Island Marketing LTD

[jdbmga]

Please share your experience with this company. Which excursion did you do, how did it go? Would you use this company again? The site doesn't say if you have to pay for the whole thing or just give a deposit or what the deposit is. Anyone have any info.

[luvmy2doxs]

I have a private boat tour booked in Grand Cayman next week. We paid a 15% deposit. I also have an excursion in Cozumel book too and again paid a 15% deposit. The balance is due at the time of the excursion. When I get back I will be sure to let you know how it all went!

[thekidsmom]

We just did this last week and had a wonderful time! Everything was exactly as advertised and even better!

 

The only snag was that the Voyager didn't get to port until 8am and we were supposed to meet our John Michael (the captain) at 8:30am. We had emailed b4 we left to let them know of our change in schedule and John was waiting when we got there around 9am.

 

We rode in his van to the other side of the island, then had a fantastic day. First to stingray city, then to another snorkeling site, Rum Point beach for lunch and to Starfish beach (you won't believe the size of those babies), then back home.

 

I loved the flexibility of 'owning' the boat...we could spend as long as we wanted at each site, leaving when we were ready. John even took the time to shuttle a couple of our party (who weren't dealing well with the swell of the ocean) to Rum Point beach early, then took the rest of the party to the back of the snorkeling site.

 

I would do it again in a minute!

 

Darlene

[nybumpkin]

Darlene - thanks for posting! We've booked a 1/2 day charter with John Michael in February and are really looking forward to it!

[MamaParrotHead]

Everything went smoothly and tours were as described.

 

In Coz we did the private van tour, which was EXCELLENT. Our driver was AWESOME and went off without a hitch. They were very accomodating.

 

In GC we did a Jeep Caravan tour, which was just OK. It wasn't Island Marketing's fault, I don't think, but our "guide" didn't really know much about the island itself and it was pretty much just a ride around Georgetown and to Rum Point (which, after we got there, was the highlight of the trip). I wasn't real impressed with the island of GC, but Rum Point was fabulous.

[luvmy2doxs]

We just did this last week and had a wonderful time! Everything was exactly as advertised and even better!

 

The only snag was that the Voyager didn't get to port until 8am and we were supposed to meet our John Michael (the captain) at 8:30am. We had emailed b4 we left to let them know of our change in schedule and John was waiting when we got there around 9am.

 

We rode in his van to the other side of the island, then had a fantastic day. First to stingray city, then to another snorkeling site, Rum Point beach for lunch and to Starfish beach (you won't believe the size of those babies), then back home.

 

I loved the flexibility of 'owning' the boat...we could spend as long as we wanted at each site, leaving when we were ready. John even took the time to shuttle a couple of our party (who weren't dealing well with the swell of the ocean) to Rum Point beach early, then took the rest of the party to the back of the snorkeling site.

 

I would do it again in a minute!

 

Darlene

 

Darlene, we are on the Voyager too next week. Originally we were supposed to arrive in GC at 8am eastern time but now online it says 8:30. I emailed them also but never heard back so I assume they probably know what is going on with the Voyager. We are also on the GC Outrage Eco tour and am looking forward to having only our group of 6 on the boat. It should be nice. Can I ask how easy was it for you to get an early tender off the Voyager since you had a private excursion booked? We mainly want to go to Stingray City, snorkel and then Rum Point Beach. How was starfish beach, was it worth the stop? From the looks of Rum Point beach, we wanted to spend as much time there as possible. We booked the 5 hours, is that what you did?

[LJC1861]

Thanks for the great review Darlene!

 

We have the Outrage booked for our group of 6 in May and are really looking forward to it.

 

I am glad to hear that everything went smoothly for you and know that we can anticipate the same.

 

Linda

[drewdie]

When you go to the Island Marketing sight, which excursion do you click on to do what you mentioned- I didn't see one that included stingray city, starfish, and Rum Point beach.

[teresapink]

We just booked the private 46 ft sailboat through Island Marketing...is this what everyone is talking about? I have been trying to get some information on this boat for some time now and I hope this is it!

