Turtle Farm Excursion

[love2travel]

Has anybody done the Turtle Farm Excursion, I know it's included in one of DCL's excursions. Did you like it? Was it worth it? Our DD9 really wants to go there. Any help would be appreciated!!

 

[mjantz]

We liked the Turtle Farm but I don't know that'd I'd book it as a Disney Excursion. BTW, I'm assuming this is the one on Grand Cayman. Anyway, we just did our own thing & hired a taxi to take us to the Turtle Farm, Hell & the Tortuga Rum Factory. The driver told us a lot about the island along the way. I think it ended up being about $40/person & we paid to get in the Turtle Farm.

 

[KSDTink]

If you are talking about the one on Grand Cayman, yes, we did it a couple of years ago. My DD was 7 at the time and loved the turtles. We stopped at the tourist mecca called Hell (coral formations that are said to resemble hell) and went to the Turtle Farm. The turtles are in large pools and you can reach in and touch some of them and some you can even pick up. As I recall we did this as part of a tour that then went to Stingray City to swim with the rays. That was a lot of fun too.

 

[DisneyKevin]

We did the Turtle Farm a few years ago as part of the Island Tour excursion. We thought it was a fun thing to do. There are turtles in every size imaginable.

They ask if anyone would like to hold one of the turtles and I volunteered. I was handed one a bit bigger than the average dinner plate. It quickly became apparent that turtles do not like being held as it slapped my wrists with it's flippers. These are extremely powerful animals and felt like I was holding a huge gyroscope as the turtle tried to get free.

One of the things we found surprising was that these turtles are literally being "farmed". Some are released into the wild as a way to re-populate the species, but the majority are raised as a food source. This could be upsetting to a child.

Also, we went before the hurricanes did damage a few years back. We haven't been back so I can't tell you if there are any significant changes.

Kevin

 

[lindakmonty]

We did this on our first two western cruises and they were great trips. DS loved it. It was cool to stop and mail postcards from "hell"... see seven mile beach ... its really neat to hear some of the background of where you are. See that these tiny crappy huts we wouldn't live in sell for $400k... its a beautiful island. Great place to buy tanzanite....and the turtles are really neat.

 

[Ltl Mermaid]

I SOOOOOOOOO recommend this tour in Grand Caymen. I am an excursion fiend and have done an excursion at literally every port (including the non DCL cruises we have done) and this was my favorite by far! The turtle farm was SO neat. My sister and I have TONS of pics of us holding the turtles and rubbing their chins to calm them down! Stingray city is a MUST DO IMHO. It was gorgeous and totally unique. It isn't cheap, but SO worth the price...GO FOR IT!!!!

 

[webray]

We did the turtle farm and we loved it. You don't have to pay the DCL excursion price though..do it on your own. When you disembark the ship in GC, go left at the top of the dock, and just a short ways up on the left is the taxi dispatch station. You will find a person organizing people into air conditioned vans offering a two hour island tour that includes the turtle farm, hell and many other great places. They let you out, look around, plenty of time to spend at each place. It is absolutely excellent. Don't forget to tip your guide/driver at the end of the tour. Enjoy!

 

[nanatink]

When you do ithe island tour on your own how much do they charge?

 

[Capt_BJ]

You do realize what the primary operation is at the turtle farm, right?

Not all turtles are released......

Not, MOST turtles are released.....

frankly, I don't have a problem with the real deal. But I object to the farm's hiding the truth to capture more $ from the tourists that think this is an establishment dedicated to restoration of the species.

Or - in case I'm too subtle above....did you see the menu in the snack bar?

Some of the best turtle soup on the island......

I'm full of dot dot dot dot ? .... Google it ....

 

[eeyoregon]

We went to the turtle farm in April, at it's new location across the street from it's old home. We went indepentently. Rode the city bus for about $1.50 per person.

