Who's been on Mariner and booked with Nativeways?

[second honeymoon]

Who's been on Mariner and booked with Nativeways?

 

If anyone has been on the Mariner how do they usually work the time difference?

 

Also while you were on the Mariner did you book with Nativeways- Rays,Reef and Rum?

 

Did you have any time after to do any shopping?

[racerswife]

We just got back from the 8/27 sailing on Mariner. We booked the 'Rays, Reef, & Rum Point' tour with Nativeways. It was AWESOME! We had only 8 people in our group. Mariner is in GC from 8am-4pm. Grand Cayman is one hour behind ship's time. You need to meet on the pier for the tour at 9:15 ship's time. You will need to get tender tickets. They hand out tender tickets at Studio B that morning. Get there early, because they start handing out tickets earlier than the compass states. You need to get on 1 of the first few tenders to make it to the pier on time. Once the tour is over, they drop you back off at the pier. You will get back in time to catch one of the last tenders-don't worry about that-they are well aware of when they need to get you back-but, you may not have any time to do any shopping afterward. We got back at about 3:20pm, and last tender is at 3:30. This tour was our absolute favorite! Rum Point is just beautiful! We want to go back!

[second honeymoon]

We just got back from the 8/27 sailing on Mariner. We booked the 'Rays, Reef, & Rum Point' tour with Nativeways. It was AWESOME! We had only 8 people in our group. Mariner is in GC from 8am-4pm. Grand Cayman is one hour behind ship's time. You need to meet on the pier for the tour at 9:15 ship's time. You will need to get tender tickets. They hand out tender tickets at Studio B that morning. Get there early, because they start handing out tickets earlier than the compass states. You need to get on 1 of the first few tenders to make it to the pier on time. Once the tour is over, they drop you back off at the pier. You will get back in time to catch one of the last tenders-don't worry about that-they are well aware of when they need to get you back-but, you may not have any time to do any shopping afterward. We got back at about 3:20pm, and last tender is at 3:30. This tour was our absolute favorite! Rum Point is just beautiful! We want to go back!

 

Thanks for answering my questions, so we decided to book with Nativeways, I talked to Sharon last week and went ahead and made the reservation. She told me apparently that when we go, ship time will be the same as Cayman time because they don't change the times for daylight savings. She said we should be back to the pier by 2:20. I am really excited about this excursion!!!!

How much did you tip them??

How many tour guides go with you??

[racerswife]

You will have a great time! I was wrong in my earlier post. You do not have to get tender tickets in Grand Cayman-in Cozumel you do. So, just be sure to get down to the gangway early and get on one of the first tenders. There was only 8 of us, so we only had 1 tour guide. Chris was his name and he was great. On our way out to Stingray City, he stopped the boat and jumped in the water to bring up some starfish for us to see and hold. That was really neat. Of course, he made sure we all had time with the stingrays-we touched them, held them, fed them, and got back massages from them! We tipped him $10 for the 2 of us. The food is really good at Rum Point too. You will get a menu to choose from before you head over there, and your food will be waiting for you when you get there. Iced tea and water come with the meal, but any other drinks you need to pay for. And, beware, they are expensive. My husband wanted a diet coke, and it was like $4 for a small glass of fountain soda and no free refills! But, Rum Point is beautiful. You can touch bottom quite a ways out, and there is some good snorkeling out under the pier and further out. Hope you have a great time!

[second honeymoon]

You will have a great time! I was wrong in my earlier post. You do not have to get tender tickets in Grand Cayman-in Cozumel you do. So, just be sure to get down to the gangway early and get on one of the first tenders. There was only 8 of us, so we only had 1 tour guide. Chris was his name and he was great. On our way out to Stingray City, he stopped the boat and jumped in the water to bring up some starfish for us to see and hold. That was really neat. Of course, he made sure we all had time with the stingrays-we touched them, held them, fed them, and got back massages from them! We tipped him $10 for the 2 of us. The food is really good at Rum Point too. You will get a menu to choose from before you head over there, and your food will be waiting for you when you get there. Iced tea and water come with the meal, but any other drinks you need to pay for. And, beware, they are expensive. My husband wanted a diet coke, and it was like $4 for a small glass of fountain soda and no free refills! But, Rum Point is beautiful. You can touch bottom quite a ways out, and there is some good snorkeling out under the pier and further out. Hope you have a great time!

 

So I just got an email from Nativeways, and the changed the time of our excursion it is now a 1/2hr later, which means we do not get back to the pier until 2:45pm. But since local time and ship time will be the same, I am assuming we have enough time. Are the last tenders at 3:30pm??

Was the line up long to back onto the ship??

I didn't think that you tender in Cozumel, our iternary just says we tender in Labadee and in the Caymans!

[racerswife]

You will still have enough time to get back. The last tender was at 3:30. We got back to the pier at about 3:20 and there was not much of a line at all. That's not to say that you won't have a line, though. Right now, there is only 1 ship docking at Cozumel. And, it is usually for the smaller ships. We were in port with Rhapsody and they got to dock. In April, we were on the Radiance and they got to dock. It is my understanding that when they rebuilt that part of the pier, they didn't build it at the correct height, so only smaller ships can dock there right now. Depending on when you are cruising, you may get to dock, if they have more of the pier rebuilt to hold more ships.