Cayman Land Excursions... anyone?

[Weinercruisers]

I posted this in the Grand Cayman thread but got no responses.... I was hoping that some of you seasoned cruisers could take a look and give me some advice.

 

We are going to be in Grand Cayman in January. I am looking for an island tour ONLY. We have already done the stingrays. We are taking my parents this time and my mother cannot get in and out of the boat to swim with the stingrays. I am having a difficult time finding a company just for an island tour. There is only one place that I have found but they are already booked... there has got to be more than one, right? We did the RRR tour thru Nativeways and I would use them again in a heartbeat but the only land tour they offer, includes the stingrays. Anyone with any suggestions? TIA for your help :)

[Sandgnat]

I posted this in the Grand Cayman thread but got no responses.... I was hoping that some of you seasoned cruisers could take a look and give me some advice.

 

We are going to be in Grand Cayman in January. I am looking for an island tour ONLY. We have already done the stingrays. We are taking my parents this time and my mother cannot get in and out of the boat to swim with the stingrays. I am having a difficult time finding a company just for an island tour. There is only one place that I have found but they are already booked... there has got to be more than one, right? We did the RRR tour thru Nativeways and I would use them again in a heartbeat but the only land tour they offer, includes the stingrays. Anyone with any suggestions? TIA for your help :)

Have you called Nativeways or e-mailed them with your request? They might be able to help you if you have a large enough group.

[Fergus]

We did one that went to Hell (short stop to go in the post office and look around at the rock formations), to the rum cake factory (a stop to - go figure! - buy rum cakes!), and to the turtle farm (longer stop to tour the facility and shop in the gift shop.)

 

If you can't find anything suitable before you sail, you'll definitely be able to find something once you get there......there are lots of tour vendors set up at the wharf.

[Weinercruisers]

Fergus- Do you remember who it was that you used?

[cruisebie]

Here are a couple of companies that have a land only tour:

 

http://www.caymaninanutshell.com/halfshell.html#1

 

http://www.shoretrips.com/common/search4.asp?rcode=CAR&lcode=GCM&tcode=005292

 

Both of these have options for a 2 hour tour around Georgetown and also an option for a private tour to the east side of the island. Another option you might want to consider is renting a car. I think this is what we are going to do in August.

[cruisebie]

Also Captain Marvin's has an option for a land tour that can be booked separately from the stingray tour.

 

http://www.captainmarvins.com/secureres/index.html?catalog4_0.html

[Loving My Life]

We used cayman in a nutshell dot com 2 weeks ago. We did the stingrays with Capt. Marvin, then the land tour with Dennis from cayman in a nutshell. He was great and I would highly recommend them. They do just an island tour. Another option is renting a car, which somebody already mentioned, that would probably suit your needs best. There are also many vendors at the pier offering tours and I'm sure you'd find what you are looking for.

[KandCsailing]

We did one that went to Hell (short stop to go in the post office and look around at the rock formations), to the rum cake factory (a stop to - go figure! - buy rum cakes!), and to the turtle farm (longer stop to tour the facility and shop in the gift shop.)

We did a tour like this one also. My In-laws did not want any water excursions. We booked ours on board the Carnival Liberty.

[Weinercruisers]

I didnt think of renting a car... How do you go about doing that in the caymans? Is that something you can do when you get there? I bet it is better to reserve that in advance.

 

Thank you all so much for all of this information... I really appreciate the help. I knew SOMEONE had to know the answers to my questions!!!

[G'ma]

I posted this in the Grand Cayman thread but got no responses.... I was hoping that some of you seasoned cruisers could take a look and give me some advice.

 

We are going to be in Grand Cayman in January. I am looking for an island tour ONLY. We have already done the stingrays. We are taking my parents this time and my mother cannot get in and out of the boat to swim with the stingrays. I am having a difficult time finding a company just for an island tour. There is only one place that I have found but they are already booked... there has got to be more than one, right? We did the RRR tour thru Nativeways and I would use them again in a heartbeat but the only land tour they offer, includes the stingrays. Anyone with any suggestions? TIA for your help :)

 

The last 2 times I've been to Cayman, I have rented a car. Avis is located right on the waterfront. We have driven around the island....last time drove out to Rum Point and had a delightful lunch on the beach....sunned a little bit. It is easy to drive, good roads and the car rental was reasonably priced.

 

If you do a little research, you will be able to plot a route for you and the family.

[Havinsnest]

The last 2 times I've been to Cayman' date=' I have rented a car. Avis is located right on the waterfront. We have driven around the island....last time drove out to Rum Point and had a delightful lunch on the beach....sunned a little bit. It is easy to drive, good roads and the car rental was reasonably priced.

 

If you do a little research, you will be able to plot a route for you and the family.[/quote']Anything special one needs to do or needs to know to rent a car in a foreign country?

[Weinercruisers]

HI KATHY!!! Can't wait to see you guys!

 

Only thing "special" I have found with renting a car is that you need a Visitors License which is about $7-$8 and I think you get it at the rental place.

 

The place we were looking at for a private land tour is already booked on our date. :(

[KandCsailing]

We did a tour like this one also. My In-laws did not want any water excursions. We booked ours on board the Carnival Liberty.

Found my excursion prices: $45.00 from Carnival.

It says the tour is approx. 2 hours long; Ours was just over 3 hours, I think they aren't rushing as much on the last afternoon tour.

[Weinercruisers]

KandCsailing- were you crammed in with a ton of people? Was there airconditioning?

[KandCsailing]

KandCsailing- were you crammed in with a ton of people? Was there airconditioning?

 

Not too bad - the van (mini bus) had one row of seats behind the driver and 2 on the opposite side that had a flip down seat that would fill the aisle (but no one sat in these seats) and 4 seats across the back.

 

We think there was air conditioning since the windows are all closed in my photos and we don't recall melting. See the photo with my in-laws.

 

We filled 3 or 4 vans and they all took off for different places so we only had one van at a time at each stop.

 

Our guide also dropped two girls from our tour off at 7-Mile Beach on the way back to the ship and I think was going to come back for them after a couple hours (or there are buses available, but I think they look very similar to these vans).

[barleemar]

The last 2 times I've been to Cayman' date=' I have rented a car. Avis is located right on the waterfront. We have driven around the island....last time drove out to Rum Point and had a delightful lunch on the beach....sunned a little bit. It is easy to drive, good roads and the car rental was reasonably priced.

 

If you do a little research, you will be able to plot a route for you and the family.[/quote']

 

 

I looked on Avis website and only listing off airport is at Westin and Marriott. Is this the one to which you refer? Thanks in advance for your answer.

[maggieworkman]

Not quite what you asked, but I thought I would let you know. My mom went with us on the Stingray, Coral Gardens and Starfish tour through Nativeway and she just enjoyed the boat ride. She didn't get in and snorkel. The guys were really nice and held up a stingray for her to see and touch while she was still on the boat. They also brought up a Starfish that she could hold.

 

There were several other ladies on the boat that did the same thing.

 

Maggie