Personally, it made me sad to see the thousands of huge turtles floating stacked on top of one another in floating feces. There is zero shade to take refuge under so if you are sensitive to the heat, be careful.

My son LOVED the hands on tank and quickly became the designated turtle picker uppper for the other tourists! He learned to rub their chins to calm them and would have spent the entire day picking up and petting turtles had I let him.

I'm glad we went but I wouldn't go back.

 

[webray]

When you do ithe island tour on your own how much do they charge?

I believe it was $20 per person.

 

[webray]

You do realize what the primary operation is at the turtle farm, right?

Not all turtles are released......

Not, MOST turtles are released.....

frankly, I don't have a problem with the real deal. But I object to the farm's hiding the truth to capture more $ from the tourists that think this is an establishment dedicated to restoration of the species.

Or - in case I'm too subtle above....did you see the menu in the snack bar?

Some of the best turtle soup on the island......

I'm full of dot dot dot dot ? .... Google it ....

The turtle farm is not hiding anything from the public. This is a great opportunity for people to see/touch/hold the turtles and learn about them, they could have just closed it off and raised them. I think it's great that it is open to the public.

 

[Tinker326]

We did this last November on an independant excursion. The tour we took told us right away the main purpose of the turtle farm, so we knew going in.

It was only okay for us. One of those things that I'm glad we did, but would never go back to if I got back to Grand Cayman. Seen it, Done it, That's enough. Now, stingray city- that's another story...I'd gladly go back there again- that was AMAZING.

The tour we took offered stingray, rum factory, Hell & turtle farm. Total price per adult was $45 and that included turtle farm admission. That was about half of what our ship's price for the same excursion (and WAY less crowded).

And on a side note, we visited the island after the hurricane. The land portion was still very much in disarray. This was 1.5 years after the hurricane went through. Turtle farm was fine & stingray city was fine. But the town itself & the beach were still in the process of rebuilding.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We did the Turtle Farm as part of the this tour:


Stingray City Observatory & Island Tour (G-18)
Explore the island of Grand Cayman on this stunning scenic tour that includes stops at the fantastic rock formations known as "Hell," and the delightful Cayman Turtle Farm. Then, journey to the sandbar at Stingray City for an unforgettable underwater experience as you observe stingrays from a partially submerged semi-submarine — without ever getting wet!
Activity Level: Mild
For Ages: All Ages
Adult Price: $58 (ages 10 and up)
Child Price: $47 (ages 0-9)
Duration: 3.5 hours

We enjoyed the tour all the way around - air conditioned bus, enough time at each location to see what we wanted to see. The tour picked us up just over from the dock and returned us to the same spot.

Here's a picture of me holding a turtle.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

We did it in CAYMAN part of the island tour it was very good we all held the turtle as above, my youngest son held it and it struggled a bit and fell a bit to the floor, we were very worried, it didnt fall far, but the people said it was ok. My son now always talks about the turtle with a headache

 

[mattmommy]

We did the DCL and highly recommend it.

The turtles were ok. Like a poster mentioned--no shade at all. There's not much to see. It's maybe a 15 minute thing to do. One girl (not in our group) about 8 was holding the turtle. It started to struggle and she dropped it. We all screamed because we were worried about the turtle. All the kids in our group who were clamoring to hold one, dropped back and started to cry themselves (ages 5 - 9). In the end all the adults held them for petting.

DS5 and I stayed in the air conditioned van at the rum cake factory. We did get out to see the tourist trap Hell. Yep, tons of pictures and bought stuff too.

The stingrays were the best part. The water was shallow enough that ds could stand and crystal clear. Whoever DCL uses did an excellent job with our gang of 14. (ages 5 - 66). They worked with the squeamish old and young. We tipped them well. They allowed you to bring water cameras and also took their own pictures. They showed the pictures on a laptop, you pay for them ahead of time and sent you them on disk via snail mail. We received the pictures in 2 weeks.

This excursino was worth every penny.