Please give recommendations for excursion to Sting Ray City

[ynksfan167]

There are so many companies that go to Sting Ray City.....who can recommend one that they had a great experience with. I have done searches but many of the reviews are old. The one I had been looking at (island marketing) is not available the day we will be there.

Thanks!

[Whoop98]

We love Stingray Sailings. We used them last year and will use them again this year. Chip and Michelle are wonderful!

[Bases5]

We are going to try the bucaneers stingray tour this time. We have used capt Marvin in the past and they were wonderful. they are also the only one that has a real office by the tender docks.

we just want to try something different. I hope we won't be disap.ointed

[alicam]

Moby Dick is one we have travelled with....they were great....

 

http://www.mobydicktours.com/‎

[mustardgirl]

We did NativeWay Watersports. Our cruise was last year but they did an awesome job taking care of our group. We had enough people to make it worth our while to book a private excursion with them . Went to stingray city, coral gardens, spot with starfish, and then beach w/lunch... It was awesome! Best excursion we have done so far, and would do it again in a heart beat!!! :D Here are some pics from our trip there!

[mustardgirl]

here are a few more...

 

[Budget Queen]

For me, it's Cpt Marvin. Been going with them for almost 20 years. Even went with Marvin himself. :)

[CaribbeanBound]

We've used Native Way twice.

 

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

If you arrive by ship, you will likely anchor offshore and tender in to this port. We walked around the pier shops awaiting our privately arranged Sting Ray City / Coral Gardens tour with Native Way at noon. There were 13 folks on our tour. We boarded a small van which took us to a boat awaiting us at the Yacht Club. Our boat could comfortably hold 50 people. It took about 20 minutes to motor out to the Coral Gardens reef where we donned mask, snorkel, fins and optional snorkel vests (which made my wife very happy). The snorkel vests provide buoyancy and can be inflated to a level that is comfortable for you. There were no lack of pretty fish here. We then motored 5 minutes out to Sting Ray City, a sandbar in the ocean where the water is only 4-feet deep. Even though the place was crowded, we had a great time. Stingrays with 2-to-4 foot wingspans were in abundance and very tame. Boat captains were catching them and passing them around for everyone to view and hold. Plenty of squid was available for feeding. We were happy to have been on a private tour ($35 each, plus tip). Some double-decker boats were absolutely jam-packed with passengers. Squeals pierced the air every time a stingray glided a wing against someone's leg. We spent about 1.5 hours between the two locations. Plenty of time. It was a very memorable and fun experience. Highly recommended! Upon our return we were driven back into town where we spent some more time shopping. We were hungry so we checked out the new Margaritaville Cafe. A raspberry margarita and a basket of fries set us back $18 including tip. Won’t do that again. The menu prices were displayed in Cayman dollars which are worth 20% more than US dollars, and we didn’t realize it until the adjusted bill with itemized tip arrived. We bought gifts at the conveniently located Tortuga Rum Company. They have a very nicely bottled Tortuga Citrus Honey for $8. They will also arrange to get any liquor you purchase delivered to the ship for free. We bought a couple bottles of Margaritaville Island Lime/Tequila Liqueur for $11 each as gifts and then got in line to board the tenders and headed back to the ship. Bottom line: Grand Cayman is gorgeous! Stingray City will be the highlight of your visit.

 

More Secrets of the Caribbean: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

[kristinp36]

Another vote for Nativeways....the photos posted above are from their Reef, Rays, & Rum Point tour which we also did a couple years ago. Rum Point is my favorite beach I have visited in the Caribbean.

[cruiserfromalabama]

We just got back from our cruise on the Freedom of the Seas on Sunday and we booked our jetski trip to sting ray city with Fat Fish Adventures! Best excursion we have ever done with a very professional tour group. Check out tripadvisor reviews! Ray picked us up right on time at Hard Rock Cafe(a couple blocks up from tender stop)and took us right to the dock where we were met by Peter who settled our bill and introduced us to Ryan our guide. We were fitted with ski vest and snorkle gear and told how to work jet ski. Our party of 5 double jet skis and Ryan took off for the sting ray city. Loved feeding and holding the sting rays and then Ryan took us to a great reef for snorkling. He was very helpful with my sister-in-law as she was extremely scared to snorkle(she loved it so much)! He took us to starfish island and we held the starfish(lots of them)! All around the best tour group we have ever used!

[Eliot Ness]

Another vote for the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour with Native Way. We did that a few years ago and we're tempted to do it again this November.

[Green4me]

Ditto on Nativeway Rays Reef and Rum point. We will be back in two weeks and booked it again. This will be our third trip with them. The best IMO

[pjtulsa]

Another vote for Native Way Reef, Rays & Rum Point.

I took a larger group of teen girls with them and they were awesome.

We felt safe and never feared that we would be late, Lunch was good and the guides were the best. 3 years later the girls still talk about what an awesome day we had.

