Stingray City Excursion

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Any thoughts on DCL Stingray City vs DELUXE Stingray?

 

[dreadpiraterose]

We're going to Grand Cayman soon on the Fantasy, and opted to book our own private boat to Stingray City, after reading extensive reviews on TripAdvisor. We just didn't want to deal with so many people by doing the Disney options, and wanted some flexibility on where we 'dropped anchor' so to speak. It's a popular destination, and after doing a similar snorkel via an official Disney tour, we wanted a smaller group. There are some really good deals for private charters, provided you've got at least 4 people. It's actually on par with Disney's pricing too. We're going with http://ebankswatersports.com.

 

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Thank you for your very helpful reply dreadpiraterose (love the name!).

I usually arrange my own excursions and was very pleased with Captain Marvin's in this port years ago.

My concern with this trip is the short amount of time that we'll be in port.

 

[tlwfun89]

Thats exactly what our problem was with this port. It appears the first vendor flat turned us down saying there was not enough time with not being inline with their tour times. So we are playing it safe and doing a Disney sponsored tour

 

[savage1117]

The deluxe stingray thru Disney was our worst excursion last year. I wouldn't recommend unless you like being yelled at to stand in a circle while the guides bring by a stingray for two seconds.

 

[tlwfun89]

we are trying the city tour with stingray. Anyone do this one yet?

 

[tlwfun89]

not sure how them only bringing 1 stingray happened . We went on a tour and the stingrays are literally crawling on everyone.

 

[emilymad]

We are booked on the Deluxe for next week. I will report back. We picked the Deluxe because we liked the boat better. I am assuming the rest of the experience will be pretty much the same.

We have short port times in Grand Cayman so we had no choice but to book with DCL. We couldn't find any outside vendors who would take us.

 

[savage1117]

not sure how them only bringing 1 stingray happened . We went on a tour and the stingrays are literally crawling on everyone.

There were other stingrays swimming all around us, but for most of the excursion we were made to stand in a circle while the guides brought them by us. Not worth $10 IMO

 

[tlwfun89]

Are you sure it was the deluxe version through marineland tours? The description of the other one shows people in a circle but not the one shown on the deluxe version shows reviews of marineland tours look good on trip advisor.

 

[tlwfun89]

We are booked on the Deluxe for next week. I will report back. We picked the Deluxe because we liked the boat better. I am assuming the rest of the experience will be pretty much the same.

We have short port times in Grand Cayman so we had no choice but to book with DCL. We couldn't find any outside vendors who would take us.

please do I am interested in if they are this strict because Disney requires it or if it was the other tour

 

[Castillo Mom]

So far we've only ever done one excursion through Disney. I highly recommend booking privately. Every single independent excursion we've done, we've gotten a head start before the Disney excursions, probably because of the time it takes to round everyone up. Not sure if this applies to every excursion, but it did on Grand Cayman in particular.

After a lot of research, I booked a private half day charter for our family of eleven through Native Way Watersports. They're highly rated on several sites including another cruise forum. This excursion was the highlight of our trip. Our driver met us at port and was easy to find as he was holding a sign up with the name of the company. He gave a very interesting narrative of the history of the island on the way As we got on the van, we noticed a very large group of passengers still waiting for the bus to pick them up for their Disney sponsored excursion. By booking privately, we were able to get to Stingray City ahead of the cruise ship groups Once we arrived, there were only three other small boats in the area. We also spent time at starfish point which the little ones in our group loved and were then taken to another site for some amazing snorkeling.

It was truly an amazing experience, our captain was engaging and great with the kids, and having the boat to ourselves was awesome. Oh, I haven't mentioned the stingrays yet. Beautiful! We were given squid to feed them and we were able to interact with them for a good while, separately from any of the other groups. Don't be afraid to book privately, tour operators don't want you to miss the ship any more than you do. With sites like Trip Advisor and social media, they don't want anything negative to be posted which could cause them to lose business which is their bread and butter.

 

[emilymad]

Are you sure it was the deluxe version through marineland tours? The description of the other one shows people in a circle but not the one shown on the deluxe version shows reviews of marineland tours look good on trip advisor.

Thanks for the research! This definitely looks like the one we are booked on for next week. Tripadvisor seems very positive. We will see.

I tried booking with Native Way but they wouldn't take us as we don't get to port until 10:30.

 

[PowerHouse47]

Thanks for the research! This definitely looks like the one we are booked on for next week. Tripadvisor seems very positive. We will see.

I tried booking with Native Way but they wouldn't take us as we don't get to port until 10:30.

Are you doing the Sandbar or the Stingray city?

 

[emilymad]

Are you doing the Sandbar or the Stingray city?

Stingray City I think

 

[dreadpiraterose]

I was assured that with our private charter we'll be back with an hour to spare before the last tender.

 

[PowerHouse47]

Stingray City I think

Were doing the same! Me, wife and 7 year old DS

 

[emilymad]

We are back from our cruise. We loved the Deluxe Stingray tour.

We were on the Star Wars cruise and our port times were 10:30 to 5:30. The tour was scheduled for 12:30. The tour time got moved to 1:30 but we were not notified of the time change. Just an FYI if you are booked on this tour and it still says 12:30 you might want to double check once on board.

Due to the time change we were now going out on high tide. It was also very windy that day so they expected the water level to be higher. They allowed anyone who wanted to not go to get a full refund.

There was around 50 people on the tour. We got on trolley buses to drive 10-15 minutes to the boat. The boat is enclosed with plastic windows. It poured rain once we got on the boat so were very glad that they were able to enclose the area. The boat ride was about 15 minutes. During the ride they handed out snorkel vests to all of the kids and anyone else who wanted them. There were masks and snorkels for anyone who wanted them as well although this wasn't really necessary. You also had to go barefoot. No water shoes were allowed. The back of the boat has steps to get into the water. This was an easy way to get into the water especially with the rough seas.

Once everyone was in the water they did have get into a circle with kids and women in front of the men. This was helpful in blocking the waves. There were 3 guides in the water with us. They briefly gave us some safety instructions in how to interact with the stingrays. Then they brought a stingray around to everyone so they could touch it. Once everyone had a chance to to touch it they brought it around again so everyone could take turns holding the stingray. If you had a camera the guides took lots of pictures for you. After that they gave everyone a chance to feed the stingrays.

So while they did keep everyone in a circle it wasn't restricting in anyway. When it wasn't your turn to interact with the stingray you could swim off a little ways and look at the stingrays. There wasn't anything to see elsewhere so there wasn't any need to go anywhere. There were several other tours in the area so you couldn't get too far without getting in their way. Total time in the water was about 45 minutes which we thought was perfect.

Overall we thought the tour was fantastic and the guides were great. We would definitely recommend it.

 

[Kenny1113]

We have done the deluxe stingray city excursion twice (older DS was sick last time we were in grand Cayman). It was a positive experience both times I highly recommend it. Have not done the regular one so I cannot comment on the differences.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We did stingray city, booked privately. That was the best excursion we have ever done, easily. It was such a special and unique experience. I would do it again in a second!