Concerns about Carnival Excursion

[bradysmom]

Mitsugirly,

I'm pretty new to this and not sure how to post pics, but when I have some time at home I can try to figure it out. I almost didn't have any pics because I didn't check the battery in my underwater camera the night before. I assumed it was fine since it was fully charged when we left home and I hadn't used it yet----wrong, as I was sitting in the theater waiting to leave for the excursion I turned it on and completely dead. It must have turned on in my bag somehow.

So the room stewards got some free entertainment as. I sprinted from one end of the ship to the other to get the charger. Luckily there were actually outlets to use on the ferry on the inside seating area, so I was saved!

 

Swimming in the caves

-- It is freshwater (and refreshingly cold, brrrr!), it is a river that winds through the caves. The guides take you from one end to the other. Most of the time there is natural light coming in from an opening that runs alongside the river. The guide has a light that they will shine under water that improves visibility but it is really clear and easy to see even without the light . There are freshwater fish (not as exciting as tropical), but the main thing is that there are amazing stalactites and stalagmites in the caves. So under water you see these amazing rock formations. Also there were scuba divers diving there when we were there and you could see them swimming around the deeper parts, which was also neat. I don't remember bats flying around, but I'm sure there could be some in there.

 

Swimming with turtles

-- Yes it is in open water and the turtles are not "penned in" so it is not guaranteed I guess that you would see them. BUT, the turtles have to come in that area to feed, and the guides are great at finding them. We saw at least 5 big ones and a few smaller ones and some stingrays. I could see where people could go there and not see them if they didn't use a guide. Most of the time we wouldbe right on top of the practically before I saw them. Unless something crazy is going on with the weather--in which case it would probably get cancelled anyway-- I would say you should be safe to see multiple.

 

Lunch

-- They had some really good fish, I think there was a chicken option. There were chicken nuggets for kids (and my hubby). They had a rice/beans dish, and nachos with salsa and guacamole. They also had some sands which people said were good, but I did not try, since I have bee deathly ill in Mexico twice, and am Leary of anything they may have washed. (Both of my illnesses occurred while staying in a resort for a week, so who really knows what it was from). Everything I ate there was good, not great (except the fish was really good)

 

Drinks

-- They have an open bar, so anything you want from soda to beer to mixed drinks is available (Great Margarita's, and hey when in Mexico, gotta have a Margarita). They also would serve shots, which several girls in a group from a different ( thank heavens) van than ours took part in. They all looked young to be drinking, which probably explains why wheelchairs had to be brought to he ferry to get them back to the ship at the end. Super classy!

[mitsugirly]

Mitsugirly,

I'm pretty new to this and not sure how to post pics, but when I have some time at home I can try to figure it out. I almost didn't have any pics because I didn't check the battery in my underwater camera the night before. I assumed it was fine since it was fully charged when we left home and I hadn't used it yet----wrong, as I was sitting in the theater waiting to leave for the excursion I turned it on and completely dead. It must have turned on in my bag somehow.

So the room stewards got some free entertainment as. I sprinted from one end of the ship to the other to get the charger. Luckily there were actually outlets to use on the ferry on the inside seating area, so I was saved!

 

Swimming in the caves

-- It is freshwater (and refreshingly cold, brrrr!), it is a river that winds through the caves. The guides take you from one end to the other. Most of the time there is natural light coming in from an opening that runs alongside the river. The guide has a light that they will shine under water that improves visibility but it is really clear and easy to see even without the light . There are freshwater fish (not as exciting as tropical), but the main thing is that there are amazing stalactites and stalagmites in the caves. So under water you see these amazing rock formations. Also there were scuba divers diving there when we were there and you could see them swimming around the deeper parts, which was also neat. I don't remember bats flying around, but I'm sure there could be some in there.

 

Swimming with turtles

-- Yes it is in open water and the turtles are not "penned in" so it is not guaranteed I guess that you would see them. BUT, the turtles have to come in that area to feed, and the guides are great at finding them. We saw at least 5 big ones and a few smaller ones and some stingrays. I could see where people could go there and not see them if they didn't use a guide. Most of the time we wouldbe right on top of the practically before I saw them. Unless something crazy is going on with the weather--in which case it would probably get cancelled anyway-- I would say you should be safe to see multiple.

 

Lunch

-- They had some really good fish, I think there was a chicken option. There were chicken nuggets for kids (and my hubby). They had a rice/beans dish, and nachos with salsa and guacamole. They also had some sands which people said were good, but I did not try, since I have bee deathly ill in Mexico twice, and am Leary of anything they may have washed. (Both of my illnesses occurred while staying in a resort for a week, so who really knows what it was from). Everything I ate there was good, not great (except the fish was really good)

 

Drinks

-- They have an open bar, so anything you want from soda to beer to mixed drinks is available (Great Margarita's, and hey when in Mexico, gotta have a Margarita). They also would serve shots, which several girls in a group from a different ( thank heavens) van than ours took part in. They all looked young to be drinking, which probably explains why wheelchairs had to be brought to he ferry to get them back to the ship at the end. Super classy!

