which submarine excursion?

[db78]

Looking to book one of the submarine excursions on Grand Cayman. It looks like there are 3 to choose from, two are partially submerged and one fully submerged. Any experiences out there with any of these and opinions of which is better and why? Thanks!

 

[karibritt01]

I'm interested, too. I am considering the partially submerged one because it views 2 shipwrecks, which my kids would love. Would like to know if anyone has done this one.

 

[JerseyBelle]

My answer is not from experience. It is from research. Hopefully someone who has actually taken these will respond or maybe you could find something by searching the board. We chose Seaworld Explorer Semi-submarine. Here is how we made our decision:

We checked out the websites for the activities (these were provided in our passporter book)

Seaworld explorer and Atlantis Submarine are the same company. http://www.atlantisadventures.com/cayman

Nautilus Undersea Tour is http://www.nautilus.ky

We didn't feel that the Nautilus website gave us any insight so we put this at the bottom of our list.

The main thing we notice between Seaworld and Atlantis was the viewing windows. The viewing windows on the Seaworld were so much larger than the Atlantis.

So even though the Atlantis was a fully submerged excursion, we thought the Searworld's viewing windows were better and decided to go with the Seaworld.

Now if you want to combine it with a snorkeling trip, it is only the Nautilus that Disney has grouped as a combo (Nautilus Undersea Tour and Reef Snorkel).

Hope this helps.

 

[db78]

I was worried about the viewing and thought it would be better with the fully submerged, so good to know not so. Thanks for sharing your research.

Anyone out there actually done these excursions who care to comment? Thanks.

 

[FirstTimeCruiser]

We did the Atlantis Seaword Explorer Semi-Sub in GC last month. The windows are very large it's a very clear view. They took us over 2 shipwrecks which you could see very clearly. They also have a diver go down and feed the fish so you lots of fish right at your window. It was a really cool experience!

 

[db78]

So FirstTimeCruiser, did everyone have their own seat and window for a good view?

 

[FirstTimeCruiser]

The seats are bench seats and you're sitting quite close to everybody in there. The windows are large enough where eveybody has a good view. About 3 people would be looking out one window. Here's some pictures...

 

[db78]

Thank you so much for posting the pics. They are great and helped me make up my mind to do this excursion!

 

[JerseyBelle]

Thank you FirstTime Cruiser. I felt confident from my research but it is great to see the pictures.

 

[Selket]

We did the Atlantis semi-sub back in October (me and my 5 year old) and it was a very easy excursion to take. The sub is right there once you get off the tender. We both enjoyed the views underwater and the sub staff was very nice. I liked their gift shop too actually. It is a very short walk to and from the tender to the ship.

For those with young kids you do have to climb down (backwards - in other words with your stomach facing the ladder) this sort of step ladder down into the "sub" part of the boat. My 5 year old (who had some mobility/muscle problems when he was younger) really balked at doing this ladder! I did get him down it finally. It is extremely sturdy and not at all scary to an adult. Just an FYI if you need to prepare your kids!

 

[cristit14]

Wed did the fully submerged excursion in Dec. I wasn't impressed. It was cool to go down 100+ feet. The windows are smaller than the ones in the previous pictures, but I still think two people can look out okay. Now, the seas were rough the day we were in GC and all of the semi-sub excursions were cancelled. We just didn't see very many fish. Everything looked pretty murky to me. Maybe if the weather had been better we would have seen more.

 

[ironwill1979]

Wed did the fully submerged excursion in Dec. I wasn't impressed. It was cool to go down 100+ feet. The windows are smaller than the ones in the previous pictures, but I still think two people can look out okay. Now, the seas were rough the day we were in GC and all of the semi-sub excursions were cancelled. We just didn't see very many fish. Everything looked pretty murky to me. Maybe if the weather had been better we would have seen more.

We also did the fully submerged excursion back in 2002. The viewing ports are smaller than the pictures posted above, but I still enjoyed it. Here's some pictures from that trip:

 

[mastmi]

Has anyone booked this excursion on their own? It looks as though we could save a little money by doing so and since it is close to the tender, we wouldn't have to arrange additional transportation. Any thoughts?