Prebook to visit the Stingrays or just find a vendor on the pier?

[Seattlecruisers98021]

I'm taking a group of 7-2 adults 4 teenagers and 1 11 year old. This trip is quickly adding up $$. We've prebooked a trip to Altun Ha in Belize thru the cruiseline but I was thinking I'd just like to leave Cayman open and decide when we get there whether we want to fork out enough to take us all out to Stingray city or just hang out at Eden Rock or 7 mile beach? Anybody ever just catch a vendor on the dock to go to Stingray is this a safe approach? I don't have a lot of cruise experience so any advice would be appreciated....thanks:confused:

[VegasBaby8]

We just got back and we booked a 3 hour tour thru Captain marvins. It was a blast and was only $40pp for 2 different snorkel stops and stingray city. I would recommend them highly.

 

Grand Cayman is beautiful.. the food is very expensive though so beware. lol

 

 

Debbie

[Twinrigger]

Just got back from the Conquest and did Nativeway. Worked-out well. Saw tons of vendors begging you to book SC tours with them at the pier. It would be hard to know who to trust and what kind of dreams or dumps you may end up on. I wouldn't have gone that route, but there appeared to be plenty of capacity (w/ 2 ships in port). We were early off the boat so I don't know how quickly they fill up. When we stopped back by at lunch none of the SC vendors were there, so it appears you would likely have to make your decision when you first got to port. We also did the Eden Rock snorkel (right after SC) and really enjoyed it. Eden Rock is much nicer than that you'll see during the SC tours. Would have liked to hit 7 mile beach, but the family voted for shopping (Later they wished they had voted for the beach). That leaves it for another cruise :).

[consorzio]

Captain Marvin's! Definitely! You can book on-line before you go.

[serene56]

. We've prebooked a trip to Altun Ha in Belize thru the cruiseline :confused:

 

save some money and book using-

http://belizecruiseexcursions.com/AltunHa.htm

42.pp which includes a lunch.

 

we used this tour company when we went to Belize-- we had a tour guide so we knew what we are looking at-- and the whys.

 

Carnival excursion came--dropped off the people and gave them a few moments to look-- then took off.

i felt bad because they spent much more money then we did.

 

What is the cruiselines charging for this excursion?

 

for the teens youmight want to consider the tubing excursion

[capncarp]

We were off-loaded at the beach at Bodden Town by tender with 5 other cruise ships offloading at the same time :eek:--it looked like Omaha Beach on D-Day.

If you are considering joining a stingray excursion on the beach, don't just go by price--our foray was $40 pp and it lacked a few amenities. The boat was not in the best of shape, the bait ran out a bit early, and, as the "poor kids on the block" our boat got shuffled to the far end of the sandbar, where it drops off precipitously. Add the current that swung the stern out over the dropoff, and we got a big surprise when we stepped off into 12-foot water instead of the expected 6 feet. Also, our tour was delayed about 45 minutes when the van that transported us to the tour boat had to go back to the beach to pick up the other half of the tour. No, I don't remember the name of the tour company, but we tended to refer to them as the "Ya, Mon Stingray Tours":rolleyes: because of the easygoing-but-a-little-careless tenor of the excursion.

In spite of all that, we had a blast with the 'rays!:)

YMMV, but we would book ahead next time, if we were ever to go back.

[Seattlecruisers98021]

We were off-loaded at the beach at Bodden Town by tender with 5 other cruise ships offloading at the same time :eek:--it looked like Omaha Beach on D-Day.

If you are considering joining a stingray excursion on the beach, don't just go by price--our foray was $40 pp and it lacked a few amenities. The boat was not in the best of shape, the bait ran out a bit early, and, as the "poor kids on the block" our boat got shuffled to the far end of the sandbar, where it drops off precipitously. Add the current that swung the stern out over the dropoff, and we got a big surprise when we stepped off into 12-foot water instead of the expected 6 feet. Also, our tour was delayed about 45 minutes when the van that transported us to the tour boat had to go back to the beach to pick up the other half of the tour. No, I don't remember the name of the tour company, but we tended to refer to them as the "Ya, Mon Stingray Tours":rolleyes: because of the easygoing-but-a-little-careless tenor of the excursion.

In spite of all that, we had a blast with the 'rays!:)

YMMV, but we would book ahead next time, if we were ever to go back.

 

Thanks so much for the feed back! Sounds like it was an interesting trip to the sandbar. Considering you paid $40pp there is no big savings by just finding a vendor at the dock. So I just went ahead and booked with Stingray Sailing. They don't require a credit card so if there are any issues with making it to port I won't feel at risk. They also limit the # of folks on board to under 25 and it's a catamaran. So now the excursions are booked and the cruise is paid for now all I can do is countdown the days! :)

[barleemar]

Thanks so much for the feed back! Sounds like it was an interesting trip to the sandbar. Considering you paid $40pp there is no big savings by just finding a vendor at the dock. So I just went ahead and booked with Stingray Sailing. They don't require a credit card so if there are any issues with making it to port I won't feel at risk. They also limit the # of folks on board to under 25 and it's a catamaran. So now the excursions are booked and the cruise is paid for now all I can do is countdown the days! :)

 

Have you taken the trip and would you recommend it? I found no other posts mentioning this company.