Fat Fish Adventures vs. Island Marketing

[violetsmile]

I think I've narrowed my GC excursion down to one of these two companies. Here's my initial comparison:

 

Fat Fish Island Marketing

Cost $175/two people $140/two people

Time 2.5 hours 2 hours

Activities Jet Ski Jet Ski

Sting Rays Sting Rays

Snorkel @ a reef Beach

 

 

Even though Fat Fish costs more, I definitely want to snorkel, so I'm leaning that direction; we should have the time to hit a beach on our own before or after the excursion. It looks like Island Marketing gives you snorkel equipment for looking at the rays, but not a reef. Can someone who has done this comment on whether you snorkeling as part of the jet ski excursion with IM?

 

I'd be interested in any feedback about these two excursions as I'm comparing them. I've read a lot of reviews on here and TA, and I'm wondering if my interpretation of the differences is correct!

[violetsmile]

I think I've narrowed my GC excursion down to one of these two companies. Here's my initial comparison:

 

Fat Fish Island Marketing

Cost $175/two people $140/two people

Time 2.5 hours 2 hours

Activities Jet Ski Jet Ski

Sting Rays Sting Rays

Snorkel @ a reef Beach

 

Even though Fat Fish costs more, I definitely want to snorkel, so I'm leaning that direction; we should have the time to hit a beach on our own before or after the excursion. It looks like Island Marketing gives you snorkel equipment for looking at the rays, but not a reef. Can someone who has done this comment on whether you snorkeling as part of the jet ski excursion with IM?

 

I'd be interested in any feedback about these two excursions as I'm comparing them. I've read a lot of reviews on here and TA, and I'm wondering if my interpretation of the differences is correct!

 

Grr...my comparison table was lost in posting: Here's what the info should look like:

 

Fat Fish

$175/two people

2.5 hours

Activities include Jet Ski, Sting Rays, Snorkel @ a reef

 

Island Marketing

$140/two people

2 hours

Activities include Jet Ski, Sting Rays, Beach

[cb at sea]

You can rent a jetski/waverunner on the beach...you don't need an excursion to do that!

[bookbabe]

You can rent a jetski/waverunner on the beach...you don't need an excursion to do that!

 

You can rent a jetski to just randomly ride around on along Seven Mile Beach for half an hour or so, but you cannot rent one there to go out to Stingray City. As a visitor wanting to visit Stingray City, you really need to go with an excursion...or a local friend with jetskis who knows how to get there... :D

[World Gallery]

We just returned and used Island Marketing for their jetski tour. The reason I choose it over Fat Fish was because I didn't want the ride through the mangroves and wanted a stop at Rum Point. This is what we did (it ended up taking 2.5 hours for the actual water time, which they say is 2 hours beach to beach, but they didn't charge us more):

About 4 mile ride to the stingray sandbar. We did have to tell the guy to bring the snorkeling gear because we did want to snorkel with the stingrays but that ended up not being a big deal. The fun part was standing there while the rays rub their bodies on you as if they were begging for food. We had about 20 min. there. Then we rode to Rum Point. The guy, Leon, didn't tell us not to order lunch or how long we would be there so we ordered lunch. I think it was supposed to be a quicker stop. We were there about 30 min.(lunch came fast) We were out of time but we asked if we could make the stop at Starfish Point (it is in the info they give) and it was no problem. It was about a 15 min stop and we got some great pictures of my kids holding starfish. Then we went back and my kids swam at the pool at the resort you start and end from for about 30 min and then our ride came at 2:30. So basically, we started at 10:30 meeting our driver off the tender and were picked up at 2:30, so 4 hours total. The last tender was at 3:30 so we had about 45 min. to shop right by the tender. It was a great day.

[ibcnusoon]

We did the jet ski tour with Island Marketing too. The trip was the highlight of our entire cruise! We took their taxi from the port to the resort. Because we were waiting for others to arrive by taxi we had about 15 or 20 minutes to enjoy the resort. My kids were in HEAVEN, no not because of the pool but because the resort had free wi-fi. They brought their ipads and itouches and were able to connect with friends during that time. Saved me money from buying internet time on the ship right there! Also, for the price, it was rather inexpensive since we were jet sking, snorkeling, AND Stingray City for about the same price as taking an overcrowded boat to Stingray City.

