Who has done the DCL Stingray/Turtle Farm & He*l Tour?

[Shercara]

For those past Western Cruisers-
I would love to hear your thoughts about this -

We really want to swim with the stingrays but our DS's are also interested in the Turtle Farm, and would love to able to say they've been to "He*l" and back.

The DCL tour that offers all three sounds like the answer, and I know that He*l is kind of a tourist "trap" but think it would be, hopefully, our only chance to visit that place.

My concern is the Turtle Farm - I've heard that it was damaged during a recent hurricane, and infact e-mailed them and got the following response:

"We did suffer a tremdous amount of damage in Nov due to Hurricane Michelle, but we are open for tours again. We are in the process of re-building the farm, but you can see just about everything that you could see/tour before the storm."

Has anyone been, and is it worth the visit?

Thanks,
Sherri

 

[dbcruise]

hello I was just there Last Thur On a RCI ship It was the 2nd visit in 3 years to the Turtle Farm for me and My 8 year old DD . WE really enjoyed it .They have moved some tanks to the other side of the road now but you can see alot of turtles of all different sizes except real small ones . Some are huge ! They have several tanks where you can pick up and hold Turtles and take photos and Pet them .There were many people visiting some on tours some not . We just took a taxi there ourselves . It is a neat experience to go there . WE also went to Hell as other people in the Taxi wanted to go there we had been there before . Your right its mostly a tourist trap , most people want to send out postcards from hell they have a store and Post office right there . And the Stingray is really not to be missed "Fantastic" We have done it twice and were going to go back last week but after the Turtle Farm we just stopped at 7 mile Beach instead . Our first Trip we did a all around tour like what you talked about and that was Great . Last week off the boat(I mean when you come a shore there are dozens of people there selling tours just like the ones you can buy on the boat ) they were offering Tour to Hell and Turtle Farm $15.00 But you still had to pay to get into Turtle Farm but they got you a discount and you could get Stringray City for $30 . What ever you do enjoy .

 

[markey]

We were ther last Thursday, with the tour. The kids 7 and 8 had a ball at the turtle farm and thought it was funny to go to ----. We injoyed the tour, because you see the area but, the problem with the tour is that you dock and can get off the boat early, around 7:30-8. The tour said 10:00 and a 2 hour tour which sounded ok. But you meet at 10 and till you started and got back it was after 1. After eating lunch on the ship it was almost 2. Not much time left for the beach so all we got in was shopping. And in my opinion Grand Caymen is expensive compared to other places. If I had it to do over again I would take the land and sea with meets at 7:30 and get to go to the beach for an hour or so.

 

[amcanzo]

We did this tour back in July and thought it was great! My daughter loved being able to hold the baby turtles and the stingray swim was absolutely awesome! I would do it again in a minute!

Ann

 

[westjones]

But now DCL offers both in one excursion! We are booked for it on the Sept. 14th cruise coming up.

It is call Stringray City Snorkeling and Discover Cayman Tour:

3.5 hours
For ages 6 and older

"You've never been to a city like this before! Stingray City is teeming with these curious sea creatures, and you'll have an hour to snorkel among them. They'll often come close enough to touch. all snorkeling equipment is provided. Then you'll travel to a town called 'Hell' to see incredible ancient rock formations and to the Cayman Turtle Farm, the only turtle-breeding operation of its kind in the world. Bottled water and fruit punch is provided."

We were SO excited to see we could do both the turtle farm AND the stingray city. So you don't have to choose!

DJ

 

[westjones]

But now DCL offers both in one excursion! We are booked for it on the Sept. 14th cruise coming up.

It is call Stringray City Snorkeling and Discover Cayman Tour:

3.5 hours
For ages 6 and older

"You've never been to a city like this before! Stingray City is teeming with these curious sea creatures, and you'll have an hour to snorkel among them. They'll often come close enough to touch. all snorkeling equipment is provided. Then you'll travel to a town called 'Hell' to see incredible ancient rock formations and to the Cayman Turtle Farm, the only turtle-breeding operation of its kind in the world. Bottled water and fruit punch is provided."

We were SO excited to see we could do both the turtle farm AND the stingray city. So you don't have to choose!

DJ

 

[Shercara]

Thank you all for your responses! I think we will do the DCL tour, and appreciate all of your input!
Sher

 

[GoofyDonald]

We were just on the 8/17 Western and we did the Stingray City & Discover Cayman tour. This was definately the HIGHLIGHT of our cruise. DH and I thought that maybe just Stingray City would be enough but both DS's wanted to visit the turtle farm and He**. We were so glad we did it was by far the best day out of a great cruise. Disney's excursions has you on a very comfortable air conditioned bus with a great driver who tells you all about Grand Cayman history on the way to your destinations. You have plenty of time at each stop and the trip out to Stingray City was fabulous!!! You can't go wrong with this excursion. Have fun!!!!!