Atlantis Sub ~ Will my father and his grandchildren like this excursion?

[Family of 14]

My father has decided (and already asked) my niece's to go on the Atlantis Submarine with him in the Grand Cayman's.

We are terribly disappointed because we had hoped that the whole family would do the Stingray/snorkeling tour with Nativeway together. My DH and I have done this before and wanted everyone else to experience it.

My parents have said that they aren't interested in the Stingrays, my brother says he will be too squeemish and they do not want to disappoint my father/the girls grandfather.

I really feel that my nieces will miss out on something great if they don't swim with the Stingrays. I may be wrong. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Has anyone done this excursion? How was it?

Atlantis Submarine Excursion:
[url="http://shorex.rccl.com/RC/AvailList.asp?pmode=Browse&ShoreXSessionID=E58E447C7FAA4B0D9A4A0F23BC7100B9&pagreement=&pdest=CARIB&pdestname=Caribbean&pship=+&pvoyage=Fri+Apr+16+11%3A48%3A41+EDT+2004&plksessionid=2A0E4D833E&pcur=USD&preflang=ENG&pport=GC+&pportname=Georgetown%2C+Grand+Cayman&peventdate=Fri+Apr+16+11%3A48%3A24+EDT+2004&pshorexid=557&pshorexdescid=16580&pshorextitle=Atlantis+Submarine&padultamt=86&pchildamt=44&plocationtype=null"]http://shorex.rccl.com/RC/AvailList.asp?pmode=Browse&ShoreXSessionID=E58E447C7FAA4B0D9A4A0F23BC7100B9&pagreement=&pdest=CARIB&pdestname=Caribbean&pship=+&pvoyage=Fri+Apr+16+11%3A48%3A41+EDT+2004&plksessionid=2A0E4D833E&pcur=USD&preflang=ENG&pport=GC+&pportname=Georgetown%2C+Grand+Cayman&peventdate=Fri+Apr+16+11%3A48%3A24+EDT+2004&pshorexid=557&pshorexdescid=16580&pshorextitle=Atlantis+Submarine&padultamt=86&pchildamt=44&plocationtype=null[/url]

Sorry this link made everything so long. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

[GinaDucey]

I enjoyed Atlantis very much - but for me I would rather do the Stingray snorkle. We did the Stingray tour in the very early am and then right after we did Atlantis is Cayman and it was a wonderful day - but nothing compared to swimming with the rays!!!! Just my thoughts.

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Paradise 2/00
Imagination 4/02
Ecstasy 5/03
Paradise 10/03
Sovereign of the Seas 4/04

[Nanatravel]

On our first stop at GC, we did the Atlantis submarine dive. It was a good and dry experience as I cannot snorkel (breathing issue) or dive. This is the best port for this dive, too. However, the Swim with the Sting Rays experience was 10 times the more memorable cruise tour option which I highly recommend. You don't have to be a strong swimmer or even put your head into the water if you are standing on the Sand Bar. Since grandpa probably won't be able to schedule both tours with the family, ask him if the family can take a vote. Children under 6 may be squeemish with the Sting Rays until they realize how gentle these creatures can be. Before you do your Poll, print out your responses, check out the ports reviews for Grand Cayman, check out the Family forums for family reviews on tours at GC and write a compact reveiw of your findings. Present this to all the members including adults in your family to personally review and give them a ballot to express their desires of what interests them most: Sting Ray snorkel in clear azure waters or Atlantis Sub dive in a 30 man enclosed capsule that could go down more than 100 FT below sea level. Also, check on private tour prices with Soto, Nativeway, Capt. Bryan or Capt. Crosby for group rates. Atlantis is about $80 or more per person when we went many years ago. Keep in mind, ships sometimes have to cancel a tender stop at GC or relocate to a distant small pier if the seas are rough off Georgtown. I wish you well.
Bon Voyage

Celebrity Millennium 2/22/04
Carnival Conquest 10/26/2003
Carnival Legend 4/11/2003
Carnival Pride 2/23/2002
Celebrity Galaxy 11/2001
Grand Princess 3/2001
Celebrity Millennium 9/9/2000
Sea Princess 2/22/1999
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Rhapsody of the Seas 3/1998
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Celebrity Zenith 11/1996
Legend of the Seas 6/1995
Celebrity Horizon 4/1994

[Family of 14]

Nana, we planned to go with Nativeway again at a cost of $30 pp. The submarine experience is $86 for adults and $44 for children. I agree with you, but can't seem to convince the others. They just don't understand what they are missing out on.
I just want to make sure that my father and the girl's (probably the rest of their families) are going to have a good time with what they are doing.

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[RumRunner01]

I also vote for the Stingrays! Grand Cayman is the only place you can swim with them in the wild. Other places have them penned up. The Atlantis is "ok" by my standards, but the Stingrays are much more fun. Atlantis gets stuffy and you don't always see cool stuff. Not to mention photo ops aren't that great when taking pics through a porthole. Stingrays are very gentle and beautiful and love to be stroked. Makes much better photo ops as well. I agree with an earlier poster who said take a vote.

Adventure of the Seas 05/02/04

[kclegends03]

it isnt very roomy...i was squished the whole time...but it was still fun

Voyager 4/21/2001
Explorer 3/16/2002

3/13/05 AOS...HOPEFULLY
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[Family of 14]

kclegends03 - Did you mean on the sub or with the stingrays?

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[D4]

If that's what they want to do even though you've already talked up the stingrays, then why not let them? It's everyone's vacation.

My family of 4 has cruised with my parents 5 times. We always say up front is that we shouldn't feel like we have to do everything together and that we should all speak up about what we want to do. To me, that is what makes our vacations together successful and fun for all of us.

[Family of 14]

Very true! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

However, what one wants to do and what one needs to do when they have no idea what they are going to miss out is a different story.

My family asked me for excursion suggestions for them since they have never been to any of the islands. The stingray excursion has been mentioned over and over as a must do, but apparently it went in one ear and out the other.[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Stingray was to be the ONLY excursion we were all going to take together. All three families has something different planned, from my suggestions, for the other islands. My parents are going to tag along with anyone doing tours that don't require beach/water time. Therefore, they will not be with us much. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

It saddens me that two of my nieces are going to miss the Stingray excursion. My other niece and her parents are going to go with us. When that niece starts talking about her experience to her cousins, I can just hear them asking their Daddy why they didn't get to go. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] They have been to many aquariums and are planning a pre cruise trip to Sea World already. The submarine will be the same type of experience where you look at sea life through glass. Nothing beats the experience of swimming in the ocean with sea life!

BTW - The niece that is going with us to Stingray City, is also going to do a dolphin swim in Cozumel. Her cousins are not.

But, you are correct in that they are making their own choices and I have tried my best. My main concern is to make sure that the submarine excursion is going to be enjoyable and worth the money for them. So many of these ship excursions are disappointing.

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