Ship/Nativeway Question

[second honeymoon]

We are thinking of booking with Nativeways for the Rays, Reefs and Rum Point excursion, but since this is our first cruise, I am a bit worried of not getting of the ship in time.

 

I heard that anyone booking a shore excursion through the ship (RCCL) will be the first to get off.

 

So how can we get off in time for this excursion??

 

 

Do you pay for this excursion when you book or after it is completed??

[redfish1]

I sent them an email yesterday and got a reply from Sharon. We tender on RCI at 7 and leave at 4. She said folks on RCI book excursions thru them every time they are in port (we are on the Rhapsody, 9/10 out of Galveston). GC is CDT, same as Galveston, at least at that time of the year. She said the Stingray/Rum Point tour leaves at 8:30 and gets back at 1:45, which is plenty of time to do a little shopping before tendering. I recommend that you email Sharon at Nativeway with your questions. They are used to working with cruise ship customers.

[second honeymoon]

I sent them an email yesterday and got a reply from Sharon. We tender on RCI at 7 and leave at 4. She said folks on RCI book excursions thru them every time they are in port (we are on the Rhapsody, 9/10 out of Galveston). GC is CDT, same as Galveston, at least at that time of the year. She said the Stingray/Rum Point tour leaves at 8:30 and gets back at 1:45, which is plenty of time to do a little shopping before tendering. I recommend that you email Sharon at Nativeway with your questions. They are used to working with cruise ship customers.

 

I just sent them an email, thanks for your info. This excursion looks great. Let me know how you enjoyed the Caymans

[schweer432]

I have never used this company but I would assume they work with cruise passengers all the time. They are probably used to having to wait a little while for everyone to tender off of a ship. When we were in Belize in January I was concerned because we couldn't get off the ship when we had planned because the kids program didn't open until 8. We were like 30 min late. The tour operators (not Nativeways) said that someone from their company would have waited all day for us. I am sure whatever you end up doing the tour company will work with you.

 

Have a great cruise!! Misty

[3boys4me]

My family did this trip last April with NativeWays and it was great. Sharon and her husband met us up at the port. Since we booked directly with them as opposed to through the ship, Sharon drove us to the marina where she put us in the capable hands of Captain Shyster on a boat for just our family of 5. It was great. He took us to the sandbar first where he caught rays and helped us to hold them and feed them. Then we had snorkel stop before heading to Rum Point for lunch. Rum Point was crowded when we were there, so we didn't stay too long - we prefered to have more time on the water. After lunch, we had time for an additional snorkel stop, then it was back to the Marina where Sharon met us to take us back to the port. And we did have time to do a little shopping before getting back on the ship.

 

I'd heard that people who had ship tours had priority in getting off the ship, but we had no problems getting off and getting to our tours in time. And we were told that you didn't need tender tickets for the first tender, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. I'd recommend you get down to the tender area early to get tender tickets just in case...