kruz Posted April 5, 2005 #1 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Can anyone give me some insite on the difference between these 2 tours? I would rather go with fewer people...I am thinking now that Native way is way overbooked and a huge company? Thanks in advance :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tango9 Posted April 5, 2005 #2 Share Posted April 5, 2005 We were just on Native way. The shorter tour was crowded, but we only had 12 on our longer tour. It was great. One snorkel stop, stingray stop, beach , lunch and lounging stop. $55 . The snorkel stop was actually near the stingrays but had great coral and fish, even a large moray eel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellgirl99 Posted April 5, 2005 #3 Share Posted April 5, 2005 I recommend Nativeway. We just did a tour with them to Stingray and it was great. We signed up online with Captain Bryant's & printed out our confirmation. Hadn't heard from them so we called & low and behold they lost our reservations & were booked and could not accomodate us, even with our printed confirmation. In a last ditch effort to go to Stingray we went through Nativeway & it worked out great. Maybe 12 - 15 people on the tour (compared with the TON of folks on the carnival excursion boat) & the guides totally took their time with you & were more than happy if not encouraging you to get as many pictures as you would like. Megan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unique Posted April 6, 2005 #4 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Junst returned from GC and we did Captain Bryan's. It was the best excursion we did and the cheapest! We signed up for the Bucaneer. We got off the ship and walked to the place following the directions in the email. It was a short walk. Once everyone arrived they put us in a van and drove us to the Catamaran. I would say it was a 15 min drive. Our van was the first to arrive. We were welcomed and because we were first got our choice of seats. We chose the back. After about 20 min when everyone was on we got going. We actually had Capt Bryan. There were about 30 people total. We were in the Catamaran for about 30 min and then we reached our first snorkeling stop. I guess we spent about 20 min there. After that we went to the sand bar where all the stingrays were. Captain Astor and another fellow got in and got a couple of stingrays. Everyone that wanted to got to hold and pet them and get pictures. We were there about 45 min. From there we went to the next stop for snorkeling. We were there about 20 min. After that the sail was put up and the bar was open (from my understanding this is the only one with a bar on board). The beer was $4.00 a can and sodas, water etc were $2.00. There is also a videographer aboard. She takes pictures on the boat and then puts on scuba gear and videotapes you underwater. You can purchase a DVD or VHS if you choose. The DVD price is 65.00. They mail it to your house and you get it approximately two weeks after the date you did the tour. I highly recommend Capt Bryan. It it very reasonable and enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhasa2go Posted April 6, 2005 #5 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Does anyone know if Capt. Bryan will drop you off at the Marriott. I know Nativeway will and I would like to spend sometime Jet Skiing afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhasa2go Posted April 6, 2005 #6 Share Posted April 6, 2005 What did you do with your personal belongings when you were on the boat going out to stingray city? Do you leave them in the van or bring everything with you. I was just wondering how wet everything gets if you planning on bringing maybe some dry clothes or money to tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micktooth Posted April 6, 2005 #7 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Just took nativeway last week and they had major problems. Very disorganized and unprofessional. They even took a van load of passengers through a drive thru burger king on the way to the boat because the driver, one of the owners was hungry.We had to wait for them to show up. Our tour was 2 hours late just getting started. When we were finished, they just dumped our group at the dock to wait for a van in 90degree heat. There was no communication and we had to wait over half an hour. I would not recommend them at all. They cannot handle the large influx of people from 7 cruise ships! As far as towels and clothes, we just left them on the boat and changed down below when we were done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zydecocruiser Posted April 6, 2005 #8 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Can anyone give me some insite on the difference between these 2 tours? I would rather go with fewer people...I am thinking now that Native way is way overbooked and a huge company? Thanks in advance :) Nativeway is NOT a huge company. Most of these are Mom & Pop type businesses. They are all just trying to make a living accomodating tourists. I was on Nativeway with 8 ships in port, and while there were a few more people on the boat than I thought there would be, we weren't crammed in like sardines. The bus was waiting for us at the beginning and at the end. There were people already on the boat when we go there - not sure what there story was. ALL of the boats had lots of people that day. Look at some of my pictures. Water (and I think they had punch or something) was FREE on Nativeway; no bar. The videographer sold DVDs for $55 ($50 + $5 for shipping). Mine should be arriving in the near future. There was no disorganization and they did drop me off at Marriott Courtyard afterwards. I've been to Stingray Sandbar four times, each time with a different operator, and there just isn't much difference between any of them. Some have different boat type and features, basically catamaran vs powerboat, and ALL can (and do) have an off day once in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unique Posted April 6, 2005 #9 Share Posted April 6, 2005 On Capt Bryan I just wore my swim suit and had a bag with shorts and a top I could slip over my suit. I left my bag on the boat. Nothing got wet. I had my money in a waterproof container but I rolled that up in the clothes and put it in the bag. They dropped us off downtown. I thought this trip was great and again, I highly recommend them. You can email Capt Bryan and ask about the drop off to the Mariott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruz Posted April 7, 2005 Author #10 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Nativeway is NOT a huge company. Most of these are Mom & Pop type businesses. They are all just trying to make a living accomodating tourists. I was on Nativeway with 8 ships in port, and while there were a few more people on the boat than I thought there would be, we weren't crammed in like sardines. The bus was waiting for us at the beginning and at the end. There were people already on the boat when we go there - not sure what there story was. ALL of the boats had lots of people that day. Look at some of my pictures. Water (and I think they had punch or something) was FREE on Nativeway; no bar. The videographer sold DVDs for $55 ($50 + $5 for shipping). Mine should be arriving in the near future. There was no disorganization and they did drop me off at Marriott Courtyard afterwards. I've been to Stingray Sandbar four times, each time with a different operator, and there just isn't much difference between any of them. Some have different boat type and features, basically catamaran vs powerboat, and ALL can (and do) have an off day once in a while. I would love to see your pictures! Where can i find them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruz Posted April 7, 2005 Author #11 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Thanks so much everyone for your inputs!!! I really appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setcarp Posted April 10, 2005 #12 Share Posted April 10, 2005 We are glad there we were on the Native way boat after I got sunburnt the day before and they catamaran had on shade at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zydecocruiser Posted April 10, 2005 #13 Share Posted April 10, 2005 I would love to see your pictures! Where can i find them? Sure. From the past two trips: Nativeway Mar 2005 and Soto's Nov 20004: zydecocruiser's Album:Valor - Grand Cayman zydecocruiser's Album:Conquest 11/7/04 Zydeco Cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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