Able to get off the ship in Grand Cayman?

[Denvick]

I heard through many of the postings that cruisers who take the Western Carribean Cruise have had problems getting off the ship while at Grand Cayman because of the weather; particularly the wind. Has anybody experienced this and if so what time of year was it? I am going on the Western Carribean cruise in two weeks and would like to know what my chances are for going on the Stingray tour. I have heard that the ship hasn't able to dock numerous times. Anybody out there who has gone to Grand Cayman on the Magic?


Dennis

 

[mmouse37]

We sailed last January 4th '03 and we could not get to Grand Cayman due to high winds...The Grand Cayman Port Authority would not let any cruise ships in.

Many passengers were very upset, but we took it in stride...DCL refunded all Disney booked Grand Cayman excursions automatically and printed up a new Navigator with many activities to keep guests busy!!!

We wound up in Cozumel a night early and the crew was very excited because they got an unexpected night off on land!!!

MJ

 

[eagmommy]

I went on the 2/28 western, and we were able to go to Grand Cayman. It was breezy that day, but sunny. What a gorgeous port! I was so glad we were able to go!

 

[mississaugamom]

I was also on the 2/28 sailing and we were able to tender in at Grand Cayman.

However, Disney CANCELLED their snorkelling excursions to Stingray City that day! We were booked on the 7:30 excursion and were waiting to disembark when the announcement came that the seas were too rough for Stingray City.

From reading these boards, I knew Disney has done this in the past and people who booked with other companies still got to go, so we hurried upstairs to get tender tickets and found Nativeway onshore. We got on their excursion leaving at 10:00, and it was WAY better than Disney's would have been. (Bigger boat, fewer people). Captain Marvin's has also been highly rated and has an office in the Waterfront Centre about 6 blocks from the dock.

Good luck - the stingrays are awesome!

 

[Denvick]

Thanks Everybody!!

I have reservations with Captian Marvins so hopefully if the ship is able to port I will be able to go. We have set up a a big group of Disers to go on one boat over to Stingray city.

I guess it really is a 50/50 chance that I will be able to port. I just thought as the spring approaches that it would be a higher percentage of the boat being anle to dock..


Dennis

 

[mark & sandra]

We sailed 1/17/04 and due to high winds they stopped the tender boats. They did however move the boat to the other side of the island, Spots Bay, and resumed the tenders. We also had high winds in Castaway Cay but we were the ship that was filming an episode of According to Jim and with all the money involved with this production, It seemed to help them make a special effort to dock. I'd heard that others weren't so lucky on days with similar weather. ...Mark

 

[hydster]

We've done 6 W. Carrib cruises (none with DCL) and only once we weren't able to visit Grand Cayman. We've done the W. in every season and the one we were not able to dock in was early September and a hurricane was starting to form somewhere nearby. Other than that we've gone and had beautiful weather each time.

Heidi