 

Once everyone arrived, they asked us if we wanted to snorkel the reef or go to Rum Point. I wanted to go to Rum Point and the others in our party wanted to snorkel the reef. No problem, after the stingray excursion they would separate our group, one going to the reef the others going to Rum Point. They gave us all snorkel masks and fins, just in case we wanted to snorkel off of Rum Point.

 

Once we were done with Stingray City, my kids really wanted to snorkel the reef instead of Rum Point. No problem, they took us all to the reef to snorkel. Amazing reef, much better than Tabyana in Roatan, which is supposed to be better!

 

The entire crew handling the excursion through Island Marketing were wonderful, I highly recommend them.

 

Our excursion also lasted 2-1/2 to 3 hours, not the 2 hours listed on the website, more for us to enjoy! They did ask when the last tender was and were aware of the time. Very professional group. Oh, and by the way, I priced renting a jetski on other islands to take out where you go around in a circle just off the beach and it was $60 for a 1/2 hour. You can't beat the price and what Island Marketing offers! Would do this same excursion again!

[KG1924]

We used Fat Fish Adventures this past September and we absolutely loved it!!! We were the first group out and we went through the mangroves on the way out (really just a ride through them....nothing too exciting) and then we stopped at Starfish beach (which was very cool-I've never touched a live starfish before) Then we stopped for some snorkeling over a reef. Not a ton of fish but we did see some. And a very large stingray. Somebody in the group claimed they saw a barracuda, but I'm not sure if that's what they actually saw. Then on to Stingray city. It was nice because our guide kept us off to the side a bit and we focused on just one stingray. My husband was not a fan of being around them, where as I absolutely loved it and even held the food bag in hopes to get more around me! Then he gave us some "free time" to kind of mess around on the jet skis. It was a ton of fun!

 

Only thing I would change would be to get on the later tour. I was stressing before we got to Grand Cayman that we would over sleep or miss the first tender over (which obviously didn't happen) Plus I had read on here that the later tour has a bit more flexibility with their time and what they want to do. Another positive is I guess the later tour is a little less crowded around Stingray City...I don't know that as a fact but others had reported that when we were researching.

 

Overall, we really liked the entire thing. The van picked us up just a short walk from the pier and dropped us off as scheduled. The other couple with us wanted to go to Seven Mile beach, so the driver just dropped us off then kept going w/ the other couple (not sure if he charged them extra or not-we just tipped him when we got out) I would also advise to bring some sort of towel or something to dry off and leave it in the van. I was very wet and felt bad dripping all over the van!! It's a beautiful island and the jet skis are a great way to see some of it. I don't think you can go wrong with either company. :)

[PlanoTim]

We used Fat Fish Adventures this past September and we absolutely loved it!!! We were the first group out and we went through the mangroves on the way out (really just a ride through them....nothing too exciting) and then we stopped at Starfish beach (which was very cool-I've never touched a live starfish before) Then we stopped for some snorkeling over a reef. Not a ton of fish but we did see some. And a very large stingray. Somebody in the group claimed they saw a barracuda, but I'm not sure if that's what they actually saw. Then on to Stingray city. It was nice because our guide kept us off to the side a bit and we focused on just one stingray. My husband was not a fan of being around them, where as I absolutely loved it and even held the food bag in hopes to get more around me! Then he gave us some "free time" to kind of mess around on the jet skis. It was a ton of fun!

 

Only thing I would change would be to get on the later tour. I was stressing before we got to Grand Cayman that we would over sleep or miss the first tender over (which obviously didn't happen) Plus I had read on here that the later tour has a bit more flexibility with their time and what they want to do. Another positive is I guess the later tour is a little less crowded around Stingray City...I don't know that as a fact but others had reported that when we were researching.