 

Teresa :)

[Nemo2005]

thekidsmom:

We are doing the Outrage Eco tour in February. Tell us how/where to find our captain once we tender in.

[cruizinpartyplanner]

:)

We just booked the private 46 ft sailboat through Island Marketing...is this what everyone is talking about? I have been trying to get some information on this boat for some time now and I hope this is it!

 

Teresa :)

 

 

We also have booked this tour for our march trip with RC FOS and I would love to hear some reviews on in too - when are you doing this?

Beth

[teresapink]

We are not going until April 23rd.....I hope someone has been on this and responds...otherwise, we'll have to wing it!

 

T

[cruizinpartyplanner]

Well, if nobody else responds before we go - I'll write a review when we get back. The eco-tour that they are talking about sounds great, especially cause it has some beach time but we are traveling with another family so our group size is 10. We really wanted a catamaran for the stability so I hope the seas aren't too rough for the kids but the boat looks awesome. We have also booked the Tucan Sailing tour in Cozumel on this trip wich is a 35' tri-maran for the entire day that includes snorkeling, fishing, beach stop and spinnaker rides; with a max of 16 people.

 

If anyone has done either of these trips - please let us know!! thanks :)

[thekidsmom]

HI guys; I"ve been off the boards this week as I try to get back into the swing of work. Re-entry to reality has been a bear! :)

 

On the Island Marketing website, it's called th ECO-Outrage Tour; we did the longer version (5 or 6 hours?). The pictures on the website of the boat and locations are VERY accurate.

 

Luvmy2dox--we did send a note to them re: the time change, but never got a response back. Thankfully John Michael, the captain, was exactly at the spot we were told to meet him. As someone else metnioned, the tour operators intimately know the ship’s scheudle into their city as that is their bread and butter.

 

Tendering from the Voyager-my DH went down REALLY early to get a ticket (7:15am-and wasn't the first in line) and we ended up with Tender #4, which freaked us out since we were being told that was a 9-9:30am departure. Ultimately, we were off the ship between 8:15 and 8:30am. They called tenders in groups of 2 (tender #1 and tender #2), so it moved pretty fast. Abut 15 minutes after they had called #1 and #2, we decided to head down to the tender area to see what was up and just walked on to a tender. The annoyance (at least for my DH) was that not one person on that tender of 200 people (including our group) was asked to show their ticket.

 

We walked about 2-3 blocks to our meeting place (exact location was specified in our email receipt/confirmation once we paid the deposit) and got in John’s mini van and took over. The drive was about 20-25 min to the other side of the island where he stores his boat. After about 5 minutes of prep, we took off. It was a nice chance to chat with John and layout the plans for the day, as well as see how ‘real’ people live, go to school, etc.

 

The boat is nice and newish and is very comfortable for 6 passengers (see their website pics). The first stop was Stingray City. Most of our group really, really enjoyed this. Personally, I freaked out when I jumped in the water, couldn’t touch bottom as I was expecting and got a mouthful of water and saw the stingrays coming at me. A little panic ensued and I got my butt back in the boat. :) I hadn’t been all that excited about the stingray thing anyway, so I don’t know what I was thinking by jumping in! If I had only swam about 3-4 feet away from the boat, I could have easily touched bottom and been fine. But, even tho it is a sand bar and you can touch bottom, you have to remember that you are out in the middle of the ocean and the waves DON”T STOP! So if someone in your group is uneasy in those conditions, or not a strong swimmer, I would just have a life vest ready for them, if only to sooth their nerves. There were children and much older folks in the water and there were doing just fine. The 4 folks in our group that went in said it was the coolest thing EVER and would do it again in a second.

 

Next stop; a snorkeling site. John dropped a couple of our group off at nearby Rum Point b/c they were not going to snorkle and wanted to hang on the beach. When you get to Rum Point, he does not pull up to the dock (probably to avoid a docking fee and to keep from scratchig his boat), so you do have to jump into the water (3ft deep) and walk into the beach (maybe 30 yards); the water and beach are so beautiful that it looks fake.

