Times for Excursions

[EnTnSA]

I have a question to you seasoned cruisers.

 

In Grand Cayman, we were wanting to go through Captain Marvin's for the stingray city tour, as well as the turtle farm.

 

they have a trip out at 0830 and coming back at 1430. According to my ship itinerary we arrive in Grand Cayman at 0730 and leave at 1600. Which means id have 1hr to get to the tour office in the morning, and 1.5hrs to get back on the ship in the afternoon. Is that cutting it too close?

 

Do you know if the itinerary recieved from Orbitz/Carnival is given with the local time of the port? Would i have enough time to get to the tour office, and then back on the ship at the end of the day with the times listed above?

 

Thanks!

[vmom]

Frankly I think its cutting it too close in the morning. The ship arrives at 7:30, but that doesn't mean that that is when you will be able to get off the ship. The ship will not start disembarking untill about 30 minutes after arrival.

 

Added to that, Grand Cayman is a tender port. That means that you will not be able to just go off a ramp and be on the island. The passengers will be taken to land on small boats used for that purpose. Tendering on the small boats can take a while since everyone is anxious to go ashore and there are usually lines. Then it takes awhile to get each tender loaded and unloaded.

 

Most cruise lines usually tender passengers who have booked on excursions from the cruise line first before passengers who do not have excursions booked or those who have booked with a private company.

 

Also, make sure that when the cruise line is saying 7:30 and the excursion company is saying 8:30, they are talking about times on the same time zone.

Some cruise lines match the island/port time, some stay on Florida time so sometimes there is a difference.

[GizmoCat]

I would suggest you contact the tour company direct. We are just back and did a Stingray city trip with Moby Dick. They were good at clarifying that their trip time of 9.30 was actually ships time of 10.30. Even if you don't book anything beforehand, when you get into the port the entrance is full of operators offering their trips which you can just sign up for on the day.