Grand Cayman-Stingray-Recommended Tour?

[jwachs]

We are leaving in January with our two children (18 and 7). There are so many stingray tours to choose from. If you were to choose one of them, which would you suggest? We're not too interested in going to Hell City, etc..more interested in spending time in with the stingrays. Suggestions?

[neverenufcruising]

We like www.nativewaywatersports.com

[RWolver672]

I highly recommend Captain Marvin. Credit card holds your reservations, you pay only when and if you go out. His boats hold approximately 20 people plus a crew of two. They get out there early and are the first to be in the area. The crew gets in the water with you and shows you what and what not to do. Then they took us to an area for snorkeling. When we got out of the water and back into the boat, they hosed us down with warm fresh water to get the salt water off us. They were great.

[jwachs]

Do you have the website for Captain Marvin? Sounds very interesting.

[finoky]

http://www.captainmarvins.com/

[stlrboo]

We also did Captain Marvin's this past April, and have booked a 'private' charter with them for this coming April.. They do a good job! :D

Make sure you say HI! to Ruth.. she is the more than helpful contact person at the Waterfront Centre! :)

[Little Red]

jwachs, we did the Nativeway Stingray Tour last January and are doing it again this February coming up. It's awesome and Nativeway is wonderful and very reasonable too. You can contact them at www.nativeway.com. If you do, tell Sharon I sent you.:D

[Jeanne B]

www.mobydicktours.com

[Gingee]

We used Soto Cruises.

[Izzy Bee]

We used Soto's and were very pleased. There were 24 persons in our group. We were picked up right on time. The tours booked through the ship had been canceled because of a storm out in the sea. Waves were higher but we had a blast. Several in our group were non swimmers and Soto's crew were very patient with them. Even staying right with one person all the time. Highly recommend them!

In my photo, I am wearing a stingray jacket!

[Brianinidaho]

We are leaving in January with our two children (18 and 7). There are so many stingray tours to choose from. If you were to choose one of them, which would you suggest? We're not too interested in going to Hell City, etc..more interested in spending time in with the stingrays. Suggestions?

Moby Dick worked for us with a 10 and 9 year old boy. They not only take you to Sting Ray City, but spend some time snorkling out at the reef, which my 9 year old like more... saw fish, eel, etc... Moby Dick was $35 per person at the dock, left at 9:30, included drinks and a spray off shower at the back of the boat, and transportation both ways. British guy ran it, and did an excellent job. Could not think of a better overall experience for the kids... the snorkling really added to it... I posted a 10 page write up under ship reviews- carnival miracle- just 2 weeks ago where I went into more details on Grand Cayman. hope that helps.

[disneylynn]

Can anyone tell me about Nativeway?

I booked them for my Miracle cruise. Stringray city tour and coral reef. $25.00

[CruiseMark]

Can anyone tell me about Nativeway?

I booked them for my Miracle cruise. Stringray city tour and coral reef. $25.00

 

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NativeWay (http://www.nativewaywatersports.com) is absolutely fantastic! They were fun, professional and were great with our kids. Our daughter (14) was terrified of the rays at first, but the Nativeway crew were so patient with her that in the end, she said it was the highlight of the trip! There were only 8 of us on our boat - we pitied the ships tours that had what looked like hundreds on their boats.

 

After stingray city they took us to the barrier reef to snorkel, then to Coral Gardens, which had a ton of colorful fish. They were there filming us too and we ended up buying the DVD.

 

One of the things that I was worried about too was making it back to our ship on time, but they were very conscientious about it and had us back in plenty of time.

 

Highly recommended!

[zydecocruiser]

Another vote for Soto's...

 

Prices change Jan 1 - $30pp adult, $20pp children 11 and under, under 3 years, free.

 

They let all the passengers get used to the water and a slow introduction to the rays before bringing out the squid and letting the feeding frenzy begin!

 

http://sotoscruises.com/index.shtml

 

Don't think you can go wrong with any of the one's mentioned. Find ones that meets your schedule and toss a coin.

