Nativeway Excursions

[mj-brat]

We are planning to book with Nativeway for the Stingray and Island tour in August. Has anyone ever done this excursion? How was it? What time do they schedule this tour, so that you get back in time for the ship? Does Nativeway charge the same price for young children? Do they offer a refund if the weather is bad or your ship does not tender there? I have read all kinds of good things about Nativeway and their crew. I really hope we can do this excursion this is our first cruise and first time in Grand Caymans. Does anyone else have any suggestions? Has anyone ever had bad luck booking with local tour companies? I was also wondering if anyone knows of a good place to buy coins in Grand Caymans? My father-in-law collects old coins and I heard Grand Caymans is a great place to buy. Doe anyone know if this is true? Thank you in advance for all your help and advice:)

[phabric]

Will be interested also, as I am interested in this tour for Dec.

[DukeFamily]

We went with Native Way just last week on their "Rays, Reef and Rum Point" tour. They were very good. We were there in plenty of time ( I think the tour leaves at 8:30; check in about 8:15). As long as you get up and get going on one of the first tenders, you'll be fine. I think the cost was $55.00 pp, and a little less ($45? $50?) for kids under 12 I think. A videographer goes with you and gets everything on film, then offers the DVD for sale at a cost of $60. I thought that was too much and declined - now I've e-mailed them and asked to buy one. It's a great day and your still pics just don't do it justice. Bite the bullet and buy the DVD.

 

Happy to answer any other questions! :)

[Gary123456]

can you tell us about the tour and what you had for lunch? Also where did you keep any personal belongings and how much and who did you tip? Thanks so much...

[coiran]

Nativeway does a very good job - they have a website.

Ron

[DukeFamily]

You can safely keep your things on board the boat while you're in the water with the stingrays and while you're snorkeling afterwards. I don't think we all even carried everything with us from the boat when we got to Rum Point. Ours was the only boat docked at the end of the pier, and it's a long pier; it would have been noticed if anyone who didn't belong walked all the way out there. On the boat while you're snorkeling they pass out the menus from the grill at Rum Point and take your order; then they radio it in so that your lunches are ready when you get there. I had the catch of the day, Tilapia I think, and it was very good. There are burgers and chicken and salads. The beach at Rum Point is really nice with quite a few lounge chairs and wooden picnic tables; quite a bit shade, too as I recall. The water is so clear you can barely see it and shallow a long way out - there were lots of kids swimming around. There's also a bar if you want to order a drink - I think they were pricey but a cold beer hit the spot :p . You can pay with American money, but they only give GC money in change, so have smaller bills with you so you don't end up with a pocketful of foreign money! There is also a souvenir shop with all the usual stuff. Best of all for me that day (besides the cold beer) was the fresh water shower.

 

I think there were 20 or so of us, I'd say less than 30 in our group. We were plenty comfy on the boat with plenty of room to move around - go up top for a few, then back down below, etc. When you get to Stingray City you can clearly see why you were right in choosing NativeWay - there were some other boats there, big oblong double decker things that were packed full of cruise ship pax; literally shoulder to shoulder. How much fun could THAT be?

 

There were two crew members or tour guides with us (not counting Raquel from VIP productions who was filming our adventure) and I think I probably tipped them each $10. Well worth it - they are very conscientious of all pax and make certain everyone has a good time. One of the crew members spent most of his time on Rum Point kicking around a soccer ball with my son. They were just really nice guys.

 

Have a great time!!

[KAWS]

Website is:

http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/

 

Kim

[232271]

Website is:

http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/

 

Kim

 

bummer cant get the website to come up today.

[LKlitsch]

We've taken Nativeway twice and we had a wonderful time. Last year we did the stingray-Snorkel- Rum Point tour and fully enjoyed it. The food was good and the beach time was wonderful. The staff was great from Nativeway and I would definitely reccommend them to anyone.

[littlepea]

We also took the Rays, Reef, Rum Point tour first week of July from FOS. It was the highlight of our vacation. We had 13 people along with some other people in the boat. The tour guys were awesome, as was Abbie, she took the video pictures (definitely purchase this DVD as we received it yesterday and the results are AWESOME!!!) She really captured the highlights of the rays, snorkeling and Rum Point. She does a great job getting everyone in the video!

 

I was worried about getting back to the ship in time and we had plenty of time to shop before the tour began (10:15 am) and we were back in plenty of time! Lunch was ordered early and the food was delicious! We actually met friends who were vacationing near Rum Point and were able to hang out for a few hours with them. Some of the people on our boat passed the time playing a volleyball game with the tour guides! The kids went swimming and played in the water. A few purchased drinks and they are really expensive but worth it - It's vacation!!!!

 

We just kept our belongings on the ship without any problems at all! - Some of the items our group chose for lunch were the fish of the day, chicken sandwich, chix tenders for the kids, burgers, etc,. Everything was fantastic!

 

We tipped both guides for a total of $130 ($10 per person - for 13 people)....they definitely deserved it as they made the trip as far as handling the rays and showing people where to go when we were snorkeling.

 

If I had to pick the best part of the trip - this one is definitely the highlight of the entire week and the best excursion we have ever taken!

