Question for those that have taken Stingray City Sandbar Tour booked thru Royal Carib

[berbet]

For those of you who have booked through Royal Carribbean -- what is the ladder like that you use to climb back into the excursion boat after swimming with the stingrays? Is it like a ladder with hand rails or are there just foot holes in the stern of the boat and you have to pull yourself in? Worried about getting back in after the swim. I've read posts from other who recommend private charters instead, but as 1st timers, we reallly wanted to stick with the ship's tours since we don't know our way around, are worried about getting back on time (I read that some people had cut it close to the tender time with private tours), etc. I'd like to hear any opinions from you if you've used the ship's excursion. ALSO -- what did you do with your passport or photocopy of it while you were in the water? I plan to leave my orig. on the ship and bring a photocopy with me into port. I don't want to leave it in my knapsack unattended while in the water. How can I keep it dry?

[ccrn]

We did not do the ships's tour, as I really think you get a better experience through private charters. We used Soto's cruises, and it was a short 5-7 minute walk to the pier to the meeting place. It was not hard to find, as you only make one turn, and she gave us landmarks. They picked us up at the assigned time, and drove us to the boat. We got to feed the stingrays, all hold and kiss the stingrays for luck, and got a stingray back massage. I doubt you would get all of that through RCCL, as they have more people. I have trouble getting out of my own pool ladder, being a large person, but I had no trouble getting on or off Soto's boat ladder, and as we had 2 stops, we did it twice. I had gone on snorkel trips on our Tahiti cruises, that were much more difficult ot get on/off. They dropped some of my party off at at Hyatt after, so we could taxi to the turtle farm. The rest of the party when back into town to shop. The main reason I went with soto's, besides price and service was time. Their first tour started at 9:30 AM, and got back at 11:30. I would have hesitated goingto the turtle farm if we had gotten back later, but my sons really wanted to go. We got back in time to even do a little shopping.

 

As far as the passport copy, we only brought our driver's license, and did not even need that. They have water wallets for sale on the ship, or you can buy them at places like REI. REI has several sizes, the ship only had ones that would fit cash/credit cards.