[gitrdone]

We did the Capt. Marvin tour and it was the best tour I've ever taken. They were GREAT. They even Video tape you while you went snorkling and swimming with the stingrays. I like to watch my video when I get the crusing blues. What memories......

Have a great time:D

[bthorn1108]

After doing Sting Ray City 4 times, with 4 different vendors, I would have to recommend Nativeway Sports. We did them with a private party (34 people) last February and they were absolutely the best. We had 3 small children (4 year olds) with us and the crew were fantastic with them. During our trip from the Barrier Reef to the Coral Gardens, one of the crew trolled behind the boat on a rope and dove for live conch. While we snorkeled at the Coral Garden, they cleaned the conch and seasoned it with lime juice and seasoning. On our trip back to shore, they served the conch to us, with crackers. This was something we have never experienced before and a very nice touch. Keep in mind, this will not happen all of the time, as it is only permissible to dive for conch between December and February.

[jwachs]

I wanted to say THANK YOU for all of the replies. They ALL sound wonderful! Now, which one to pick???? This is as hard as picking my first drink on the ship!!!!

[kfgarrow]

We, too, went with Nativeway and were very pleased. They picked us up at the pier and took us to their boat at the Yacht Club. It was the nicest boat we saw at Stingray City that day. Just 12 of us plus our two guides so lots of personal attention. It was the first day of lobster season so our guide was diving for lobsters. He got three huge ones at Coral Garden and it was fun to share in his enthusiasm! At Stingray City our guides were very good with my kids, ages 8 and 11 at the time.

 

One interesting note about one of the larger ships tours. They piled about 75 people on an old dinghy, which made the whole operation look more like a Haitian boat lift than a luxurious Caribbean boat tour. This outfit actually left a customer in the water and our guide had to radio their boat to come back and get this gentleman! I would go with Nativeway again in a heartbeat.

[Guest Time2gocruzn]

I agree with Nativeways. We are booking their combo island tour and Stingray sandbar. That way we get to see all the sites, 7 mile, rum factory, conch house, hell, turtle farm, AND get to see the rays. I like that they go to the sand bar. The fact that it is in somewhat shallow water makes me feel like it will be better for everyone in out group. 4 hrs, $40pp. I don't think this is snorkeling, just more like wading among the rays (better for my small kids) with site seeing included. We are doing our snorkeling in Belize.

 

http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/shiptours.html

[disneylynn]

Thanks to everyone! Now I know I made the right choice.

[Terre]

Ditto for Native Way. We've used them two years in a row and no complaints. We were there on the 15th and they'd had an earthquake the night before. They didn't mention this on the ship, and our appointment with Native Way was for 9:00. They weren't there when we got off the tender and someone called them for me. They had cancelled some tours because of the wind -- it was extremely windy! They met us at 10:30, unfortunately with everyone who was supposed to meet them at that time, so our boat was packed.

 

We did the sting ray tour, but couldn't go to the coral reef because of the wind. Several people on our boat were sick from the rocking.

 

Native Way is very good and I recommend them.

[aggieastrosfan]

After doing Sting Ray City 4 times, with 4 different vendors, I would have to recommend Nativeway Sports.

May I ask what other 3 vendors you used?

 

We used Moby Dick earlier this month and those guys were awesome, but I think it all comes down to timing. Every tour operator gets raves reviews (and charges about the same), but they all have tours operating at different times, so find the one that allows you to maximize your port time.

[jwachs]

We are booked with Nativeway. Thanks for all of the feedback! I'll let you know how it went when we get back on 1/22.

[DiMar]

We checked with Nativeway and found that we could not do it with them. Our sailing is in GC only until 2:00 and we wanted to do Stingray, Hell and Turtle Farm. They said their tour for these stops begins at 9:30 and gets back at 1:30 and it will be too late for us to make it back to the ship. They said all of the private vendors start at that time, so I guess we are going to HAVE to do our tour with Carnival this time. Any comments from others who have met up with this issue. Our ship is Inspiration and the stop is 7-2.