Grand Cayman Excursions

[Billybob7]

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

bumpity bump, anyone?

 

[wifeofgrumpy]

Grand Cayman happens to be one of my fav stops. As young as your girls are I would suggest the sea turtle hatchery, the first time we visited we booked an excursion thru DCL and went to the Sea Turtle hatchery, a rock formation called hell and swam w/ sting rays, oh and lets not forget the rum factory (yummee). We are getting ready to go again Oct. 6, this time we are going to do it on our own, I plan on going to the sea turtle hatchery and rum cake factory, and maybe a beach. I think your little ones would really enjoy the sea turtle hatchery, they have several tanks w/ big sea turtles, then you can go across the street where you can actually p/u some smaller ones.

 

[TexasGirl]

I started a post yesterday about what we are going to try when we go in a few weeks...Nautilus Undersea Tour & Reef Snorkel. We are excited to try it.

This will be our 3rd trip to Grand Cayman in 2 years. We have also enjoyed 7 mile beach one trip...we went to the Hyatt which was gorgeous. Another good option is the Courtyard by Mariott, Public Beach and Sea Grape beach. We were impressed by Sea Grape beach too. A day at 7 mile beach is lovely and recommeded.

Another trip we've done is the Thriller boat. That was fun.

Sting Ray City is the biggest draw. We've never done that due to kid's ages and DH's queasiness about the sting rays. You'll find many posts about it.

Big Heads up: The turtle farm reinvented itself has been revamped and is now Boatwain's Beach. Although you can still do just the turtle portion though a formal island tour otherwise the prices have gone way up to reflect the new attractions (lagoon, predators reef, etc) If you do it on your own as a "walk up" be prepared....Wet Package: Includes all the great features of Boatswain's Beach
Adults: US$75 Children 2-12: US$35
Dry Package: For guests who wish to enjoy the Park without getting wet
Adults: US$50 Children 2-12: US$25
You can google Boatswain Beach and read all about it.

Rum Point is supposed to be amazing although it is too far to make a taxi practical. Most recommend renting a car our choosing a tour that includes it. I know Nativeway has a good one.

Good luck!

 

[MBPrincessMoM]

When we there a couple of years ago we just walked off the ship and made a deal for so many hours with the taxi and driver. With several little kids in our group it made it nicer to be at our pace plus it was less expensive.

 

[5infam]

We haven't been yet but I did a bunch of research on GC for our upcoming cruise. A lot of people pointed me toward cruisecritic.com, where I found a ton of helpful posts on their boards. We are taking a NativeWay tour that includes a stop at Stingray City, then a snorkel stop at the Reef, then Lunch and time spent at Rum Point Beach. All of this plus transportation to and from the port. For us, we saved over $60 from the DCL excursion, plus we get the reef stop added in. From what I have read, NativeWay keeps their boats to a max of 25 people, which will be a lot less than the DCL excursion as well as other private tour companies on the island. Here is a link to their site:

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

The one we booked is called Rays, Reef and Rum Point.

Have fun!!!

 

[Tiggerfan14]

just subscribing, would love to know about them also

 

[magmom]

Two years ago we did Captain Marvin's stingray city & snorkel tour. We LOVED it!!! We snorkeled at 2 different locations and then went to stingray city. At the time, my kids were 10, 8 and 5. The only one who wasn't crazy about the stingrays was my DD10, but she loved the snorkeling.

Have fun doing whatever you decide!

 

[CraftyMouse]

Two years ago we did Captain Marvin's stingray city & snorkel tour. We LOVED it!!! We snorkeled at 2 different locations and then went to stingray city. At the time, my kids were 10, 8 and 5. The only one who wasn't crazy about the stingrays was my DD10, but she loved the snorkeling.

Have fun doing whatever you decide!

This is what we did as well...and what we will be doing on our Western in December. We charter a private boat since we have had a party of about 10 people on both occasions. Stingray City is a "Must Do" for us...not to be missed!

 

[Wavegirl]

Our absolute favorite in Cayman would be the private tour we did this past winter. Its a private boat, gorgeous Boston Whaler and it was the 6 of us, our family + grandma and Grandpa. We did the full day trip, stingray city, snorkeling, fishing and tubing which the kids couldn't get enough of. It was superb. John Michael was amazing and we stopped st starfish beach too. He picked us up in the port and took us back at the end of the day, it was the best ever! Its a totally customizable tour, you pick what you want to do. The snorkeling stop was one we'd never been to before, so many fish and the reef was gorgous

http://grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com/CaymanOutrageEcoTour.htm

 

[5infam]

Wavegirl - This is the private tour we were looking at. They offer 3 different boat types for this tour and each are different prices. We ended up picking a different tour because these tours didn't include transportation or food, so I had to add in about $60 for transportation and another $75 for food (just a guess on the cost for the 5 of us), plus tips. The tour we finally picked is half the cost for the same amount of time, but of course not private - and we really thought it would be neat to do a fully private tour. However, I was reading through your link again and the boat you chose includes the price of transportation (which I didn't realize) - so my question for you is do you remember how much the food was at the lunch stop (either Kaibo or Rum Point) and if you don't mind sharing, did you tip the captain and if so how did you figure that out (percentage of tour price, or some other formula, etc.). I am not sure that a tip is expected, but many excursions I have been on, it is appreciated. Also, did you like your beach/lunch stop location? I was thinking of Rum Point because that is what I hear the most about.

Thank you for your help - I may have to reconsider the private boat deal again

 

[Wavegirl]

Yes this one did include transport, the Captain picked us up and brought us back. We really didn't want to go to a busy beach so the Captain called in a lunch order to Kaibo and just went and picked it up. We did simple stuff, Burgers and a chicken wrap that was really good. The portions were big and about $8-10 each. There was water and sodas onboard so we didn't have to buy those though us adults grabbed a drink at the kaibo bar. We took the food to Starfish beach and ate there It is only about 5 minutes away.
Just perfect.

As for other boats, John Michael aslo has a j-22 sailboat and that trip is a little cheaper but you can't do the tubing and the Boston whaler is much bigger (they are docked beside each other)

I had booked and paid for the tour so the grandparents sprang for the tip. I think they have him $75 but I'm not exactly sure. The half day tour is $350 and the full day is only $100 more so it was so worth the extra $16 per person for us. It was an incredible day

 

[5infam]

Thank you Wavegirl - I am going to talk with the family and see if we can't swing this tour. I like the one we have booked, but this sounds like something special and this will be our big excursion for the trip. Key West we are just doing the trolley and some looking around, Cozumel we are just doing a beach day and same thing on Castaway - so this would be the highlight of our trip. One more question - do you do the Mangrove part of the trip? Just curious if that was worth seeing, or should we do more snorkel/beach time instead? The neat thing about this excursion is that it is customizable. Thanks again!!!

 

[TexasGirl]

Island Marketing also has a Jeep excusion to Rum Point. I think next year we'll do it or Boatswain's Beach