Beware of Nativewave Tours!

[Ohio-C-Luver]

We booked with Nativeway for the Rays, Reef and Rum Point several months ago. We were sadly disappointed last week. We went to the wait on our tender onboard the Jewel of the Seas an hour early just to catch the first tender, to assure that we would arrive in time for our tour. Sharon Eubanks had sent me a confirmation email from Nativeway but had 3 times listed at departure time, 8:30, 9 am and 9:30 for that Wednsday. We were aboard the first tender that was on time at 8:30 on April 22,2009. and arrived at Nativeways site at the port at 8:45 am, to learn that the tour had left without us.:(:eek: They tried to get us to take a regular island tour at almost the same cost, but we had wanted the Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion, as we have stayed in the Caymens when land traveling a few years ago. We were really very disappointed since we had reserved this tour months in advance and would have even paid more for the excursion. I'm sure Nativeway knows the ships tender schedule-Never Again Nativeway! I'd either book with the ship or find another more reliable tour company! BEWARE OF BOOKING WITH NATIVEWAY!!! :mad:

Best of Luck!

Jan

[bookbabe]

Sharon Eubanks had sent me a confirmation email from Nativeway but had 3 times listed at departure time, 8:30, 9 am and 9:30 for that Wednsday. We were aboard the first tender that was on time at 8:30 on April 22,2009. and arrived at Nativeways site at the port at 8:45 am, to learn that the tour had left without us.

 

Out of curiosity, did they not give you an actual departure time? Usually they list a number of options and then you're assigned to a certain tour with a set departure time...

[Ohio-C-Luver]

Out of curiosity, did they not give you an actual departure time? Usually they list a number of options and then you're assigned to a certain tour with a set departure time...

 

Like I said, she had 3 different times down, we were scheduled on the first and apparently only RRR tour that day. There were 4 ships in port. They know that all the ships coming in have to tender to get passengers to port. There was no way we could have gotten there any faster unless we took a helicopter that day. The ship's tender's were right on schedule and not delayed in any way. I'm sure they know the cruiselines schedule. I'll never use or recommend them to anyone, we were very disapointed!

[EBallgrl]

So how did the other people on the tour make it there before you if you couldnt have possibly gotten there any earlier? I have used the company twice and had the BEST experiences with them. I am sure they waited as long as possible for you guys to arrive. I believe that tour is a full day one, they may not have had time to do the tour if they had waited much longer...thats what I think may have happened. Sorry they did not work out for you.

[Garn]

When you say that you got there at 8:45, was that ship time, or Cayman time? RC stays on Eastern, doesn't it? Which would mean you arrived at 9:45 Cayman time, later than all of the times listed, right?

[Ohio-C-Luver]

We were there on the first tender from RCCL, so no one else could have taken that tour. The tour lasts till about 1:30 pm we were in port till 6 pm. I think Nativeway was short sighted when planning the tour!

 

What is done is done, but think they could have waited 15 minutes when they realized no one had tendered yet from RCCL.

[PACURN]

We booked with Nativeway for the Rays, Reef and Rum Point several months ago. We were sadly disappointed last week. We went to the wait on our tender onboard the Jewel of the Seas an hour early just to catch the first tender, to assure that we would arrive in time for our tour. Sharon Eubanks had sent me a confirmation email from Nativeway but had 3 times listed at departure time, 8:30, 9 am and 9:30 for that Wednsday. We were aboard the first tender that was on time at 8:30 on April 22,2009. and arrived at Nativeways site at the port at 8:45 am, to learn that the tour had left without us.:(:eek: They tried to get us to take a regular island tour at almost the same cost, but we had wanted the Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion, as we have stayed in the Caymens when land traveling a few years ago. We were really very disappointed since we had reserved this tour months in advance and would have even paid more for the excursion. I'm sure Nativeway knows the ships tender schedule-Never Again Nativeway! I'd either book with the ship or find another more reliable tour company! BEWARE OF BOOKING WITH NATIVEWAY!!! :mad:

Best of Luck!

Jan

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I had a great time with them just 3 weeks ago. We got the first tender off and meet up with the driver with out a hitch. We did have to wait a while though at the peir, I would say about 45 minuites. We just walked around the shops that were close by.

As far as ship tours - I took one (to stingray city)the time prior to this because I didn't know about CC then. It was a cattle heard with tons of people out there. This time there was one other boat there. We had a group of around 20, we got to feed the stingrays, take pictures kissing them none of which I was able to do in the prior tour.

Anyway that is just my personal opinion. I would use them again anytime.

[bookbabe]

We were there on the first tender from RCCL, so no one else could have taken that tour. The tour lasts till about 1:30 pm we were in port till 6 pm. I think Nativeway was short sighted when planning the tour!

What is done is done, but think they could have waited 15 minutes when they realized no one had tendered yet from RCCL.

 

That's the big difference between taking a ship tour and taking a private tour. (Besides the price, that is... :D )

 

The ship tours usually contain people from only one ship or cruise line, and specifically wait for the people from your ship to arrive. You can miss a ship tour by being really, really late, but since they usually gather you together on the ship and then herd you onto a tender together, and then onto a bus together, it's much harder to miss the tour.

 

A private tour may contain people from a variety of cruiselines and ships, plus land visitors and anyone else who has happened to book that tour for that day. While the tour operator will try to wait as long as possible to get as many of the guests as possible, they won't wait forever, since the people from the other ships, etc. may be on a different schedule and can't extend their tour time. For example, there may have been a number of people from another ship that left earlier than yours, and if they'd waited for you then they'd have had to cut the tour short or the other cruisers might have missed their departure.

[Nanatravel]

Jan, that is really too bad that this happened to you. It certainly sounds like you tried to follow all of Sharon's directions but that "ship time and Cayman time" has been known to cause problems. Thanks for sharing your recent dilema. I was considering hiring Nativeway for next February for a group I have sailing to GC.

 

We toured with Nativeway once and also had to wait for other. Then they discovered the large Mini bus had a flat. Our driver guide had the hardest time getting the tire off and finally a new one on. It was hot, he was in his white uniform, and it was very frustrating for all. We did go and everyone got their tour of GC and some went to snorkel with the Sting Rays.

 

Hope you have better luck next time. What did you end up doing for the day?

[MDSue]

We did the R,R and R tour on April 7th and had a wonderful time. The email we recieved was very specific about the tour time, listing both ship time and GC time. Because of a necessary early departure of the ship, our guides had to go out of their way to get a full day tour in and get us back before the ship left. I'm sorry about one's bad experience, but ours was great. I highly recommend them.

Our wonderful guides: