stingray tour w/out snorkeling?

[lflav]

I am traveling with my 5 year old daughter who is not a good swimmer yet so I am not sure if it is a waste to book a tour that includes snorkeling since we will probably stay on the boat. I have only found stingray tours that include snorkeling though. Does anyone have any ideas who to book through or if it will this be a waste of time if I take a snorkel trip? Thanks!

[Jen1000]

There are some that do sting ray and island tour that includes the Turtle Farm, no extra snorkel stop. Your daughter might really enjoy the Turtle Farm. Native Way does this and so do some of the cruise line tours. Does your cruise line offer just a sting ray? I believe Celebrity did on our cruise.

 

I am traveling with my 5 year old daughter who is not a good swimmer yet so I am not sure if it is a waste to book a tour that includes snorkeling since we will probably stay on the boat. I have only found stingray tours that include snorkeling though. Does anyone have any ideas who to book through or if it will this be a waste of time if I take a snorkel trip? Thanks!

[pamawi]

Several of the Carnival stingray city excursions don't include a real snorkel experience. They take you by boat to a shallow sandbar area where the water is waist or chest deep for adults. They offer you a mask and snorkel if you want to look under the water to see the rays but many people don't even take it. I was just on the Deluxe stingray tour last week which we selected because of the nice stairs instead of boat ladder because my friend had recent knee surgery. It was a crowded boat but we still got a lot of time petting, holding, and feeding the rays the guides were holding. There were some smaller kids on the boat and some of them wore life vests. I do think the turtle farm would be an excellent thing for a child.

[pamawi]

Here are a pic from the Deluxe Stingray tour I did last week showing some kids with vests on around the guides. I have been trying to upload multiple pics from my IPad but it just shows the last one instead of all 5.

Edited January 5, 2014 by pamawi

[lflav]

I didn't see the turtle farm option on native ways. I heard bad reviews about the stingray excursions offered from the cruise lines... that they are crowded and don't get to spend much time with the stingrays, so I wanted to avoid those. I see Pamawi had a different experience though, hmmm. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Jen1000]

It is called Stingray and Island Tour

http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/tour_details.htm#Stingray and Island

 

My tour was with Celebrity and the sting ray portion was fantastic. Our boat was not overly full and the guys made sure everyone had as much interaction as they wanted. If people needed help, they helped. We had plenty of time in the water with the sting rays. I see a lot of negativity towards cruise line tours on CC. I do a mix and really the cruise line tours are normally excellent. The guides normally try very hard to make you happy.

 

I tried to book Native Way because it was cheaper than Celebrity but it was full when I contacted them. I contacted someone else that was full but I can't remember who.

 

I didn't see the turtle farm option on native ways. I heard bad reviews about the stingray excursions offered from the cruise lines... that they are crowded and don't get to spend much time with the stingrays, so I wanted to avoid those. I see Pamawi had a different experience though, hmmm. Thanks for the suggestions.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Jen1000

[pamawi]

I didn't see the turtle farm option on native ways. I heard bad reviews about the stingray excursions offered from the cruise lines... that they are crowded and don't get to spend much time with the stingrays, so I wanted to avoid those. I see Pamawi had a different experience though, hmmm. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Well it was definitely crowded and I was concerned we wouldn't get much time with the rays the guides were holding but we did. I would likely try a smaller boat throug a private tour next time but this was definitely a good experience. Last year I went on the Deluxe Stingray and Snorkel and although the snorkel was great, the boat was crowded and we didn't get much stingray interaction.