Aquaboats With Royal Caribbean

[texancruzer]

OK - We're booked for this excursion for Nov. stop in Grand Cayman.

 

Have only seen great reviews so far .... has anyone done this excursion lately or had a negative experience ?

 

It is 12 foot zodiac type boats that you drive with one passanger caravan style to different snorkeling spots.... 3hrs.

 

Sounded like fun.....

[texancruzer]

No body has done this ?????

 

I know it is a small excursion but was hoping to hear something ????

[loveJake]

I am interested in any replies also because for 3 hours it is a lot of money. I am booked for December, but on Princess. Maybe you can reply when you get back.

[texancruzer]

I am also not on Princess..... we are Royal Caribbean people !!!! :)

 

I will definately post when I get back..... we liked the looks of this tour because the size is smaller.... only 6 aquaboats (12 people) which is why the cost might be a little higher. Have only read good reviews but was hoping someone had done this recently and give us a review ????

[Sweetbeeb]

we are Royal Caribbean people !!!! :)

Us too!!!!

We'll be doing this excursion through RCCL the last week in October. I'm looking forward to it, we booked something similar in St. Thomas on our last cruise and it got cancelled, so we've been wanting to do something like this for a long time. I will post when we get back!

[4ever]

We have not done this excursion in Grand Cayman, however we did a similar one in St Maarten a few months back and we all had a great time! definately a top rate excursion for our family (ages ranged from 40's to teens to my 7 yr old daughter) We all had a blast!

[prc]

Wife & i did this in february 2004. All I can say is hold on, because you will be ABOVE the water more than you are on it!!! This was one of the best things we ever did! The boats were WAY overpowered, meaning you could fly. The snorkleing was great. One thing to remember, as my wife can attest to...the guides told us all up front "ladies, there is no graceful way to get back in your boat after snorkling!" My wife agreed!

 

If this excursion is still like it was back then, you will have a BLAST !!!

[texancruzer]

While we lived in Florida (8 years) we had a 12 foot Zodiac and took it everywhere...... we had a blast on that little boat....dh used to get it to hydroplane....wooo hoooo

 

and no - there is no graceful way to get back in :D I only hope my rear end hasnt gotten so big I need help..... but if I do I will ask for it ;)

 

I can barely wait for this excursion......

 

Thanks everyone for the input

[jbay]

I wonder if this is kind of the same thing that Carnival now offers...there is a new excursion called the Ray Runner Stingray City Snorkel Tour. I started a post about it but no replies. :-( From the descripitions it kind of sounds like the same sort of thing. I wonder???

 

Here is the link to Carnival's decripition:

http://www.carnival.com/ShoreExcursionDetails.aspx?portcode=CAY&excursionname=Ray+Runner+Stingray+City+Snorkel+Tour&excursioncode=417040

[prc]

Well, the little boats look like the same ones...

 

I looked at your link and it seems that the only difference would be location. we went thru RCCL and the excursion was all located between Georgetown and Seven Mile Beach. It looks as though CCL is doing it on the other side of the island around stingray City.

 

Enjoy !!!

[libertybelle41]

We took this aquaboat excursion in July 06'....Bad news and good news...

 

good news.......fun concept, first stop to snorkel was fun.

boats are FAST(and we love fast)...we started out having a great time.

 

 

Bad news.........My two sons 17 & 20 had their own boat as did my husb and I. Our sons boat had a hole in it. After switching boats we were on our way..no big deal....yeah right.

Next, on the way to our second snorkeling spot. My husb was driving and suddenly the steering linkage on our boat completely broke off, turning quickly and throwing me off(he had NO control of the steering). I was just lucky that I was not too close to the motor (a child might not be so lucky..) My husb is a master mechanic so he knows exactly what happened after looking at the motor most everything was very rusted.

 

Three other boats broke during the trip. Lost lots of snorkeling time having to wait for boats to be repaired.

 

We still love the thought of this excursion. We told the the gentleman at the excursion desk on our return that these

boats need some serious repair. Hopefully they have reported it.

 

My advice : Just make sure the boats look sea worthy, because even though you have life jackets on and places to hold on...things happen. I'm sure your trip will be fine, ours was just not. :(

[texancruzer]

Wow......hope you are right and boats are now in good repair.... I will be sure to check it out before we take off..... of course some things can't be seen..... will let you know how it goes when we get back.

[libertybelle41]

Yes, please let me know when you return.

You're right, you can't always see things and we never even thought about looking at the motors(even though my husb is a mechanic:o ) but if we did we could have clearly seen the rust build up.......

It's really a great excursion and I really hope they spent some of their money on maintenance.

 

Have a great time!

[prc]

A couple of pictures...I know they are a few years old, and not the best, as my wife was trying to take them while holding on for dear life!

[texancruzer]

Thanks for the pics.....

 

checked out Carnivals link.....I think the boats are a bit bigger than the ones on Royal Caribbeans excursion as they only hold 2 people and Carnivals said 3 max per boat..... also goes to different area of the island....

 

Again, hopefully boats will be in good working order.... we are so looking forward to this excursion....

[libertybelle41]

Another option for personal watercrafts is the Wave Runner Tour to Stingray City we have booked this one. It goes to stingray city as well as Rum Point Beach. Wave runners are pretty easy to operate and they won't leak:-) Plus they are so fun to drive!!!

 

 

Sounds like great fun.:)

[waterbound]

We did this excursion last year and this is one of our favorites so far.. It was cool as we got to ride by the ships...

 

I will say it is a little difficult to get back in the boat after snorkeling..

[Sweetbeeb]

We're back.... :(

The cruise was wonderful, and DH and I had a great time on the aquaboat excursion on Grand Cayman. It was really a great time. We defnitely snorkeled more than I expected from the description given when we first booked the tour, but the snorkel spots were nice - not crowded at all.

I wouldn't do this excursion if you get scared easily, the boats can get some serious air, but we had a great time and would do it again!

[texancruzer]

Sweetbeeb: Thanks for posting !!! Glad to hear it was alot of fun. Looking forward to snorkeling as much as we can.... and nice to know the spots were good.