Which Stingray City tour?

[el820]

We made reservations with Rowan Water Sports for the Stingray & Coral Gardens and the Island Tour. We'll be doing the Island Tour then the Stingray City afterwards. Cost is $55 per adult, $30 per child and my younger one is free since is only 2.

 

Polo responded to all my inquiries promptly. A deposit is not required so we just pay cash when we are done with the excursion.

[seashells bonita]

We used Moby Dick in December and were very happy. Mark and his crew were fantastic. It's a smaller boat and they go to a reef for snorkeling that's amazing. One of the crew coaxed a moray eel from the rocks and plays with it and feeds it. You can tell he does this daily! The stingrays also were amazing. They have plenty of squid for you to feed them and they gladly help you hold, feed and even kiss them, if you're up to it. I would highly recommend it.

[photomuggle]

Another vote for rowanwatersports.com. Excellent service, itinerary, photography. Two thumbs up, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up.

[jty1220]

I will be in a group of 6 people and we are trying to decide who to use???????? We have never been to Grand Cayman. How far from the port will Captain marvain/Stingray sailings be?

[thesawch]

By far the best to go with is Stingraysailing dot com.it was the best excursion we ever been on in 4 cruises.not crowed and its on a catamaran with a washroom on board.cold beer and comp water and fruit after. a/c bus to and from the port.

[thesawch]

By far the best to go with is Stingraysailing dot com.it was the best excursion we ever been on in 4 cruises.not crowed and its on a catamaran with a washroom on board.cold beer and comp water and fruit after. a/c bus to and from the port.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kADRJmILCB0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8P0BLb6Vm0

[DanAnna]

Thanks everyone for all your input! We're going to go with Stingraysailing April 6th. Looking forward to it!

[thesawch]

Thanks everyone for all your input! We're going to go with Stingraysailing April 6th. Looking forward to it!

You won't be sorry,They are great people and great boat.

[KrAzYGaL]

I've been to cayman several times both on cruise ships and stay over and have done captain marvins captain brians, sotos and gone out privately to sting ray city. They each put on a great tour with much smaller group and individual attention than the cruise excursions. You and your family will have a great time!

 

For anyone else that is interested you can usually get a snorkel trip to stingray city/reef on the dock when you get off the ship in the morning too. I did this the last time (we decided at last minute to go) and did not call make reservation ahead with anyone.

[jty1220]

has anyone ever used Island Marketing for grand Cayman? Especially the Stingray City Hannibal Catamaran Excursion or Grand Cayman Stingray City Sandbar Buccaneer Excursion

[jtdlmc]

We used Nativeway for the Stingray, Coral Garden and Starfish tour and we were not at all impressed. The stringray portion was really good - they made sure everyone had several chances to interact with the large stingrays. The guides on the boat were great. The "coral gardens" were a few clumps of what looked to be dead coral - a few fish - we had better snorkeling off the beach at other ports. It was extremely rough and we couldn't get far from the boat, so maybe that's why we didn't see much, but that being the case, I think they should've maybe cancelled the other portions of the tour since we could not really snorkel - most of the time we were fighting the waves to get back to the boat. We only had about 15 minutes of snorkeling time at both the coral garden and starfish spot, I assume because they were trying to make up time.

 

I specifically booked this tour as it was to be finished at 12:15 and would leave us a couple of hours to tour Grand Caymen around the port area. We left 30 minutes past the original tour time, then after all the stops, we went to Rum Point to drop three people off, so we ended up having about 45 minutes to explore the city. The Rum Point excursion is usually a separate tour but I guess because they only had three going on it, they put them on our boat and made the original tour much longer. I felt bad for the three going to Rum Point as well, since the Rum Point tour should've given them over 2 hours at Rum Point, but that wouldn't have been the case - I'd be surprised if they even had time to eat their lunch!

 

One other thing I noticed - while at the stingray sandbar the guides always made sure they got in the way of someone trying to take pictures of others interacting with the stingrays - there was no way you could get a picture - so the only option people had was to buy their computer disc of pictures for $25 for one picture on the disc or $50 for all of the pictures.

[greenhaven]

Thanks everyone for all your input! We're going to go with Stingraysailing April 6th. Looking forward to it!

 

 

Will you be on Royal freedom ship?

[DanAnna]

Will you be on Royal freedom ship?

 

We're sailing on Carnival Freedom out of Ft. Lauderdale April 3rd.

[jty1220]

By far the best to go with is Stingraysailing dot com.it was the best excursion we ever been on in 4 cruises.not crowed and its on a catamaran with a washroom on board.cold beer and comp water and fruit after. a/c bus to and from the port.

 

Right now i think we are leaning towards them.

