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Stingray city

trishloves2cruz

By trishloves2cruz,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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nosnobunny

nosnobunny

Posted
Posted

I've been before and DH and I will be taking two granddaughters age 7 and 10 next March. The girls and I have talked about it and they know what to expect, so no surprizes. If they aren't comfortable in the water once we get there, I'm sure Grandpa will be more than happy to stay on the boat with them. That was where I found him last time. ;)

 

Beth

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Chudley

Chudley

Posted
Posted

Hi Trish, re: people getting emotional. I've read some of your threads and I not flaming you here but you seem to be the only one really emotional. You're probably doing it unintentionally, but when you use so many exclamation marks in your post, it looks like you're very angry. If you will notice the replies to your questions are not punctuated in the same way. By that, I mean, everyone on your threads appear to calmer than you. Just something to think about is all. Chud

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kujobie

kujobie

Posted
Posted

My daughter was 11 the first time we went, she was a little scared at first but was holding the rays within 30 minutes. No one knows your kids better than you do and all kids are diferrent. I will admit it is a little intimidating, even for an adult or older kid. These aren't like the little rays at your local aquarium. The sting rays are 3-4 feet wide and not afraid of humans at all. They do figure eight's thru your legs like a freaking cat! Depending on the age of the child, just try to reassure them ahead of time that all is good and don't be disappointed if he/she wimps out at the last minute. It is just as awesome to watch them from the boat. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was a life changing experience. I wouldn't miss it.

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01Sweetpea Great Review Rare

01Sweetpea

Posted
Posted

We are going in July 05, and have been deciding about taking our kids (12,9,9) on this excursion. I know the 12yo will be fine, it's the 9yos, esp my son who I think we be a little freaked. I think we are going to book our own excursion, and do a sting ray/snorkel combo. This way DH & I can swim with the rays, if the kids want to great, if not they can hang-out on the boat and watch, then snorkel when we get to the next stop.

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MelBCroozer

MelBCroozer

Posted
Posted

My daughters were 7 & 11 when they first went to Stingray City. The 11 year old got right into it, but the 7 yr old stayed on my hip. We went back their last year, and both girls, 10 & 14 now, loved it. We had a 4yr old with us and the guide from Capt. Marvins brought the stingray up to the boat for him to touch since he was afraid of the water.

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L2J

L2J

Posted
Posted
Anyone take young children to stingray city in grand cayman? How did it go? Lets see if we can not get so emotional this time!!!!!

No not yet, but I do play on doing that next time in GC.

 

The search feature "does" work.:rolleyes:

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kujobie

kujobie

Posted
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I have always and would continue to book stingray city thru the cruise line. It is one of the few excursions I do that way, for a couple reasons. First, Grand Cayman is a tendered port. It is THE most often missed port in the caribbean due to rough seas. If the sea is just mildy wavy, the tender boats will not transport passengers to shore resulting in a missed port. In that case, if you book thru the ship, you will not be charged anything for the missed excursion. If you choose to book in advance with a private operator, get it in writing that you will not be charged if the ship misses the port. Your other option is to book with a private operator at the port which is easy to do. My second reason for booking thru the ship is this. If you have an early a.m. excursion booked thru the ship, you are given priority to board one of the first tenders off the ship. This gives you an hour or two advantage over other passengers which is a big bonus in a port which is usually only 6-8 hours. You will be on one of the first boats out to stingray city and will have have the complete, undivided attention of 50-75 large, beautiful stingrays. By the time you leave, there will be 10-15 other boats there loaded with people competing for their attention. You will then have a lot more time for shopping and sightseeing, etc. There are some who have said they were able to "sneak" on an early tender without an excursion booked thru the ship but I can honestly tell you I saw more than one group of people turned away because they didn't have excursion tickets. GC is usually a short port, 6-8 hours and the extra time and "Private" experience with the sting rays was well worth the extra $5 or so per person spent booking thru Carnival.

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serene56

serene56

Posted
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All of the private tour operators that are reviewed on the port of calls board will give you a refund back if its a missed port. Also they will wait-since they know about the tenders. (not hours mind you= but a reasonable amount of time.

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RWolver672

RWolver672

Posted
Posted

Just out of curosity, does anyone know if the rays are still being fed seeing how the island was severely damaged and the ships don't stop there now. My wife and I have talked about that and have never seen anything on it. It would be a shame if these poor creatures were left to fend for themselves after being hand fed for so many years. Would they move on to another spot or stay put? Just curious.