 

Re: snorkeling....the snorklers in our group LOVED it....however, again...you are in the open water, so safety should come first. John didn’t have more than one of the typical dive vests (but did have regular life vests), so you might want to ask him about this before you leave his dock in the morning, or bring your own. Also, if someone is a beginner, be honest when John asks about the experience level. He seemed to gauge his need to hang close to you during snorkeling on your answer. I sat in the boat while they snorkeled and enjoyed seeing the live conch that John showed me that he brought up from the ocean bottom. I also loved watching the multiple kite surfers around Rum Point.

 

We then decided to go eat lunch at Rum Point and pick up our friends. Great place, real bathrooms/showers. Prices are Grand Cayman $$$$$, not US $$$$$$. Lunch for 3 with drinks was almost $60; pricey for a beach bar, but Grand Cayman is pricey. Excellent french fries tho!

 

Starfish Beach...this is actually just a 8 minute walk down the beach from Rum Point. While we were having lunch, John rounded up 5 or 6 starfish for us to look at when we returned to the boat. They were HUGE and a treat not to miss. Again, the water and beach is so beautiful that it just doesn’t look real.

 

On the way back to the dock, John drove us through the Mangrove area and explained a bit about the nature park.

 

It was an absolutely fantastic day and I can’t imagine how it could have gone any better (I’ve forgotten about the whole panic thing with the rays!). The best thing about the whole day was that we dictated how long we snorkled, hung out at stingray city, etc. Several HUGE tour boats pulled up to Stingray city and came and gone while we were still there...they might have been there 10-15 minutes; we stayed at least 30-45.

 

Take lots of sunscreen, water cameras and a sense of advenutre. You won’t regret it!

 

Darlene

 

p.s. half of our group took the non drowsy version of Dramamine in the morning and were very glad we did....the seas weren't rough, but it's the open ocean and a smallish boat and you WILL feel waves and you WILL get splashed as you travel.

 

Pics of starfish, stingray city and the incredible water attached.

[luvmy2doxs]

Thanks Darlene for all the information, very helpful! We will be down very early to get our tendering tickets plus we might just go on down to the area and just get on like you did! I've printed all that you wrote and I am taking it with me so I won't forget. We leave tomorrow morning and will be getting on the Voyager Sunday. Can't wait and sounds like we chosen the right thing to do in Grand Cayman. My DH and I have been to stingray city before and loved it so we will be fine, not sure about our friends but like you they don't have to get in if they feel a little scared. We are planning to snorkel just a bit and then spend the rest of the time at Rum Point. And as you said, everything in GC is expensive so I expect that! Thanks again!

[teresapink]

How far is Rum Point from the tender pier?

T

[thekidsmom]

Teresapink-I'm not sure how far it is from the tender pier......we could just barely see the ships from Rum Point if we squinted, so I'm assuming it was a significant boat ride, if there are boats that make that crossing.

 

From the pier area, we had a 20-30 van ride, then a 15-20 min boat ride.

 

Luv--as I write this, you are on the Voyager...hope you are having a great time!

 

Darlene

[Chicks on a Cruise]

I have booked with Island marketing for 2 excursions. In Jamaica I'll be having a van tour of DRF, fern Gully, Ocho Rios and shopping. I am hoping the driver is flexible about what the group wants to do. Especially since a friend just got back from Jamaica and says NOT to shop at Island Village. The tour is a better price, longer and more personalized than the cruise ship offers. I'm hoping for the best. On Cozumel we booked an all inclusive resort for the day through them. Another good thing about the company is that i get immediate email responses from them. All questions are answered. Service is friendly and fast. I hope their island tour reps are just as good.

[Chicks on a Cruise]

I have booked with Island marketing for 2 excursions. In Jamaica I'll be having a van tour of DRF, fern Gully, Ocho Rios and shopping. I am hoping the driver is flexible about what the group wants to do. Especially since a friend just got back from Jamaica and says NOT to shop at Island Village. The tour is a better price, longer and more personalized than the cruise ship offers. I'm hoping for the best. On Cozumel we booked an all inclusive resort for the day through them. Another good thing about the company is that i get immediate email responses from them. All questions are answered. Service is friendly and fast. I hope their island tour reps are just as good.