[RACexplore]

We used Dexter Fantasea Tours and had an awesome time. He has a catamaran and only takes about 20 people at a time, so you get a really personal experience. Plus, it was pretty cheap,, $45 I think.

 

http://www.dexters-fantaseatours.com/

[averysmama]

WHat camera did you use to get those amazing photos????

[QTPieRye]

We are going to try the bucaneers stingray tour this time. We have used capt Marvin in the past and they were wonderful. they are also the only one that has a real office by the tender docks.

we just want to try something different. I hope we won't be disap.ointed

 

Please be sure to post about Captain Bryan's Bucaneer tour when you get back :)

[QTPieRye]

Does Nativeway, Rums, Reef & Rum Point include lunch and beverages? I don't see it on their website.

[kristinp36]

Does Nativeway, Rums, Reef & Rum Point include lunch and beverages? I don't see it on their website.

 

It includes a great lunch at Rum point...it is listed in the description for the tour.

[lgsshedden]

loved Stingray Sailing -- smaller (max. 25, we had 8) and great service, friendly and low key.

Have to know what you want besides the stingrays: sail and serenity, or party and booze.

We wanted smaller and laid back. Very pleased with our decision.

[micmacmissy]

We used Nativeway and were disappointed. Here's why:

 

Our tour left 90 min late (they were waiting for passengers from other ships to dock to go with us). We sat in the hot sun waiting. As a result, we were very late getting to Stingray city. There was no spot to "park" as it was crowded with tour boats. Finally "parked", but there were very few stingrays. Disappointing.

 

Also, they did not have an assortment of masks, so if you have kids, you're out of luck. Their lifejackets were very old.

 

Their boat was also very old. Their photographer took tons of photos of us (he said we could view them on the ride back and purchase), but did not come back on the boat with us - he went off on another boat to take photos of another group. They said they'd email us photos - yeah right - never to be seen again.

 

They also promised a stop at Seven Mile Beach on the way back to port- but by then we were 90 min behind schedule- so no time to stop.

 

Not horrible, as they were friendly, but I wouldn't go with them again.

[CDNJehn]

We used tourscayman and we very happy with the tour...and the price.

[wantocruisemore]

HIGHLY recommend Chip and Stingray Sailing and Eco Tours with Kevin. We were with them last week. We had booked with Stingray but the other ship in port came a little late and ours were early. We were given option of waiting for the catamaran at noon or going on with Kevin in the fast boat and having an extra stop. We went with Kevin and were very pleased. On the way out we passed the Moby Dick boat in the way to Stingray City. It was crowded there so we went on over to the reef where Chip was with the catamaran. He swam over to meet us and make sure everything was ok. It was and there were only 6 of us, all experienced snorkelers. We took our own gear but they had gear that looked in very good condition.

 

We had been snorkeling for awhile when we noticed more in the water and the Moby Dick boat arrived with a crowd of people. We just kept snorkeling. A little later the Moby Dick boat sounded the conch for all aboard and we were still snorkeling. They sped off to port and we just leisurely went over to Stingray City. There were a lot less boats. Kevin went in the water and told us about the rays. He had a full bucket if squid for us to feed them. We stayed there a while, once again watching others come and go. Later he asked if we wanted to snorkel more or go to starfish point.

 

We decided Starfish and off we went. He had free water and plenty of fresh fruit, including pineapple he cut there. Beer was for sale but he threw in the first bottle free. We saw starfish and then Stinky, the neighborhood dolphin, showed us to greet us. We got some photos and after awhile we headed back to port.

 

It was a perfect day thanks to Chip and Kevin. It was our favorite stop and because of them I have already booked another cruise next May, this time for the whole family.

[CruisinDawn]

Captain Marvin's, hands down!

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[wrcjr98]

We used Nativeway and were disappointed. Here's why:

 

Our tour left 90 min late (they were waiting for passengers from other ships to dock to go with us). We sat in the hot sun waiting. As a result, we were very late getting to Stingray city. There was no spot to "park" as it was crowded with tour boats. Finally "parked", but there were very few stingrays. Disappointing.

 

Also, they did not have an assortment of masks, so if you have kids, you're out of luck. Their lifejackets were very old.

 

Their boat was also very old. Their photographer took tons of photos of us (he said we could view them on the ride back and purchase), but did not come back on the boat with us - he went off on another boat to take photos of another group. They said they'd email us photos - yeah right - never to be seen again.

 

They also promised a stop at Seven Mile Beach on the way back to port- but by then we were 90 min behind schedule- so no time to stop.

 

Not horrible, as they were friendly, but I wouldn't go with them again.

 

Did you go on your excursion recently? I'm currently booked with them for 8 of us in December based on all the glowing reviews for them, but now, I'm worried after reading this!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Jaseb]

Fatfish adventures.com..we just used them..they are awesome