Tendering in Cayman/Non-carnival excursions

[HoustonTodd]

Ok, in the past I have always used excursions through Carnival directly. This time I'm looking at booking through Captain Marvin's in GC. I am concerned though about getting off the boat in time. We are scheduled to arrive in port at 7am, the excursion starts at 8.30. Am I going to have a hard time getting onto the island early since I won't have booked through Carnival? Don't they give the first tenders just to people with early excursions through them? Does anyone have any experience/insight in this regard? Thanks for any input!

[firefly333]

If you are arriving at 7 am .... you can be off the ship way in time to get there by 8:30, its a short walk to his little place where you meet. Go have breakfast and relax and you will still make it in time. no worries.

[salty dingo]

They don't advertise this, but the folks onboard don't want to delay your excursion, Carnival or not. When they call for the early Carnival Excursions to meet in the lounge or wherever it is, go and have a seat.

 

When you see the Cruise Director, in between announcements, go up, introduce yourself, and say you are on an independent tour.

 

In my experience, they tell the independent tour folks to wait in a certain area and they will try and work them in. I have never had a long wait. Maybe the second or third tender max. You can make any tour if you get off that early.

[djacobson]

Ok, in the past I have always used excursions through Carnival directly. This time I'm looking at booking through Captain Marvin's in GC. I am concerned though about getting off the boat in time. We are scheduled to arrive in port at 7am, the excursion starts at 8.30. Am I going to have a hard time getting onto the island early since I won't have booked through Carnival? Don't they give the first tenders just to people with early excursions through them? Does anyone have any experience/insight in this regard? Thanks for any input!

 

As others have stated, you should not have a problem if you are in the lounge early enough to get your tendering ticket.

 

I wanted to comment about Captain Marvin's. I have taken excursions with him twice, the most recent one with Captain Marvin himself at the helm! They do a great job. One of the best excursions I have ever taken.

[scgamecock]

Ok, in the past I have always used excursions through Carnival directly. This time I'm looking at booking through Captain Marvin's in GC. I am concerned though about getting off the boat in time. We are scheduled to arrive in port at 7am, the excursion starts at 8.30. Am I going to have a hard time getting onto the island early since I won't have booked through Carnival? Don't they give the first tenders just to people with early excursions through them? Does anyone have any experience/insight in this regard? Thanks for any input!

 

We got on one of the first few tenders and had plenty of time. Was supposed to be there at 8:45am and we were. Went to Capt. Marvin's and they told us to come back in an hour. Went to a little coffee shop, had a muffin and did some shopping for gifts.

 

To our surprise, we were the only people on the bus. We really got VIP treatment that day! Capt. Marvin's was great! As well were the Turtle farm, Hell & the rumcake factory. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Hammerhead's. Food was excellent, beer was cold & we had a great view of the ship.

[geovet]

I've done this tour twice. Plenty of time to get there, pay and then wait or walk around. Great tour! You will love it. Small group. You will see other tours with gobs of people. Just relax and have a great time.:D

[JCFollower]

Sounds like Capt. Marvin is really great! How do I get a hold of him?

[supercrunch]

We just did the 8:30 tour with Captain Marvin on the Legend last week. They didn't hand out tender tickets or anything...we just went down to deck 1 after we finished our breakfast and they started tendering not long after that. We were over there with plenty of time to spare.

 

If you don't have plans for the rest of the day, what we did was have them drop us off at Royal Palms/Reef Grill and we spent a few hours on the beach before heading back to the ship. It was a perfect day!!

 

JCFollower, It's just captainmarvins.com

[JCFollower]

Thanks for all the info - did lots of looking tonight and I think we will be booking with Captain Marvin's for the short excursion. What beach did you go to afterwards? You said you went to that one restaurant so did you go to Seven Mile beach? Is there a charge and is it crowded? Can you snorkel there too? Thanks for all your help! Can't wait to go!

[bunnyette]

On the Liberty, everyone just lined up and got on . We lined up for the first tender as I wasn't sure how long...we too were 1 hour early. Moby Dick told us to come back for 9:25 so we checked out the stores and had a good look around.

[supercrunch]

Thanks for all the info - did lots of looking tonight and I think we will be booking with Captain Marvin's for the short excursion. What beach did you go to afterwards? You said you went to that one restaurant so did you go to Seven Mile beach? Is there a charge and is it crowded? Can you snorkel there too? Thanks for all your help! Can't wait to go!

 

Yes, Royal Palms/The Reef Grill is on seven mile beach. There is no charge to use the beach or restrooms/showers, and the Reef Grill (the restaurant there) has a reputable bar and great reviews.

 

There was a stand where you could rent loungers, and I noticed that they were also offering activities like parasailing, etc...but we didn't stop to look, so I didn't have a chance to notice if they offer snorkeling or anything else.

It wasn't crowded when we were there, and there were plenty of taxi's ready to take us back to the port.

 

We plan on spending a lot more time there the next time we find ourselves in GC.

 

their website is...http://www.reefgrill.com

Make sure to check out the webcams!