Sharks Rays and Island Getaway RCI tour BEF1

[island lady]

Heads up to those that take this tour. We assumed they supplied snorkel fins...they don't.

The current was extremely strong when we went with them. Fins would have helped a lot.

We left ours at home to save room in the luggage, and just brought our snorkel and masks,

expecting them to supply the fins as every other tour has done. Pretty lame as this tour is

not cheap. They only supply the masks and snorkels.

 

What they DO is to ask you is if you want to use the water shoes...though we were actually on

sand and grass, and not coral. Did not think we needed them, but they pushed the use of them.

What they DON'T tell you is that they will come around after the snorkel tour is done and collect

$3.00 per pair to use them. We thought this was very tacky.

 

Lunch is not included, though they give you menus on the ship to take your order BEFORE we

arrive at the restaurant they use as dockage for two hours. Not expensive, and was good, but

also thought that should have been included.

 

Never saw coral fish, they just lured nurse sharks and sting rays with bait. Assumed we would

snorkel the reef...but never went there.

 

One of the worst snorkel tours we have ever done.

Edited December 18, 2016 by island lady

[island lady]

BTW: Tried to do a review on RCI's website shore excursion site, but

it would not allow any reviews on any of the excursions when you

click the "review" button.

[mitsugirly]

It will be exactly the same no matter what ship excursion you book with and no matter IF you book with a private vendor. Those are the rules here for EVERYONE. They will not allow you to wear fins because of the sharks and rays. They do not want people accidentally hitting or kicking them with the fins. It's a safety reason. Depending on the day/month/year would depend on how deep the water is, so you may or may not be able to touch the bottom. They want you to wear water shoes to protect your feet in case you did accidentally stepped on something or one of them. It's for your protection.

 

However, in Grand Cayman, when you swim with the rays, they absolutely insist you go barefooted. You stand on the bottom and "shuffle" your feet so that you don't step on a ray.

 

It's just the law at each place. :)

[island lady]

It will be exactly the same no matter what ship excursion you book with and no matter IF you book with a private vendor. Those are the rules here for EVERYONE. They will not allow you to wear fins because of the sharks and rays. They do not want people accidentally hitting or kicking them with the fins. It's a safety reason. Depending on the day/month/year would depend on how deep the water is, so you may or may not be able to touch the bottom. They want you to wear water shoes to protect your feet in case you did accidentally stepped on something or one of them. It's for your protection.

 

However, in Grand Cayman, when you swim with the rays, they absolutely insist you go barefooted. You stand on the bottom and "shuffle" your feet so that you don't step on a ray.

 

It's just the law at each place. :)

 

Thanks...that was very useful information. Did not know that about the

fins and interaction with the rays and sharks.

 

However, though the usually tame and safe Nurse sharks of whom I have

snorkeled with for many years in the Florida Keys with no incident....I won't

do a snorkel tour again that advertises sharks. They were feeding them so

much, that the tame things went into a feeding frenzy. I went to grab

one of the floating dragging lines in the very strong current since we did not

have fins and water was over our heads, (plus the bulky water shoes were

weighing us down). Suddenly one of the Nurse sharks came up up and bit

my finger as soon as I grabbed that line. Apparently they have something sharp

after all in their sucker like mouths. I ended up bleeding badly, and ended up

with some small tears and cuts with an infection on my finger.

 

Thus another heads up. My finger still hurts and will probably have a scar.

 

As far as the water shoes...they were an option, but they pushed it to

have you wear them. I would respect them more if they would have

let us know they will be collecting an additional 3.00 later on for those

shoes. Tacky, as it should have been included in the price.

Edited December 22, 2016 by island lady

[mitsugirly]

Thanks...that was very useful information. Did not know that about the

fins and interaction with the rays and sharks.

 

However, though the usually tame and safe Nurse sharks of whom I have

snorkeled with for many years in the Florida Keys with no incident....I won't

do a snorkel tour again that advertises sharks. They were feeding them so

much, that the tame things went into a feeding frenzy. I went to grab

one of the floating dragging lines in the very strong current since we did not

have fins and water was over our heads, (plus the bulky water shoes were

weighing us down). Suddenly one of the Nurse sharks came up up and bit

my finger as soon as I grabbed that line. Apparently they have something sharp

after all in their sucker like mouths. I ended up bleeding badly, and ended up

with some small tears and cuts with an infection on my finger.

 

Thus another heads up. My finger still hurts and will probably have a scar.

 

As far as the water shoes...they were an option, but they pushed it to

have you wear them. I would respect them more if they would have

let us know they will be collecting an additional 3.00 later on for those

shoes. Tacky, as it should have been included in the price.

