Sting Ray City, Cayman Island - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

BillyMetz · 05-31-2006, 03:19 PM

I have a two part question about excursions to Sting Ray City. We are stopping at Georgetown, Cayman Island on a cruise next Spring. It is obvious by the message boards that Sting Ray City is a must do, and we plan to. RCCI offers an optional excursion as do a number of private guides on the island. My questions then are: (1) Who has done the tour in general and what do you think of it,? (2) Who would you recommed doing it through? Those going with RCCI, did you enjoy it, or do you wish you had gone with someone else? Two agencies I have read about and contacted are ShoreTours and Captain Marvins. I know there are many others.

jstducky · 05-31-2006, 05:31 PM

I certainly recommend going to Stingray City! It was the best experience of our cruise and one you'll not soon forget.

After reading reviews from various passengers, I decided to go with a private tour. And I was glad I did. When you go with the ships tour, you generally are packed onto a large boat with tons of people. With our private tour, we took the morning tour and had about 30 passengers, so they split us into 2 boats with 15 passengers each. We did the stingray city and island drive tour. It cost about $40 each. Whereas doing the Stingray City and Island Drive tour through HAL would have cost us over $60 each. Then at Stingray City not only did we go out to the sandbar and swim with the stingrays, we also were taken to 2 other snorkeling spots to go snorkeling, we saw more stingrays and even an eel! It was a lot of fun. On our island drive, we went to the Turtle Farm and Hell and had a general drive through the city. The island drive consisted of us (5 in our party), the driver guide and another party of 4.

We used Nativeway. They can be reached through their website. www.nativewaywatersports.com. I've never heard a bad thing about their tours before.

Here are some pictures of our tour...

This is the sandbar (stingray city) where the stingrays gather

jstducky · 05-31-2006, 05:32 PM

this is a stingray underwater (picture taken with a disposable underwater camera, I highly recommend you get one!)

jstducky · 05-31-2006, 05:33 PM

this is me about to get a stingray kiss

jstducky · 05-31-2006, 05:33 PM

this is the turtle farm... they have everything from baby turtles that just hatched to humungous turtles!

jstducky · 05-31-2006, 05:34 PM

finally, this is Hell

hanna · 05-31-2006, 05:59 PM

Billy,

I normally agree with jstducky, but not this time. We also went on RCCL and used the excursion from the ship. Our tour left before 8am and we only had about 30 people. We had an absolute great time. It might have cost us more, but I felt we really got our monies worth.

jstducky · 05-31-2006, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hanna

Billy,

I normally agree with jstducky, but not this time. We also went on RCCL and used the excursion from the ship. Our tour left before 8am and we only had about 30 people. We had an absolute great time. It might have cost us more, but I felt we really got our monies worth.

awww Hanna, you disagree with me?!?!?

Billy, I think that no matter what shore excursion you choose, you definitely need to go and see Stingray City though. Its an experience you won't forget!

daWoods · 05-31-2006, 10:20 PM

Geez, Hanna's in trouble now!

The trip to the stingrays was the single most memorable moment of our cruise, so much so that when we went back on the next one, we did it again. We used Captain Marvin's both times and highly recommend them. You can book via their website to make sure you have a spot. Have fun.

BillyMetz · 06-01-2006, 06:39 PM

Thanks Guys. I appreciate your input. We will be with RC on the Freedom of the Seas so I am sure there will be a lot of passengers wanting to go to Sting Ray City.