 

YOU ARE AWESOME! Thanks for the wonderful description of everything. Just what I was looking for.

 

I'm just a little nervous about being in the dark (cave) while in the water. That's why I was wondering if it's an open area.

 

So you actually enter at one spot and go along the river and get out at another spot right? During any of these spots are the caves enclosed? You mentioned the flashlights, but yet said that even without them you could see. So am I to assume because there is at least some type of daylight shining in during the entire route? I keep trying to look up videos of the place online to get a better feel for it. I see where they go in at, but most videos are of the scuba divers doing it, so that means they are entering the caves and going down into the darkness. :eek:

 

 

In order to upload the pictures (at least so they wouldn't be thumbnails and people can view them), you will have to host them somewhere...like photobucket or somewhere. Then you just grab the url link, hit the "picture" button here up above while you are typing this at, then a pop-up will show up and you paste the url from your host (like photobucket) in it and the picture shows up. :D

[bradysmom]

Ok, let me give this a try.

 

Here is the part of the entrance to the water in the caves.

 

And another view, you can see the open area to the right.

[bradysmom]

Well that didnt work. Back to the drawing board

[mitsugirly]

Ok, let me give this a try.

 

Here is the part of the entrance to the water in the caves.

 

And another view, you can see the open area to the right.

 

No worky :(

[bradysmom]

Trying again!

Entrance area the caves.

[MyFault]

I also wanted to comment on Grand Cayman. if you are going to do the Stingray sandbar, I would definitely book private.

You'll be in a huge group on a huge boat with carnival, and from what we witnessed, not have a very exciting experience once you get to the sandbar.

st people were just standing

 

Thank you for this! I watched a couple of YouTube vids of ship excursions to Stingray City, and you're right....it was pure chaos with people screeching and children climbing out of the water onto their parents' shoulders. So we booked a private excursion through Shorefox for $35/adult. I've heard good things & will report back.

[bradysmom]

Got it!!!!

Another view near where you enter with the open area to the right.

 

This is what it looks like at the surface while snorkeling, plenty of light.

 

This is a view of the opening from in the caves. It runs along the length of the river, but gets more narrow at some places.

 

This one is blurry, but you can see my guys up ahead, and it gives you an idea of the light without a flashlight.

 

Brady approved!

[MyFault]

I also wanted to comment on Grand Cayman. if you are going to do the Stingray sandbar, I would definitely book private.

You'll be in a huge group on a huge boat with carnival, and from what we witnessed, not have a very exciting experience once you get to the sandbar.

 

Thank you for this! I watched a couple of YouTube vids of ship excursions to Stingray City, and you're right....it was pure crowded chaos with people screeching and children climbing out of the water onto their parents' shoulders. So we booked an excursion through Shorefox for $35/adult. I've heard good things & will report back.

Edited January 13, 2015 by MyFault

[LOVINCRUIZIN]

Only downfall I've seen with being late back to the ship is the fellow passengers hanging off their balconies yelling funny (or occassionally rude) comments to those rushing to board last minute

[bradysmom]

Hmmmm, sorry for the duplicates, more user error!!!

 

Open area along the river

 

Blurry one, showing amount of light, with my guys up ahead.

[bradysmom]

I didn't take a ton of pics there, since I was operating on a less than full battery in the camera:(

We had done something similar at XPLOR in another Mexico trip, so I wanted to save the battery for the turtles.

 

Speaking of turtles:

This is the entrance from the beach to the area where the turles are

 

This little guy wanted to be our buddy

 

Here's our little buddy popping his head up, and you can see ~how far from the beach we were out.

 

A bigger one

 

And another biggy

[MyFault]

Only downfall I've seen with being late back to the ship is the fellow passengers hanging off their balconies yelling funny (or occassionally rude) comments to those rushing to board last minute

 

LOL, that's always fun!

[mitsugirly]

Oh my gosh. Thank you SO MUCH for your pictures and sharing your experiences. I really appreciate it. This is awesome. :)

[bradysmom]

So I'm confused, why did this thread get moved?

If it was going to get moved , I would think it should go in the cozumel section, not in the Cayman Islands (although it does have some info on both.

[tandemcruzr]

I'm reading it on the Carnival Board.

[mitsugirly]

So I'm confused, why did this thread get moved?

If it was going to get moved , I would think it should go in the cozumel section, not in the Cayman Islands (although it does have some info on both.

 

 

Hmm, that is weird especially when the original post is about Cozumel and this excursion. I think someone made a boo-boo. :p