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L2J

L2J

Posted
Posted
Just out of curosity, does anyone know if the rays are still being fed seeing how the island was severely damaged and the ships don't stop there now. My wife and I have talked about that and have never seen anything on it. It would be a shame if these poor creatures were left to fend for themselves after being hand fed for so many years. Would they move on to another spot or stay put? Just curious.

I haven't a clue but think about it...even though they are "used to humans" they are still wild creatures and this isn't the first time GC has been hit with a hurricane. I'm sure they are and will be just fine.

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sbrailey

sbrailey

Posted
Posted

I took my daughter 2 years ago. She and I LOVED it! We booked it thru Shore Trips (http://www.shoretrips.com) and it was terrific. Small boat, 3 snorkel stops and all in the reverse order of the cruise excursions, so there were no crowds. We were able to walk to the office to start the trip and had plenty of time. It was great. Plus it was cheaper than the excursion on Norweigan. and not crowded. Go for it.

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cruisinqt

cruisinqt

Posted
Posted

According to Matteo at Cayman Island Marketing, ( he lives on the island and runs a tour company), he has posted on the ports of call section under Cayman Islands here on the boards, the stingrays are just fine now. At first, there were just a few but as soon as the locals started feeding them they all came back. Just keep in mind that many of the local Caymanians run tours that depend on the stingrays, so their first priority would be to ensure that the stingrays are okay and they can still do tours there. Matteo was concerned too, because he runs a tour company that offers stingray tours. If they couldn't offer stingray tours to the tourists, it would hurt their company financially. He said he was concerned at first, but now they are all back and just fine. The local Cayman gov't was concerned too and it was discussed at their meeting. If you want to know more go to www.caymannetnews.com, it's the website for a Cayman news organization and I've found it very informative.

 

As far as going with the Carnival tour or using someone locally, either way will work. If you read the reviews CCers are posting in the ports of call section under Cayman Islands, all of the really fantastic reviews are from CCers who have used local tour companies, not Carnival.:) No one had a problem tendering out in time for their 9:00 a.m. tour with a local company. No one had a problem getting back to the ship in time after using a local tour company. Plus, they weren't crowded into a bus with a huge Carnival tour group. No, they went with a small mom and pop joint where the groups were small and they got tons of personalized attention. In fact, most of them reported that the local tour company gave them the choice of being dropped back off at the pier or being dropped off at 7 mile beach.

 

Kujobie is wrong about the Carnival shore excursion prices being only $5 more per person than a local tour operator. I have my shore excursion price list from my last cruise and the stingray tour provided by Carnival is $49 for adults and $35 for kids. We booked with a local tour operator that came highly recommended here at Cruise Critic and it only cost $24 per person. So let's be accurate and say that local tour operators are HALF THE PRICE of what Carnival charges.:rolleyes:

 

I for one, am using a local tour company to do my stingray excursion based on all of the great reviews I've read here at CC. In fact, we leave this afternoon for our cruise in New Orleans Sunday. My TA, as well as Cruise Critic is saying that the Conquest is one of the first ships scheduled to visit Grand Cayman since Ivan hit it. If all goes according to plan, we should be there next week.:D I am booked with Soto's, a local tour company that has come highly recommended here at the Cruise Critic message boards. I promise to do a review as soon as I come back.

 

If any of you want to check out the local tour operators that CCers have been recommending, here they are:

 

www.nativewaywatersports.com

 

www.sotoscruises.com

 

www.captainmarvins.com

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kujobie

kujobie

Posted
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I stand corrected. It's been a year and a half since I was there. At that time Carnival was charging $35 for adults and $27 for kids. The best price we saw at port was $30/25, so I wasn't lying, things have just changed I guess and we didn't shop around since we already had booked thru the ship. $50 per person is a lot. If that't what it is now, I might even change my reccomendation although I still liked being first off the ship.

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kfgarrow

kfgarrow

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I agree with cruisinqt that a private operator is the way to go. We booked through Nativeway and were extremely pleased. The cost was just $25, we were able to get on the second tender boat by getting our tender tickets early, Nativeway met us at the pier and we were in a small group of 15. Nativeway gave us tons of personal attention, especially my children (9 and 11) who were very leery of the rays.

 

Our boat was the nicest one at Stingray City. Some of the ship's tour boats were so packed they looked like Haitian refugees. One boat had so many people they left someone behind in the water! Our guide had to radio the other boat to come get their stranded passenger. Yikes!

 

We did not pay until we were onboard our boat, so no fears about cancellations for weather. Go with a local operator. You won't regret it.

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