need tour for sting ray city only

[turtle girl]

Cruising inspiration in october and want to do a morning sting ray city tour and snorkle eden's rock on our own inthe afternoon. which companies offer only sting ray city.:) thanks

[ShyGuy215]

Cruising inspiration in october and want to do a morning sting ray city tour and snorkle eden's rock on our own inthe afternoon. which companies offer only sting ray city.:) thanks

 

Hi Turtle Girl: In early July, we went on a stingray city tour with Moby Dick Tours. They were wonderful and swimming with the sting rays is one of the most memorable and thrilling things I have ever done. The owners were right at the dock when we got off the ship and we had about an hour to walk around the port area. Our tour leaders were fantastic making sure that everyone on the excursion had an "up close and personal" experience with the sting rays. The large cruise ship tour we saw had about 100 people on it and no one really assisting with the interactions. I can't praise Moby Dick enough for the job they do.:D

[turtle girl]

thaks shyguy, do you remember the time frames? did you have plenty of time after sting ray city to do things on your own?

[deputy836]

Moby dick tour does...and well worth the trip..they also allow a quick snorkel near the reef which is one the way to Stingray city. After the tour we had planty of time to shop, eat linch, walk around, and still tender back to our boat with time to spare. We went on the first trip of the day and were back by 12 as I recall.

[jsfein]

Turtlegirl. I'm also interested in a stingray city only tour for the reason that my 3 kids probably won't be too interested in snorkeling (which seems to be a component of most tours). I haven't been able to find a stringray city only tour. What I have found is:

 

Soto's. This appears to be the shortest (2 hours) and least expensive tour ($30/adult). In addition to Stingray City, there is one other snorkeling stop at Coral Gardens (2 stops). I think the earliest departure is at 9:30 am, so it gives you a good part of the day to do other things.

 

Captain Marvins. I think this tour runs for 2 to 2.5 hours and they seem to have the earliest departure at 8:30 am. In addition to Stingray City, there seems to be one snorkeling stop either at Barrier Reef or Coral Gardens (2 stops). A bit pricier at $40/adult, but the good reviews and early start time are appealing.

 

Captain Bryan's. I think this tour runs for 2.5 hours and visits Stingray City, Barrier Reef and Coral Gardens (3 stops). Departure is at 9:30 a.m. Cost is $35/adult.

 

Moby Dick. This tour runs for 3 hours and visits Stingray City and Barrier Reef (2 stops). Departure is at 9:30 a.m. cost is $35/adult.

 

Buccaneer Catamaran. Perhaps the coolest ship of all the tours. 3 stops total including Stingray City and two snorkeling stops. Departs at 10:30 a.m. and lasts 3 hours. Cost is $39/adult.

 

Nativeways offers 2 different tours -- one focused on snorkeling and Rum Point Beach and one focused on an island tour. At least the Rum Point beach tour is of longer duration -- 5 to 5.5 hours.

 

By comparison, my cruise line (Disney) offers what appears to be a Stingray City only tour for $47/adult which lasts 3.5 hours.

 

I can't say that I've made up my mind and although I haven't read every post about each tour, I haven't read a bad thing about any of these options. If any of my info is bad or anyone wants to direct me to a particular tour, please advise.

[deputy836]

Hi everyone. I toured with Moby dick tours and yes, even though it says there is a stop at the reef...it really isn't like you would think. We only stopped for about 15-20 mintues so that some of the people could snorkel or swim. About half the 25 people on our boat did..the other half sat on the boat and took photos. I have heart problems so I couldn't swim either...but I did put the littel life vest on, grabbed some fins and snorkel mask and jumped in...and floated around and stuck my face in the water to see underneath. I also had my partner throw me my underwater disposable camera and snapped some photos...no tsure what I would get...but when developed the photos had fish and other underwater things in them...nice pics surprisingly! I highly recommend Moby Dick Tours...It was the highlight of my trip...you won't be disappointed with them. They also are very entertaining!!! Kids will love the trip!

Dee

[MTruvillio]

We went to stingray city through Captain Marvin's last week. We decided to book through them based on the good feedback from many Cruise Critic Members. We saved about $65 by doing the tour through them rather than Carnival.

 

As someone else mentioned you spend 1/2 at stingray city and 1/2 snorkling at the coral gardens. Barron was our guide and he was great (cute too! :D). He dove down and picked up a stingray they call "frisbee" because he has no tail. He gives everyone in the tour (about 20 - 25) people a chance to hold/pet the stingray and give it a kiss for 7 years good luck (still waiting for the good luck thing to kick in....we missed our flight home Sunday, and I fell down the stairs yesterday......). No way you could give everyone a chance to hold the stingray or have the interaction with a large tour from a cruise ship.

 

Captain Marvin himself (92 years old) drove the boat and interacted with the passengers.

 

The whole trip was 2.5 hours so you still have plenty of time to do other things in Grand Cayman.

 

I would highly recommend Captain Marvins.

[cmpaula]

I would not recommend Kirk Sea Tours which we booked through Princess...in my opinion, they were very unorganized and didn't interact much. It was also too crowded in the Original Stingray City where we anchored.

[cruiserssandr]

We went to stingray city through Captain Marvin's last week. We decided to book through them based on the good feedback from many Cruise Critic Members. We saved about $65 by doing the tour through them rather than Carnival.

 

As someone else mentioned you spend 1/2 at stingray city and 1/2 snorkling at the coral gardens. Barron was our guide and he was great (cute too! :D). He dove down and picked up a stingray they call "frisbee" because he has no tail. He gives everyone in the tour (about 20 - 25) people a chance to hold/pet the stingray and give it a kiss for 7 years good luck (still waiting for the good luck thing to kick in....we missed our flight home Sunday, and I fell down the stairs yesterday......). No way you could give everyone a chance to hold the stingray or have the interaction with a large tour from a cruise ship.

 

Captain Marvin himself (92 years old) drove the boat and interacted with the passengers.

 

The whole trip was 2.5 hours so you still have plenty of time to do other things in Grand Cayman.

 

I would highly recommend Captain Marvins.

I also would recommend Captain Marvins. We did a tour with them in 2005 a had a great time. We had only 8 people on our boat. Very nice with lots of indivudual attention.

[Alabama Alan]

Thanks for all the info on this thread. We were originally going to try to charter a boat since we are not as interested in the snorkeling either.

 

However, it is good to see a price comparison of the major operators side by side. From the reviews, it sounds like all are excellent.