Carnival tactics & options in Grd Caymn

[cflaw]

We are leaving 3/22 on Valor. It does not appear we will have enough time to take any indie tour of SCity & addl snorkeling. We Arr @9, LV @4. Anybody know a good tour guide that will work? Does anybody think Carnival times it like this on purpose? Carnival offers 2 options:Reef n' Rays Snorkeling & Coral Reef & Stingray Safari. They seem very simillar. Can anybody explain the difference and advise which is better? Thanks!

[noahsark99]

Hi, I am also on this cruise.... come join us on the roll call page...here's the link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=870584

 

I am currently booked with Nativeway Watersports for a stingray and starfish snorkel trip. They have other tours as well. Last time we did the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour and it was wonderful!! They are very very mindful of the ships time and will pick you up/bring you back with no problems!

 

Hope this helps!

[cflaw]

Thanks very much, that was very helpful. I'll get on that roll call page shortly--thanks for the link. BTW, we are signed up with Captain Tom on Belize.

[Le Cruiser]

Cflaw - we're also on the 3/22 Valor cruise, and we're doing the StingRay City/Rum Pointe Beach excursion. We've been to GC twice already, thought this would be fun. Everyone raves about the Sting Rays, and my wife likes to get some beach time in so this excursion will work for both of us. See you on board!

[cflaw]

Thanks Le Cruiser. We will look into that option although we want to snorkle also. Regardless, we'll see you on board.

[luvtovaca]

I actually called Carnival's shore excursion department about the differences in these 2 excursions. They said the cost is different because they are different tour companies. Also, they are basically the same, but the cheaper one (I think it was Reef N' Rays??) stops at the deeper part of the sandbar, 10-12 feet of water, not the 3 feet of water you can stand in. Hope this helps. Oh, my PVP emailed them for me and got the same answer.

[cflaw]

Thanks very much. I've done some more checking and found several highly reommended companies that can accomodate our schedule. I think we are going to take one of them rather than the ship's tours. Thanks again.

[ninetyfeet]

Last year while on the Legend we did the Nativeways Reef, Rays, and Rum Point. We did get to snorkel on a decent reef, hang out with the rays, and eat lunch at Rum Point. There wasn't really much time to hang out on the beach at rum point but I didn't mind since we got to do so many activities.

 

We went down to get off the ship early (brought along our tour details) and we did get off relatively quickly in time to have around 45 minutes before our tour started. I'd rather be early and wait than late and miss it.

 

Overall it was a great excursion, especially for our first visit to GC. This time we are going to go cheap/slow and just go to 7mile and do beach snorkeling/lunch.

 

Whatever you do, have fun!!!

[cflaw]

Thanks! We've signed up for that same tour with NativeWays. After reading everything written in the English language about these options (now you know why I need to go on a cruise), this seemed like the best option.