If You Have Taken the Stingray Tour in Cayman with RCI....

[Host Caroline]

Does anyone know if the tour op they use is Don Foster Dive???? We went on a ship tour with them when the Princess group got rerouted in September to the Western Carib and they were wonderful.. one of the best tours ever

I'm thinking of using RCI for a snorkeling excursion on Caymen for people in the EXPLORER OF THE SEAS CC GROUP Next DECEMBER:) who want to do this tour but only if it's this tour op.. the tour was $45 but sooo much better than the others I've done there..

We are a fun group..C'mon and join us... you'll be home in plenty of time for Hanukkah or Christmas...

[Ella2]

Well, I've done a Stingray City tour through RCCL but it was the Cockatoo Catamaran, EXCELLENT excursion and great boat. :)

 

Hopefully someone else can help you more.

[Son of a Cruiser]

We have gone on the "Cockatoo Catamaran" tour through RCI twice. It was great both times. The guides were friendly and made sure everyone got friendly with the stingrays. They have plently of squid to feed the stingrays and only take about 40+/- people (much less than the larger ship's tours we have been on). They have a "bait bucket" for the squid which they float in the water which helps attract the stingrays - they were everywhere!!! They also take a video of the trip and your time in the water. It is kind of expensive (I think about $40) and I started not to get it. My daughters talked me into it and I'm glad they did. It is very well done. It was high quality video and they set it to music and delivered it to the ship before we left Grand Cayman:). We take it out every now and then and enjoy watching all the fun. We enjoyed them so much we went with them a second time. Highly reccommended!!

 

Sorry don't know about Don Foster Dive.

[Host Caroline]

There was a catamaran that came up to the sandbar around the time we were leaving and it wasn't Princess passengers on it.. maybe that was it??? What you are describing sounds wonderful.. I just know that there are some HAC-ers that are going to want to go to the sandbar and I told them I'd try to find something close to what we did this year. About how much was this tour? I think it was about 45 on Princess but worth it.

Thanks :)

[Son of a Cruiser]

The Cockatoo was about $15 more than the regular tour - I thought it was well worth the extra $. I looked on the RCI website and they aer currently quoting $59.

[Ella2]

It's DEFINITELY worth it, the ride over is awesome, the crew is great, lots of fun, and we got the DVD too. I swore I wasn't getting off the boat but when you SEE it, you just have to do it.

 

I drew the line at KISSING the rays, though. ;) My husband and 12-year-old did it for the camera, they were better sports than me! :D

 

I think it's way better than the larger excursion boats that do Stingray City. I would not hesitate to do it again. :)

[4marty4]

I did a Stringray Tour last March when I was on the Splendour of the Seas with myself and two children. It wasn't a catamaran but a boat that I guess would seat 200 people. There were only the 3 of us and 5 other people and the driver and the guide. It was amazing to have all this attention. The guide that got in the water with us was so nice. It was funny when we got to the stingray area and seeing all these people crammed into boats and here we were all alone. I am glad that I booked this tour. It did not have anyone taking your video or anything but if you bring a waterproof camera with you that is all you will need. The guide (I can't remember his name) made sure that everyone at least kissed the stingray once and he would gladly place it on your back if you wanted him to. I think it was about $54 U.S. per person but well worth the memories.

[TXSailor]

Does anyone know if the tour op they use is Don Foster Dive???? We went on a ship tour with them when the Princess group got rerouted in September to the Western Carib and they were wonderful.. one of the best tours ever

 

Wow, we had the exact opposite experience with Don Foster Tours in Cayman. It was terrible, they were late taking us out to the Stingrays, they put us in an old non a/c school bus (looked like a prison bus to me...compared to the other tours using nice shuttles with a/c), we were in a little crappy boat all crammed in, while other tours were in nice yachts. We were only at the Stingray location for about 15 minutes. When it was time to get back on the bus, it wasn't there. When it did show up, the driver wouldn't let us back in the bus, said he was there for another group, yet this driver is the one who took us there and told us to look out for him. The whole group was very disappointed. We were suppose to return by 12:00pm, didn't make it back until after 1:00pm. This was an 8:00am excursion and ONLY a Stingray excursion....didn't include any other stops. Needless to say, we barely had enough time to shop or do anything afterwards. We complained at the Excursion Deck on the ship and they gave us a 50% refund.

 

Fausto

[Lakerfan]

We just did the Stingray City tour with RCI on Oct 9th EXPLORER. It was with Don Foster and we had a wonderful trip. The only negative was getting on the old school buses with no A/C but once we got on the boat it was great. Very nice and very clean covered 2 level catamaran type yacht. Had fresh water shower, clean bathrooms nice little gift shop offered sodas for sale and free water. The crew was very friendly and professional. After letting us snorkel and feed the stingrays they gave us an educational talk about the stingrays. We would highly recommend to anyone going there to use them. Just always remember to do the stingray shuffle. Th buses were there and waiting for us and we got right back on and they even dropped us off in the shopping area right across from The Pirate's Grotto.

[Host Caroline]

The school buses over weren't that great but we had air conditioned minibuses coming back... but overall the schoolbuses were maybe 15 minutes of the 2 to 2-1/2 hours!

To the poster who didn't have a good experience: unfortunately on a given day a tour op can have a bad day.. .but that happens to us at work and in our daily lives.. it's just soooo much worse when it happens on your vacation.:( A tour op that I arranged a group with in February (not these guys) did such as lousy job that the people that went ended up getting ALL their money back...

[LenaDaLlama]

Ahhhh...we loved the school bus we rode back in!!! It was great.....as a school bus driver I sat my rowdy ass in the back seat and raised hell!!! I tried to talk him into letting me drive it but that wasn't happening!! I shared the pictures that only other school bus drivers would appreciate!!! LOVE ME SOME SCHOOL BUS!!!

[Host Caroline]

The only thing I really didn't like about the school bus was that it was a gazillion degrees in Cayman and humidity to match... so that was why it was miserable... although even in less heat I would not have had a "school bus" moment as you did... ;)

[kerrydee]

mariner, dec 4, 2005, shorex has 3 stingray sandbar excursions listed. two look the same and the 3rd says stingray adventure (but with the same description as the other two). the "adventure" has no lower age limit and the other 2 it's 5 years old. i'm taking my granddaughter and want the most benign trip. does anybody know?