 

Oh my. So sorry to hear that you were bitten by one of them. I did look them up for my own knowledge, prior to doing the excursion (done with NCL) and did find out that although these docile creatures for the most part won't hurt you, they do have teeth and can mistake objects for food (such as your hands). Ouch! There was another excursion we did in Barbados, where we swam with the turtles off shore. They told us to make sure that we didn't ever stick our hands out and wiggle them because that's a sign of food and they could possibly bite you. Of course I'm a picture freak and my hands were always out to take pictures, so I guess I was taking a chance myself.

 

I agree about the water shoes, they are VERY hard to swim in and weigh you down. I absolutely hate wearing them in water over my head and feel like they are unsafe. I do know when we went they MADE us wear them and those that didn't have them had to "rent" them for the $3 each. It is definitely something that you should be told about ahead of time.

 

Although we had a "decent" time and it was quite an experience for us (had never swam with the nurse sharks before and it was my husbands birthday), we would never book this with the cruise line again. We would definitely go with a private company. I have a feeling things would have been a lot different with them with both the service and experience.

[zqvol]

I just read the description of that excursion. It never mentions snorkeling, it mentions splashing around in the water. The description would not lead me to think that it is a snorkel excursion. I suspect that even if you had your fins they would not have allowed you to use them.

 

The description does not mention food, so I would not assume that food was included.

 

I do think that the charge for the water shows was in appropriate, and I would hope that you considered that charge as the gratuity that you would have left for the crew.

[island lady]

Oh my. So sorry to hear that you were bitten by one of them. I did look them up for my own knowledge, prior to doing the excursion (done with NCL) and did find out that although these docile creatures for the most part won't hurt you, they do have teeth and can mistake objects for food (such as your hands). Ouch! There was another excursion we did in Barbados, where we swam with the turtles off shore. They told us to make sure that we didn't ever stick our hands out and wiggle them because that's a sign of food and they could possibly bite you. Of course I'm a picture freak and my hands were always out to take pictures, so I guess I was taking a chance myself.

 

I agree about the water shoes, they are VERY hard to swim in and weigh you down. I absolutely hate wearing them in water over my head and feel like they are unsafe. I do know when we went they MADE us wear them and those that didn't have them had to "rent" them for the $3 each. It is definitely something that you should be told about ahead of time.

 

Although we had a "decent" time and it was quite an experience for us (had never swam with the nurse sharks before and it was my husbands birthday), we would never book this with the cruise line again. We would definitely go with a private company. I have a feeling things would have been a lot different with them with both the service and experience.

 

I agree, sometimes you have more flexibility booking with a private tour. We do that

a lot, but there are some countries that we prefer to book with the ship (since they

have no choice but to wait for us should something delay us). Belize is not one of those

countries I want to get stuck in. ;)

 

Thanks for the information on the Nurse Shark teeth. Even though the tour guides

are probably very, very aware of the small teeth...the one snorkel guy insisted they

were "sucker marks"....REALLY!!?? When is the last time anyone ever got cut or

bled profusely from a sucker kiss? Hah...too much misleading with this tour operator.

Agree...would never book with them again, and wanted to put this information out

there.

 

Thanks so much for your help with the information also! :)

 

BTW: I clicked on your review...WOW! Great job! :D

[island lady]

I just read the description of that excursion. It never mentions snorkeling, it mentions splashing around in the water. The description would not lead me to think that it is a snorkel excursion. I suspect that even if you had your fins they would not have allowed you to use them.

 

The description does not mention food, so I would not assume that food was included.

 

I do think that the charge for the water shows was in appropriate, and I would hope that you considered that charge as the gratuity that you would have left for the crew.

 

You are right. I just went back and read the description again. That description

has changed since we booked over a year ago. It used to be listed as a snorkeling

adventure with the sharks and rays and 2nd largest barrier reef in the world.

From what I was hearing on the boat, they used to do two spots. One to snorkel

with the Rays and Sharks (they did supply snorkel masks and snorkels, so I would

call it snorkeling), and one at the barrier reef to snorkel to view the coral and the

coral fish. I think they may have eliminated that second spot?

 

RCI has taken out the ability to read the reviews on their tours, so now

it is tough to get helpful information on these tours. They also took

out the pictures. Getting easier and easier to book with private tours

now. ;)

 

Yet more very helpful information. Thanks! :)

Edited December 23, 2016 by island lady

[kwbound]

We did this excursion in 2015 on a Navigator sailing and enjoyed it very much. We were planning on doing it again when we sail on the Liberty in April but it sounds as if they have changed it, not for the better. When we did the excursion we brought our own fins and were allowed to use them. The group spent time with the rays/sharks and then swam, or walked/jumped over to the nearby reef. The current was strong. Since my husband and I had fins, we were allowed to swim a little further out among the reef, while everyone else stayed on the edge and the guides pointed out things. There were some beautiful fish. Lunch was provided on our excursion also. We like snorkeling more than sharks and rays, so we may look for a different excursion.

[JaniceB]

If you don't do the cruise ship excursion they make it hard for you to get off the boat quickly. Luckily our tour waited for us, but it took us over 2 hours by the time we got our tender tickets.