[thesawch]

Stingraysailing.com encourages you to take pics with your own camera.We were in the water and Michelle the owner was taking pictures with everyones camera that was not waterproof.She got some great pictures for us at no charge. On our excursion they were not selling any pictures at all so I am not sure if they do that. My wife has a waterproof camera and I took the videos with it of the stingrays.Chip the other half of stingrays sailing was holding the stingrays for us so we could get some great pictures with our camera in the water.A couple of videos we took with our $100 fuiji waterprrof camera with Stingraysailing.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8P0BLb6Vm0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kADRJmILCB0

[cookmg40]

Can someone tell me which tour is the closest to the pier? My DH really dislikes driving in a bus on any island and we try to take catamaran excursions that are either at the same pier/dock area as the ship or at least the closest to it. This also avoids making stops along the way to pick up other passengers.

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

Thanks.

[nw2this]

Rowan Watersports is definitely the cheapest. If you book ahead, they only charge $30 per person, and kids under the age of 4 are free. Their boats are not crowded at all, we only had 13 people on our stingray excursion a couple of weeks ago. They have 2 stops, one at stingray sandbar, and the other at coral gardens. The stingrays were amazing, and since there were only 13 of us on the boat, we got to spend extra time with the stingrays. Also, the snorkelling at coral garderns was some of the best I have ever done! Highly recommend

 

rowanwatersports.com

 

Rowan sounds interesting. How is the trip that includes a city tour? I like it that they include so many stops, but it sounds rushed to stop so many different places in 2.5 hours. I wonder if the 2.5 hours is a typo.

[oracer]

cookmg40 - Use stingraysailings.com. They pick you up at the ships dock and then take you right back there (across from the shopping mall). Hardly any walking at all. Air-conditioned van, everything first class.

[2wheelin]

Traveling with BIL who has mobility problems. He cannot maneuver a ladder for boarding a boat. Which of these operators would you recommend to have a boat with steps or ramp.

[LilTink13]

Rowan sounds interesting. How is the trip that includes a city tour? I like it that they include so many stops, but it sounds rushed to stop so many different places in 2.5 hours. I wonder if the 2.5 hours is a typo.

 

It looks like the new trend is for these tour companies to take pictuers and try and sell you a CD. Since I have a very nice underwater and regular digital camera, I'd rather be able to take my own. Any tour companies out there that aren't going to pressure me to buy their photos or waste my time taking my picture? So far it looks like Rowan and Native's way do the whole picture thing....

[kiraryker]

Traveling with BIL who has mobility problems. He cannot maneuver a ladder for boarding a boat. Which of these operators would you recommend to have a boat with steps or ramp.

 

I wonder this also

[gatec1008]

Rowan Watersports is definitely the cheapest. If you book ahead, they only charge $30 per person, and kids under the age of 4 are free. Their boats are not crowded at all, we only had 13 people on our stingray excursion a couple of weeks ago. They have 2 stops, one at stingray sandbar, and the other at coral gardens. The stingrays were amazing, and since there were only 13 of us on the boat, we got to spend extra time with the stingrays. Also, the snorkelling at coral garderns was some of the best I have ever done! Highly recommend

 

rowanwatersports.com

 

We're considering using Rowan for our trip in December but the email communication with them so far has been concerning. Did you have any troubles contacting them prior to booking? Our last email to them was sent a few days ago and we still have not heard back. Also, they changed their price in between our email exchanges which is kind of annoying. We're wondering how others' experience have been with this company. Just want to make sure they deliver excellent service if we decide to book with them.

[amantalv]

Toured with Moby Dick last week. Very cool operation. Easy and fun. The boat itself has drop down steps off the back of it.

[Footnotes coach]

Chip was AWESOME! His knowledge and personality made for a fabulous outing. Plus, he has a few tricks up his sleeve that that really enhance the experience.

[cookmg40]

I haven't posted on this thread in a long time. We were in Grand Cayman in April and ultimately decided on a Waverunner Stingray City Tour Operated by Island Marketing LTD Cayman. It was the best excursion we have ever done!!

 

They offer a pickup at the pier and drive you to a resort about 20 minutes away. Once at the resort, you meet up with the waverunner tour right at the beach. The groups are no more than 6-8 waverunners at a time. You can go single or double and the waverunners were brand new and in great condition. The tour operators were fun and informative. It's about a twenty minute ride to the stingray city sandbar. You get to interact with the stingrays for about 30 minutes and then take a ride to a beach resort. After spending about 20-30 minutes on the beach, you ride back to the original resort.

 

All in all, it was about two hours on the waverunners and well worth the $140 cost for two on the waverunner.

 

I highly recommend this tour. I will say I was sore for a few days afterward as it had been a few years since I was on a waverunner. It helps to be in shape! This type of tour is not for everyone.

 

Marilyn