Need excursion advice and recommendations

[suzybeezy]

Going to Key West, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios in September. Both my friend and I have some degree of mobility issues. We can walk, but we aren't able to do everything our other fellow travel friends can do (like we probably won't be scuba diving). I had foot surgery a year ago, and I have to baby my foot - it swells after too much walking, then I start limping and it puts strain on my lower back. I can go on it, recently did NYC and Vegas, which both are alot of walking, but I do take it into consideration when planning my activities. My friend has back and leg issues (neuropathy and degenerative disc disease). Again she can walk, but we still take it into consideration. While she's very thin, I'm on the "plump" side, so I also take that into consideration (for example - climbing back into a boat on a small little ladder may prove a bit challenging).

 

Its for these reasons I'm big on pre-planning. After reading several threads on this board, I see that its probably best to not book excursions through Carnival (for cost and size of crowd reasons) but directly through excursion provider. I've been browsing this forum and would love your recommendations on a tour operator, tour experience you think we'd be able to handle. My friend said she'd love to do to the sting rays and maybe snorkeling (but I don't know what that all entails) and she loves to shop. I'm all about taking in as much of the atmosphere/culture as I can and I must visit the beaches - at least one but would prefer not being cramped into an overcrowded beach.

 

I realize I'm on the Grand Cayman sub-forum, but if you have recommendations for Ocho Rios (cause we know we can't do Dunn's Falls), please post them too. We don't need any for Key West as one of our friends is from there and is going to be our tour guide. :)

 

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

[cb at sea]

GC is easy to do on your own. Beaches are free...buses are cheap and there's very little walking from the road (where the bus lets your off) to the actual beach. Beaches are narrow and close to the road! Shopping is across from the tender dock...again, an easy walk.

 

A ship's excursion (if you want an excursion) really isn't the "cattle drive" that you think it is. That's absolutely the easiest, most stress free way to do things with a guide. You show up when and where they tell you...and they take it from there. No time issues, no "plans" that you need to make. The ship's guides do it all.

[suzybeezy]

Yeah I was thinking maybe do a ship's excursion in Ocho Rios and on our own in Grand Cayman - beaches and shopping. But I know she really wants to do the string rays and maybe snorkeling, just want to figure out if we can do it.