 

Overall, we really liked the entire thing. The van picked us up just a short walk from the pier and dropped us off as scheduled. The other couple with us wanted to go to Seven Mile beach, so the driver just dropped us off then kept going w/ the other couple (not sure if he charged them extra or not-we just tipped him when we got out) I would also advise to bring some sort of towel or something to dry off and leave it in the van. I was very wet and felt bad dripping all over the van!! It's a beautiful island and the jet skis are a great way to see some of it. I don't think you can go wrong with either company. :)

 

We also did the Jet Ski tour through Fat Fish Adventures. I highly recommend them. We took the later tour (11:30, I think) and it worked great. We didn't have to rush off the ship and had time to stroll around the port area before being picked up for the tour. Afterwards our driver (the Fat Fish owner) dropped us off at a bar near the port where we had time for a couple of drinks before heading back to the ship.

 

As for the Jet Ski tour, we had a blast. Headed through the mangroves on the way to the Stingray City. Then some nice snorkeling at a nearby reef - plenty of coral and fish. Next was a stop at a sandy point that has starfish. then back to end the tour. The excursion had just 5 people on three Jet Skis. Our guide was very good and made the excursion fun.

Tim

[Asil65]

Our group of 10 just booked with Fat fish for our Christmas cruise. We are doing the 11 am tour. Glad to hear about the starfish area. Never been there before. Thinking that we will have the tour to ourselves which will be cool as well. I wondered how hard it would be driving through mangroves. I always think of roots and obstacles when I think of them. We have a couple of kids in our group who are a bit freaked out by the rays. The Steve Irwin accident really frightened my kids. Now I hope that we have no problem tendering that day. Loved the guy Pete who I talked to on the phone.

[nw2this]

About how much time do you actually spend on the waver runners with each tour?

 

What is the name of the resort that you visit with Island Marketing? Does it have a nice beach?

 

Note: Island Marketing is really not that much cheaper - they charge extra for transportation while Fat Fish includes transportion.

[bluesea4me]

Also. do you get off the jet ski's and if so, in how deep of water are you in when you have to climb back onto the jetski?

thanks in advance

[barthop]

Island Marketing is very cheap...and that is what you get at the end. We booked 2 excursions with them and would easily pay $10 more on an adventure to have good quality and safety...:)

[Asil65]

Also. do you get off the jet ski's and if so, in how deep of water are you in when you have to climb back onto the jetski?

thanks in advance

We used Fatfish at the end of December and really liked the tour. Yes ,you do have to get on the jetski in water where you cannot touch 12-15 feet deep. You climb on the back with one knee then pull yourself off. I went flying off the jet ski when I made too sharp of a turn and got side swiped by a wave. My 46 year old body was able to get on no problem.

[westcoastfun]

does anyone have pictures of these adventures either company?:rolleyes:

[nw2this]

I decided to go with Fat Fish. The price is only $10 higher for us if we include transport in the comparison. I like it because most of the time is spent in or on the water, I can go to 7 mile beach before or after if we want beach time. The pricey food and drinks at Rum Point don't interest us. Fat Fish is advertised as being longer 2.5 hours vs. 2 hours thru Island Marketing, although based on the reviews both are probably the same length.

 

I also decided that the Ramada Grand Caymanian resort that Island Marketing goes to was a not particularly appealing place to hang out. There is no sand beach, no hottub, no lively environment. The only appeal is the restrooms, pool, chairs and free wifi. If we did decide to hang out here the price of transport would be even higher than the $10pp round trip that Island Marketing charges. I can probably get this elsewhere without having to pay for additional transport.

[violetsmile]

It figures that I hadn't visited this thread in a while, and now see more Fat Fish positive reviews AFTER I put in my deposit for Island Marketing. I'm sure it'll be good, and there's no reason to get anxious...right? :)

[nw2this]

I haven't been yet so don't count my post as a review. A few people on my roll call were booking these so this is just rationale I used to make a decision before both sold out. I would have been happy with either.

 

The actual reviews are positive for both.