RCCL Catamaran sail & snorkel excursion?

[cmmarch]

Anyone ever do this in Cayman through the ship? Sounds great along 7 mile beach w/stops at 2 coral reefs. Reviews anyone? Thanks!

[tray]

I'm convinced that no one takes the sponsored RCI excursions, because every time someone posts questions about these excursions there are NEVER any replies. It stinks....because it's what I'm looking for also. I'd love some reviews, but it seems everyone does their own thing. I'd love to do the Nativeway excursion, but I'm afraid we won't get off the ship in time and that they will leave us.

 

Anyway, good luck finding an answer. I'll be watching!

[zgs]

I think that we are going to do this in Feb. If you can wait that long, I'll let you know how it is.

[cmmarch]

I think that we are going to do this in Feb. If you can wait that long, I'll let you know how it is.

 

I can wait for your review as we are not cruising until April....and I have already signed up for it through RCCL.

Happy cruising........looking forward to your review.:)

[tcfila]

We did a Sail & Snorkel excursion last year, booked through the ship. I don't remember what it was called exactly, but we snorkeled over an old shipwreck. It was very interesting and I highly reccomend it.

[zgs]

cmmarch-

We decided to book the NativeWay tour instead.

So, won't be able to review the catamaran/snorkle through RCCL.

Sorry. Enjoy your cruise.

[TravelTammy]

Does anyone know of a company who does catamaran snorkeling tours that also visit Stingray City????

I don't just want to go see the stingrays since we've done that, but it would be nice to also make an additinal stop for snorkeling. Of course onboard a catamaran would be the best!!

Any reccomendations are apprecitated!

:D :D Thanks:D :D

[klflote]

Despite the lack of info from others on this trip, we took it on a recent Freedom OTS cruise.

 

As you know, you tender into Georgetown. From the tender pier, you take small mini-vans (about 5 altogether to accommodate the 69 passengers) about 4-5 miles away to 7 mile beach. Once there, you board the catamaran, which sails to two close-by snorkeling sites (both reefs -- which is what we were expecting, but someone else said they were expecting a shipwreck, even though the reef and wreck excursion is completely different). Then you return to the same beach and shuttle back to town.

 

The tour was somewhat disorganized; e.g., they didn't hand out fins until we were already anchored at the first site. I don't know if there were beginner snorkelers on the tour, but it didn't seem like they would have gotten any instruction. It's the first snorkeling tour I can remember where the rum punch and other drinks are not free (but it's been awhile since I've been in GC, so maybe that's not unusual there). On the other hand, they did let you drink before the snorkeling (you can decide for yourself if that is a good or bad thing). The shuttle vans were paranoid about us getting sand in the bus, but since you're required to walk through water and then across a beach to get to the van, I'm not sure what they might have expected. And the trip itself lasted about 60 minutes more than advertised. Originally, two trips were offered and we chose the afternoon, but in the end they were combined into only the morning departure. Not sure if that's because there were only 69 people between the two (the boat said it would take up to 75), or if because their afternoon tour would be chronically late and cause the ship to delay departure.

 

So much for the logistics, which sound worse than they were. Let me end by saying that the actual snorkeling was some of the best I've ever done. Absolutely stunning. I didn't catch the name of the first reef; the second was Cemetery Reef. Both are pretty close to land (7 Mile Beach), so if you knew where to go you could probably get there from shore. These reefs are far superior to Cheeseburger Reef (on the reef/wreck snorkel) or the reefs near stingray city.

 

I'll be doing this excursion again if/when I'm next on this route.