Stingray City Snorkel Excursions at Grand Cayman

[ImNarek]

There seem to be several shore excursions - Rum Point Beach Adventure & Stingray City Snorkel, Stingray City Reef Sail & Snorkel, Stingray City Snorkel Tour, etc.

Has anyone taken any of these and can you report on what they actually involved, how much time in the water, etc?

Thanks!

 

[airtime247]

There seem to be several shore excursions - Rum Point Beach Adventure & Stingray City Snorkel, Stingray City Reef Sail & Snorkel, Stingray City Snorkel Tour, etc.

Has anyone taken any of these and can you report on what they actually involved, how much time in the water, etc?

Thanks!

I highly recommend Captain Marvin's. It is an independent company that I know you'll find great reviews about on Disboards.

We did the half-day excursion. It was only $39 and included three great stops including the amazing Stingray City. It lasted about three hours and the price included transportation to their boat from their office close to the pier and all snorkel gear.

They also had a scuba diver with us filming our excursion under water. You could purchase the DVD afterward which we did and loved it. The staff is extremely friendly and professional. Also, the tours tend to have much fewer guests than the tours you take through the ship so it isn't as crowded.

You can check out their site at www.captainmarvins.com

-steve

 

[NJ Cruisers]

Steve - We've been thinking about using Captain Marvins. Did you do the 1/2 day tour in the morning? I'm just trying to figure out if we arrive early enough to get to that one. Seems like we do. How was the snorkeling at the other two stops. We've been to Stingray City and while we love it, we'd also like to do some snorkeling.

Thanks
Diane

 

[spotdog]

I did the Disney AM Stringray Excursion which was fine. The boat ride seemed long, but there was shade. When you arrive at the place where the stingrays are there were many boats and even more people, but plenty of friendly stingrays. Kids who were comfortable in the water seemed to love this.

I did the Shipwreck/Reef snorkel in the afternoon. Since I am an avid snorkeler, I enjoyed this best, even though it was right in the harbor where the Disney Magic was anchored. I even saw an octopus in the wreck of the Cali. I would only recommend this excursion for adults and older kids who are fairly strong swimmers.

 

[staceymerrill]

we used Captain Marvins for the 2 1/2 hour snorkle /Stingray City excursion....great company, highly professional, and all the employees were courteous and friendly.....

 

[airtime247]

Steve - We've been thinking about using Captain Marvins. Did you do the 1/2 day tour in the morning? I'm just trying to figure out if we arrive early enough to get to that one. Seems like we do. How was the snorkeling at the other two stops. We've been to Stingray City and while we love it, we'd also like to do some snorkeling.

Thanks
Diane

Hi Diane,

Yes, we did the morning tour. I think I remember having about an hour to get from the ship to their office. We found the office and then took our time looking in shops around it until they were ready for us.

The snorkeling at the other two stops was very nice too. The Coral Gardens was a sandy area with lots of sections of tall coral and plenty of colorful fish.

The Barrier Reef was great too. We saw a lot more fish and they even had a moray eel they would feed. I don't know if it is still there or not.

-steve

 

[ImNarek]

Thanks for the info about Captain Marvins! I'm going to show it to my DH tonight. The 2 1/2 hour morning snorkel looks great!

 

[Wavegirl]

I highly recommend having a look at theCatamaran Stingray City tour from Captain Bryans too.

The catamaran is so much more comfortable and you get to sail too. Don't get me wrong, Captain Marvins runs a great trip too but all of his boats are motor boats and the catamarans are so open and roomy it makes it that much more enjoyable and when we went on the last time it was the same price for both trips.