Stingray City - Grand Cayman

[gchamber]

Looking to go on a stringray city tour. Need any information good or bad on who I can contact to schedule one. My wife is afraid of missing the ship if don't book it with the cruise line. We will be on the Freedom of the Sea March 31 2013. Thanks

[Cshgrand]

Stingray sailing were brilliant. There was time for some people who wanted to to be dropped at the beach at the end of our tour.

Highlight was the small group which mean we got a better experience with the stingray.

[Daycare Provider]

We have used Native Way water sports twice..Great time..we would use them again tomorrow.

 

 

Angela

[Jevsy]

Can recommend highly Captain Marvin. He took us snorkelling first then to the stingrays to allow the ships tours to go away first!

Lotsa info given by them en route. Dropped us off at a restaurant on the way back to ship which was fabulous!

[ERIE 13]

Booked with the ship and its a good thing we did. Got tied up with traffic coming back and we were very late. We were the last tender back and as soon as the tender was out of the water the ship was moving. One of the best places to visit and experience.

[micmacmissy]

We also booked Captain Marvin based on recommendations from this site. We also booked the early tour of the day- I also get nervous about missing the ship!

[micmacmissy]

We also booked Captain Marvin based on recommendations from this site. We also booked the early tour of the day- I also get nervous about missing the ship!

[billyelliot]

We also did Captain Marvin about 7/8 yrs ago. Was brilliant. :D

[funfamilyof6]

Another vote for Nativeway which included lunch, snorkeling spot, and Rum Point Beach, one of our best excursions ever! They even took our lunch order on the boat so it was ready for us when we got to Rum Point. I think it was $65 which we felt was a bargain. :)

[FOXTROT]

We have used Nativeway about 10 times. We have always had a great time. Nativeway & others conduct these tours every day. They do not let anyone miss the ship. We were on a tour with several "we will miss the ship" nut cases. They started in the minute the bus picked them up. They kept it up the entire tour. They should stay on the ship.

[Huntermedal]

We have done Capt Marvin's 3 times, always the early half day tour.

Cost I believe is $38 per person.

They have always had us back with plenty of time to catch tender back.

Highly recommend.

[Ronsangel]

We just got off the Freedom on Sunday, and booked our stingray tour with Stingray Sailing (http://www.stingraysailing.com/) and would HIGHLY recommend them. They are very conscious about ship departure times, and make sure they get you back with plenty of time.

The owners Chip and Michelle are wonderfully helpful, and make sure that everyone enjoys their experience. They only accommodate 29 people, so the group is small and intimate and so is the service you receive. They're so good with the stingrays, people from other groups started coming over to our group area to enjoy the dozens of rays swimming around us.

The catamaran is a beautiful way to travel as well...lots of room to spread out, and lots of spots to sit either outside or under a canopy.

I can't recommend this company enough!!!

[Mango Tango]

Another vote for Nativeway which included lunch, snorkeling spot, and Rum Point Beach, one of our best excursions ever! They even took our lunch order on the boat so it was ready for us when we got to Rum Point. I think it was $65 which we felt was a bargain. :)

We did this tour with Nativeway in 2009 and enjoyed it so much we are doing it again in January. You don't even have to put a down payment when you make the reservations online with Nativeway. I think the tour is $62.50 pp.

[ctcruiser1721]

I have done this twice through the ship. Would probably book an Indy tour next time. I went when I was a newbie and didn't know better. You will love the it, though. The rays are very interactive and feel like velvet brushing up against you. One of my most memorable cruise moments!

[Diffuser87]

We booked through the ship this past September and had a blast! We had about 45 minutes to an hour there and back with 45 minutes in the water with the stingrays. We had about 20-30 people on our boat, however our captain took us a little bit away from the larger crowd. If you are just wanting the stingray city experience I found the ships prices to be fairly comparable to independent vendors. Now if you do want the snorkeling and a more personalized experience I would go with one of the independent tours.

[lori450]

Nativeway - 4 times, even brought our roll call with us once. They comped us for bringing so many people and being a repeat customer. Always a good time, always great things to see

[Boracay_Soul]

Hello, I also sailed on the Freedom a few years back and after some extensive research also chose Captain Marvin as well. I actually called them to book and was reassured personally that they would have me back to the ship in time. Not to mention if the weather is inclement and no tendering can be done than I would receive a full refund. If I can recall it was also significantly cheaper than booking through the cruise ship especailly with a family of 5. It was an excellent tour that also combined snorkelling with a trip to Stingray city. This definitely was a highlight of our cruise. It was also a bit more intimate as you do see the cruisehip tours on the sandbar with a LOT of people on their tour. We kept our distance from them and we had maybe 20 people total on our boat. Plus the tour guides were great with our kids. We arrived back in plenty of time close to port. The only drawback was there was not enough time to do a beach thing. I would have loved to do 7 mile beach or even better gone to Rum point. I'm sailing on the Allure next month and the only drawback is that the ports this size ship goes to does not include Grand Caymen. An incentive to head back to a smaller ship! Enjoy your trip.:)

[CruzieSue]

We were very pleased with Moby Dick - http://www.mobydicktours.com. They are very conscious of the ship and tender times. They don't require payment until you actually get there.

[captain bob]

lots of fun - private is better than a ship tour.

[JMG]

We did the tour with Captain Marvin...also due to recommendations from CC. It was a small group and we got out to the site before many of the others arrived. The ship tour boat must have a large crowd on board. It was nice being part of a small group. The guides got us into the water. Caught 2 stingrays and allowed anyone that wanted to hold the stingray and have a photo taken...either your own camera or theirs$$$. We also got a video from them of our trip for additional $$$ but well worth the cost.

 

After Stingray City we stopped to do some snorkeling and then back to the pier. We were on the early tour. Had time to shop after the trip. They are reliable getting you back in time because they know that their business comes from recommendations from the internet. If they do not get people back on time...they will get reviews and no business!

[yoshi]

We did the stingray sandbar and snorkeling excursion with Stingray Sailing a few years ago, and are booked in a few weeks again. They got us back to the dock with plenty of time to shop/lunch etc.

We had a small group at the sandbar area & watched very large groups from ship excursions at a distance-way better in a small group.

[gchamber]

Thanks for everyone's comments. One more question regarding Grand Cayman. Is the TIME. Our ship FOS is getting in port (April2013) 8am-4pm. So what is Cayman time? 7:00am?

[sweetp0618]

Another vote for Stingray Sailing. We went in October and had a great time. There were only 5 passengers and two crew--so we had lots of personal attention. We were a little scared at first, but the crew eased us into it and never pushed us into doing something we weren't comfortable with.

[Ronsangel]

Thanks for everyone's comments. One more question regarding Grand Cayman. Is the TIME. Our ship FOS is getting in port (April2013) 8am-4pm. So what is Cayman time? 7:00am?

 

Grand Cayman is currently on the same time as the Freedom...we just got off it a few weeks ago. So 8am on the Freedom is 8am on Grand Cayman. They don't observe daylight savings time, so in the spring this will change, but for now, the time is the same.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[Trekker954]

we ar going with Sun Ray Tours. They limited the number of people to 25. Will do stingray city, snorkling stop and lunch. They say we'll be back in plenty of time if we want to be dropped off at the beach, or ship....just to let them know. They took cc info, but only if you are a no show, other than that, you pay once you get on board.