[wolfganghowell]

We booked the waverunners through Island Marketing in 2006 and enjoyed it so much we booked it again this April. I agree about Rum Point - just beautiful. We also booked Nachi Cocum in Cozumel through them this upcoming cruise. They are a reputable company that many cruisers have used for quite awhile.

[kdwtchr]

I just book the stingray city tour for four of us. It said I will get an email within 2 business days with the information needed. I had to give a 20% deposit now and the remainder in cash or traveler's when arriving. I hope it all goes through!

 

Cheri

[luvmy2doxs]

We just got back from Grand Cayman and we had booked the Outrage Eco Tour through Island Marketing. We paid our deposit up front and then the balance in cash to our Captain. I want to say this was the best day of our whole cruise. We had so much fun with Captain John Michael. His boat holds a max of 6 people which is how many that was in our group. It was so wonderful to be on a boat by ourselves. He asked us what we wanted to do and we did just that. We went to stingray city first for about 40 minutes and stayed away from the large tour boats there. Then we hopped in his boat and he took us out away from the crowds to do about an hours worth of snorkeling. This was the best part of the trip just snorkeling out by ourselves in the most beautiful water with lots of fish and reef. The water was calm that day and just fantastic. After that we headed to Rum Point where he dropped us off and we spent about 2 hours there then he parked down at Starfish Beach and we walked down (5 minutes) the beach & took pictures with starfish then got in his boat to head back. He took us through the mangroves on our way back. Back to town we went and he took us back to Hard Rock which is where we wanted to go. It was only about a 4 minute walk back to the tender. He told us we needed to be sure and give at least 1 hour to get back to the tender which we did. Monitored our time at Rum Point because it is easy to just forget about everything once you are there. Very fun day and would recommend to anyone. We are so glad we didn't drive to Rum Point because we got so much more out of this trip!

[luvmy2doxs]

We just got back from Grand Cayman and we had booked the Outrage Eco Tour through Island Marketing. We paid our deposit up front and then the balance in cash to our Captain. I want to say this was the best day of our whole cruise. We had so much fun with Captain John Michael. His boat holds a max of 6 people which is how many that was in our group. It was so wonderful to be on a boat by ourselves. He asked us what we wanted to do and we did just that. We went to stingray city first for about 40 minutes and stayed away from the large tour boats there. Then we hopped in his boat and he took us out away from the crowds to do about an hours worth of snorkeling. This was the best part of the trip just snorkeling out by ourselves in the most beautiful water with lots of fish and reef. The water was calm that day and just fantastic. After that we headed to Rum Point where he dropped us off and we spent about 2 hours there then he parked down at Starfish Beach and we walked down (5 minutes) the beach & took pictures with starfish then got in his boat to head back. He took us through the mangroves on our way back. Back to town we went and he took us back to Hard Rock which is where we wanted to go. It was only about a 4 minute walk back to the tender. He told us we needed to be sure and give at least 1 hour to get back to the tender which we did. Monitored our time at Rum Point because it is easy to just forget about everything once you are there. Very fun day and would recommend to anyone. We are so glad we didn't drive to Rum Point because we got so much more out of this trip!

[Cat57]

We booked the waverunners through Island Marketing in 2006 and enjoyed it so much we booked it again this April. I agree about Rum Point - just beautiful. We also booked Nachi Cocum in Cozumel through them this upcoming cruise. They are a reputable company that many cruisers have used for quite awhile.

 

Hi,

Can you advise if you had much time in Georgetown after the excursion? We are also booked on Waverunner excursion that departs from Grand Caymanian and goes to Stingray City and Rum Point. I was wondering approximately how long the excursion is.

Thanks

[jdbmga]

Hi,

Can you advise if you had much time in Georgetown after the excursion? We are also booked on Waverunner excursion that departs from Grand Caymanian and goes to Stingray City and Rum Point. I was wondering approximately how long the excursion is.

Thanks

 

It says it's approx 2 hours. If you email them (click on live help) they will answer any questions you have including what time the excursion departs and returns. :)