eastwood1fam Posted January 5, 2006 #1 Share Posted January 5, 2006 My husband and I will be in GC on 2/9. with Rhapsody and are thinking about the Stingray, reef and Rum Point excursion with Nativeways. But I am nervous about the timing of tendering and being able to meet our guide on time. Also, for anyone who has done this excursion, is there time for shopping anywhere? Please send any suggestions. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsaadat Posted January 5, 2006 #2 Share Posted January 5, 2006 1. Tons of shopping near the tender area. 2. If your nervous about booking a excersion on your own..... book through the ship... then they wont leave you if there are any delays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I&MsMom Posted January 6, 2006 #3 Share Posted January 6, 2006 We're considering the same excursion, but off the Carnival Miracle. Same concerns. We're there from 7 am to 4 pm. I think three other ships besides ours are there that day. I assume they wouldn't start the excursion if it wasn't normally reasonable to be off the ship to meet up in time. My thinking is that setting a start time before most people booking independent tours can tender in would be counter-productive for them. At the same time, I don't want to be stressing out on our first port day (bad karma for the rest of the trip!) And, I've never been to GC before, so I have no idea about what the realities of tendering are. (Except to note that it is sometimes too choppy to even attempt it.) I'll add my plea to the OP's: anyone who has done this, how did the logistics work for you? Also, I thought I read that GC was incredibly expensive. Thus, had not planned any shopping. Am I woefully mis-informed?? Would not want to miss any golden opportunities!! Thanks for any input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelWorks Posted January 6, 2006 #4 Share Posted January 6, 2006 My husband and I will be in GC on 2/9. with Rhapsody and are thinking about the Stingray, reef and Rum Point excursion with Nativeways. But I am nervous about the timing of tendering and being able to meet our guide on time. Also, for anyone who has done this excursion, is there time for shopping anywhere? Please send any suggestions. Thanks There are 5 ships in port the day you are there.... and Royal Caribbean sometimes supplements the "tender situation" with there own life boats to speed up the process! Plus your boat is there by 7 am (earlier than most)...if you get in line to take a tender around 6:30...you can be one of the first off after the ship sponsered tours go first... Email your excursion company and ask them how long the tour is and tell them which ship you are on....more than likely the have worked around that ships schedule before...they should know... Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finer Cruiser Posted January 8, 2006 #5 Share Posted January 8, 2006 Just came back from GC and did the Nativeways tour to Rays, Reef and Rum point. Sharon sent us a time to meet our guide, had no problem getting in a tender and even had 1/2 hour before the tour to look at the shops. we got back to port with about another 1/2 hour before last tender. They are aware of the times of boats in port. If you are worried, just do the Reef tour. we had no problems and would definitely recommend Nativeways.:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLR Posted January 8, 2006 #6 Share Posted January 8, 2006 We just got back from a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel on the Inspiration. While I had a great time overall, I will never book another cruise where I have to be tendered in. We were lucky! We booked the Stingray Sandbar with Captain Bryan and had a great time. Their were about 30 of us on the Catamaran compared to the boats of hundreds that those who booked directly through Carnival arrived on. I can't imagine how any of them were able to see anything! One of the other cruise ships that wasn't supposed to arrive in Grand Cayman had a medical emergency. Every one of the ships that were scheduled to be at Grand Cayman had to give up one of their tenders so that those people could get off their ship. I have a hard time believing that alone created all the tendering problems that day. We were able to get off by 8:00 but many others never made it off in time for their excursions. Others gave up trying to get off at all. Some got an hour in Georgetown before having to get back in line to return to the ship. What we didn't know was that from the time we got in line to get back on board it would take over 3 hours before we arrived. My 4 year old wet herself by the time we got on the tender. There was no shade, no where to even get water and no restrooms anywhere. We just barely made it back in time for dinner in the dining room. Others didn't! As I said, I will never take another cruise where I have to tender to shore Brenda:mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphins Posted January 8, 2006 #7 Share Posted January 8, 2006 Brenda- How many ships were there on the day you tendered? We are going to visit Grand Cayman on Jan. 26th and no less than 10 ships are scheduled to be there that day. We may decide to stay on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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