[Jfultz81]

We are also booked on this and are looking forward to it. Their website doesn't say anything about lunch on the Stingray and Island tour (I know the other tour stops at Rum Point and you eat there.. but our tour doesn't) Does anyone know what you do for lunch on the Island tour?

[phabric]

I have reserved the Stingray and Island Tour Dec 26 10:30-2:30 for $50.00 (price increase) and Stingray, Reef and Rum Point 9-2:30 for $60. If you reserve before Oct you will get the tour for $60 as the price will increase in Oct.

[TexJan's Hubby]

....we did and it's great!!!!! Nativeway is the best And their cheaper. You'll have maybe a dozen on the boat vs 150 on the cruise bookings. Also Chris, the guide, can coax out a giant green moray eel. I think he's the only one that does it!!!!

Peace,

MIKE

[kabado]

Jfultz81 (Jennifer),

 

Fancy meeting you here! Well, if they don't feed us, maybe we will have to eat raw fish right out of the water! Yeah, right! NOT! You're correct - I didn't see anything about feeding us either. I guess we had better have a big breakfast!

 

Karen (KABADO)

[Jfultz81]

I'm really curious now.. we have to get off the ship really early to catch a tender so we aren't late (meaning just a quick room service breakfast) and we won't have much time afterwards (about 1 1/2 hrs, if you catch the last tender). There has to be someone out there who can answer our question, lol!!

[Eliot Ness]

.......There has to be someone out there who can answer our question, lol!!

If you don't get a reply here just drop Sharon from Nativeway an e-mail and ask her:

 

nativway@candw.ky

 

John

[ILvBeingMom]

Hello Everyone -

 

Looking foward to doing this tour in Jan. Do we need to bring our own snorkle gear?

 

Thanks,

Laurie

[kingpgmr]

We are planning to book with Nativeway for the Stingray and Island tour in August. Has anyone ever done this excursion? How was it? What time do they schedule this tour, so that you get back in time for the ship? Does Nativeway charge the same price for young children? Do they offer a refund if the weather is bad or your ship does not tender there? I have read all kinds of good things about Nativeway and their crew. I really hope we can do this excursion this is our first cruise and first time in Grand Caymans. Does anyone else have any suggestions? Has anyone ever had bad luck booking with local tour companies? I was also wondering if anyone knows of a good place to buy coins in Grand Caymans? My father-in-law collects old coins and I heard Grand Caymans is a great place to buy. Doe anyone know if this is true? Thank you in advance for all your help and advice:)

 

We just took the Native Way Stingray and Island tour on 7/12. We were on the Navigator of the Seas and were in port from 8 am to 4 pm that day. We paid $45 per person for our tour. Here is my review of our tour which should answer some questions.

 

We had a Stingray and Island tour booked through Native Way for 11 am ship time. We caught a tender, did some shopping, and then asked for Native Way at the information booth (near where the tenders drop you off). Paula from Native Way picked us up in a mini van and told us that we were going to do the Island tour first. We had a private tour for just the four of us which was fantastic. Paula seemed to know everyone on the island and was full of information for us. We stopped at 7 mile beach (for a photo), Hell, the turtle farm, and the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory. The kids particularly enjoyed the turtle farm as they got to hold a baby turtle. At the rum cake factory, Paula bought us some sodas and patties (pastries filled with seasoned meat) which were delicious. I thought that was a nice touch.

 

After the land portion of our excursion, we drove to a dock to board our boat to the stingrays. I was a little concerned about time (as it was now 1:30 pm ship time and our last tender was at 3:30 ship time) but they assured me that we would get back on time. We said good bye to Paula and boarded a boat with 6 others and headed out to the stingray sand bar. It was nice being in such a small group as we saw other boats headed back in with close to a hundred or more on board. We arrived at the sand bar and entered the water. There weren’t hundreds of stingrays like I’d imagined but there were enough to make it exciting and fun. The Native Way guides did a good job as they made sure that everyone got to hold a stingray, feed one, etc. The stingrays are gentle creatures (at least these ones were) and I never felt the slightest bit of danger of getting stung. On the way back, they let my step daughter drive the boat which she really enjoyed. The boat got back at 3 pm and we made it back to get on line for a tender at 3:15 pm so it was cutting it slightly close, but it all worked out. I highly recommend Native Way as the tour was cheaper (for both an island and stingray tour) than a ship tour (for only a stingray tour) and we got much more personalized attention (a personal island tour and stingray tour with only 10 versus a ship tour with hundreds).

[kingpgmr]

We are also booked on this and are looking forward to it. Their website doesn't say anything about lunch on the Stingray and Island tour (I know the other tour stops at Rum Point and you eat there.. but our tour doesn't) Does anyone know what you do for lunch on the Island tour?

 

We didn't stop for lunch on our Stingray and Island tour with Nativeway, but the tour didn't start until 11 am so we had a big breakfast on the ship to hold us over. Also, the tour guide on the island portion of our tour (we did the island tour first) bought us some snacks along the way (at the snack bar area at the rum cake factory). Also, you could buy additional snacks at the rum cake factory if you wanted.