Marvin's vs Native-way? Short vs Long tours?

[NutsAboutGolf]

Did a search and saw there was a 2004 thread about this and figured I might as well start a new one.

 

From everything I read, there is no real negative about either and they're apparently the top two. On their sites, prices are about the exact same relative to the tour lengths. The tours seem to vary greatly.

 

It looks like Native-way goes to stringray city first and Marvin's does not, is that true?

 

Does either frown upon taking your own pictures?

 

Any insights to the different tours?

[bguppies]

Did a search and saw there was a 2004 thread about this and figured I might as well start a new one.

 

From everything I read, there is no real negative about either and they're apparently the top two. On their sites, prices are about the exact same relative to the tour lengths. The tours seem to vary greatly.

 

It looks like Native-way goes to stringray city first and Marvin's does not, is that true?

 

Does either frown upon taking your own pictures?

 

Any insights to the different tours?

 

We did the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tourwith Nativeway.

Went , reef, the rays, then Rum Point...

Nativeway was suffering severe brain farts that day and wasted more than an hour of our time, constantly having their 3 boats meet and swap passengers. (how hard is it to load 3 boats, with 3 lists of people?)

 

We spent about 45 minutes at the reef. 45 minutes or so at SRC and a little less than an hour at Rum Point. (which was mostly just eating your lunch)

 

There were 4 ships moored that day.

Ours was the 2nd scheduled to leave that day. (last tender 3:30PM)

We were supposed to get back to pier with an hour to spare.

By the time the van got near the pier area, it was 3:20 and the 7 of us from the Freedom had to jump out in traffic and run for the dock to catch the last tender.

 

Not a fun end to a good, but muddled excursion.

 

You could take as many photos as you wanted.

(the guides would use your camera if you wanted)

 

Next time we go in January, we are trying another company and a shorter excursion, so we are not so rushed at the end of a busy day.(even though we were told we would have plenty of time)

 

Bill

[NutsAboutGolf]

Thanks for sharing. I saw several people say they did the rays first; perhaps that was the short tours only. Was it super busy? I was thinking of doing the long tour but perhaps I should reconsider. For the lunch, was it included in the price and is there any choice? Or are you on your own? Their site doesn't even mention anything. According to everything I can find, my ship is going to be the only one tendered the day we go.

[suzy1212]

We've done Nativeway's Rays, Reef, and Rum Point twice. The first time we snorkeled first, the second time we saw the stingrays first. Rum Point is always the last stop. We love this excursion and would do it again in a heartbeat if we had new cruisers along that wanted to see the stingrays. We've seen them 3 times now and that's getting a little old! I wish Nativeways did a trip that only included snorkeling and Rum Point.

 

This next cruise we will just snorkel somewhere near the pier like Eden Rock and spend time in town sightseeing and shopping.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

I think the various tour operators may follow a certain radio channel to find out how busy the sting ray spot is. When we were on Nativeway RRR last Thanksgiving, Chris told us we would snorkle first since it was busy over at the sting rays.

 

When we did arrive in the area, we did have to wait a few minutes and then back into a spot that another tour boat just left. There was also a harbor patrol boat in the area. I remember Chris telling our group that they help to keep all the tour boats flowing so everyone has a chance to drop anchor.

[lazydayz]

We have done both and can recommend either. I may prefer the shorter one with Captain Marvin, but that was because it rained as soon as we left snorkeling and trip to and from Rum Point in the rain was not fun. The food was good but a Corona there costs almost $10 US after tip!