go with a RCI operator, I strongly recommend against the "Rays and Reef Combo" tour. We made a big mistake in booking this tour. While they take you to a part of Stingray City, it wasn't the actual Stingray City sandbar. The water level was way over everyone's heads, so it wasn't possible to enjoy the rays as everyone pictures.

 

The other frustrating part of the Rays and Reef Combo excursion was that after they take you to the Stingray City part of the tour, they pulled anchor and drove literally 200 yards, dropped anchor, and then announced we were at the "reef" portion of the tour. The snorkling was exactly as it was at thr "Rays" portion of the tour.

 

And the worst part was that their were at least 100 people on the tour. Impossible to really enjoy the rays or snorkle when you were constantly getting hot by someone else's fins.

[scher]

we did captain Marvin's on our own they took us to the sand bar at sting ray city and then for some very light snorkleing it was just a few hours and then we were able to do the turtle farm and go to Hell. That was in 2002 not sure if Captain Marvin's is still there but it was a short walk from the dock. Dunn's river falls we booked with some guy on our own he did a small tour of Jamaica and then to the falls. His name was Pete we listened to everyone on cruise critic and it all worked out well for us. Now we are going on the Southern and am looking into excusions for that. Good luck have fun it was a great cruise.

[negc]

While some operators tout the fact that they carry fewer passengers to Sting Ray city than their competitors, once they are there, their passengers have to share the same area with the hundreds ;) of passengers from the competitors' boats. Check the Grand Cayman boards for recommendations and book with the one that seems to offer you the best tour for a reasonable price. Just be wary of some of the claims. Most, if not all, of the independent operators will refund your fee if, for whatever reason, your ship is unable to tender its passengers to Grand Cayman.

[scher]

I just checked the grand cayman posting and Captain Marvin is still in business and going strong he was reliable and the other posting said they felt the most experienced I strongly would recommend them. Check is out Captainmarvin.com I think

[AlDubya]

My fiancée and I did the San San Yacht Cruise in Ocho Rios (which went to Dunns River Falls). I personally liked it. The crew was pretty funny and very lenient (when we stopped for snorkeling, they actually let us dive off the top deck, which was a good 15-20 feet high... in a litigous society like the U.S., that would NEVER happen).

 

The snorkeling part of the tour left a lot to be desired (but, from what I hear, the snorkeling in Ocho Rios, in terms of colorful fish, isn't that good, period). However, the Dunns River Falls part and the partying on the boat was fun.

 

The Yacht isn't big and 'fancy', so don't expect that. But I thought it was plenty adequate for what we did.

 

The only thing I disliked and I think you'll find htis on most tours, is the people on the boat doing the tour HOUND you for tips.

[kenandlaura06]

I would do Stingray City with an independent operator. There are many very good operators (Nativeways) in Grand Cayman. If you have to go with a RCI operator, I strongly recommend against the "Rays and Reef Combo" tour. We made a big mistake in booking this tour. While they take you to a part of Stingray City, it wasn't the actual Stingray City sandbar. The water level was way over everyone's heads, so it wasn't possible to enjoy the rays as everyone pictures.

 

The other frustrating part of the Rays and Reef Combo excursion was that after they take you to the Stingray City part of the tour, they pulled anchor and drove literally 200 yards, dropped anchor, and then announced we were at the "reef" portion of the tour. The snorkling was exactly as it was at thr "Rays" portion of the tour.

 

And the worst part was that their were at least 100 people on the tour. Impossible to really enjoy the rays or snorkle when you were constantly getting hot by someone else's fins.

 

Thanks for the info---we were considering this one.

[sweetpea916]

We're doing Dunn's River Falls, Fern Gully, tubing on the White River, and other miscellaneous sight-seeing with Peat Taylor (independent operator). Go to the Jamaica board and you'll see raving reviews of Peat Taylor's tours.

 

In Grand Cayman we booked a Stingray City tour through RCCL.

 

We've never been to either so I can't say whether we made good choices or not but here's hoping!! :D

[scher]

We're doing Dunn's River Falls, Fern Gully, tubing on the White River, and other miscellaneous sight-seeing with Peat Taylor (independent operator). Go to the Jamaica board and you'll see raving reviews of Peat Taylor's tours.

 

In Grand Cayman we booked a Stingray City tour through RCCL.

 

We've never been to either so I can't say whether we made good choices or not but here's hoping!! :D

Peat Taylor is the tour we used to the falls and fern gully he was great.

Captain Marvin is who we used for sting ray city and snorkleing also great. they are all still in business. I highly recommend them