A Different perspective on choosing Stingray City tours!

[Lynda S]

We just returned last week from snorkeling with the stingrays in the Caymans and thought I would add a different perspective on how to choose a ship or an independent tours.

As I have become less enamoured (spelling?) over the last 10 cruises of booking the ship's tours (too large of a group for me), before leaving home I booked through Captain Bryan's over the internet for six of us in our group. Our ship (Grandeur of the Seas) was to anchor at 10:00 ship's time, and we were to meet at Captain Byran's office (a 10 min. mad dash - not a 4 min. walk from the pier as they say!) at 11:15 ship's time. (it was an hour different from the island's time). The long and short of it all is that even though my husband and I got to the pier in plenty of time to make it (we were waved ahead on the first tender as my husband walks with a cane), our son and his friends did not - 3 of them were on tender 14 and the other was on tender # 16. Needless to say we all missed the tour, which was extremely disapointing, but no one's fault - it was just circumstances. Kudos to the lady at Captain Bryan's who tried, to no avail, to get the captain to come back for us though!

Anyhow, we raced back to the pier as I had seen tons of 'touters' (a proper word? I am not sure....) with signs for stingray city tours. There was one left on the pier, who it was I am not sure, but they had three spots left. My son and 2 of his friends took the spots with our blessing, and in the end the tour operator himself let my husband and I on as well (which was WELL appreciated). (I did not wine or cry - I just asked the right person!)

Never having experienced a tour right off a pier - sight (and name) unseen before I was a little apprehensive - especially when I saw the boat we were going on! It was WAY different from the beautiful cataraman I had pictured us on! There was about 20 people on the boat with us - the guy who was in charge loaded us on the boat, pointed out the 'head', the cooler full of water and juices in gallon containers, the stryo cups and the snorkel gear. And without another word went to drive the boat - except it wouldn't start. Oh my, I thought what have we got ourselves into.... But with the help of a screwdriver, it started and off we went. OK, so it wasn't as a silent as a ride as the cat would have been when under sail, and yes, you could smell the diesel fuel, but it was a nice pleasant ride to the sandbar!

Once at the sandbar the boat 'captain' asked everyone what time everyone had to be back, and once we determined the earliest person had to be back by 3:30, he set his watch and said we would have just over 1/2 hour in the water. He then gave us instructions on how to hold and feed the stingrays and demo'd it for us. It was the most INCREDIBLE 1/2 hour I have ever had in my life. There was only two other small boats on the sandbar with us and no one was rushed, and no one was hanging about taking pictures of us. We all took our own pictures and everyone who wanted to had open access to the squid for feeding the rays. The 'captain' was in the water with us, helping anyone who wished to hold a ray; and giving anyone who wanted to listen, info on them and their habits.

1/2 hour later he called us all back to the boat and off we went back to shore, in plenty of time for my husband to buy a great watch for his birthday. (sorry Kirk Jewellers for dripping all over your floor.....). I noticed too that we were not the only ones pleased with the tour as most people did hand the 'captain' a tip at the end.

I would not HESITATE to recommend to anyone else on this board to take a chance on these tour agents on the pier if they have not pre-booked a tour. The low-key quality experience that you get with the rays (which is what it is all about, right?) is INCREDIBLE.

[cali-croozer]

How much did you pay per person?

[Lynda S]

It was around the same price as I had booked for on Captain Bryan's - it was 35.00 per person. Given a choice before hand, Captain Bryan's with it's wonderful cats would have been the better deal - but I was just so happy that we could still experience the rays, I would have paid more! Pre-booking is still a better bet all around, but I just wanted everyone who hasn't pre-booked to know that those tours they sell on the pier can still be an awesome adventure!