Any Nativeways reviews ?

[phyzz]

I have been trying to decide which tour company to use and this seems to have what I am looking for .

 

 

Any reviews of this company ? good ? bad ?

 

Thanks

[blroper]

I don't have a personal recommendation YET! We are uing Nativeway in May so I will try to remember to let you know. They were recommeded by a fried to us.

[las52]

We booked them for next week while in port. Based decision on many positive comments on this board. If you do a search, you'll see them.

 

Good luck!

[carolinesmom]

I just posted this on another thread:

 

We did the rays, reef, and rumpoint tour on 4/1/10 with NativeWays. Our children are 14, 12, 9, and 6. It was a great tour and we ended up stopping for the starfish, also. Apparently eveyone else on the boat had booked that tour and we were the only ones going to Rumpoint, so they put us together. The children were all scared of the rays. DD6 wouldn't even look at them. I ended up sitting with her on the boat, which was fine. The others stayed in the water, but didn't want to touch them. With the snorkeling stop my DD6 was struggling at first, but they fixed her up with a life jacket around her waist and she did great after that. They dropped our family and one of the guys from the boat at Rumpoint. He got us set up with lunch (was included) and then left, also. We had 1.5 hours at the beach. It is a beautiful spot and the kids all loved it, very calm, lot of shells and interesting rocks. They picked us up at the agreed upon time and took us back. The guys on the boat were great. In spite of the kids not liking the rays, it was a great day.

[James in SA]

We did the Reef, Rays, and Rum Point in September 2009 and we were very happy with them. The rays were friendly and we didn't feel in any way unsafe around them.

 

The crew were very friendly and helpful as well. They took us to a nice reef for snorkeling and pretty much let us go where we wanted without having to follow around some guy with a stupid red flag like they make you do on the Carnival excursions. And it was a small enough group that nothing was crowded. The food at Rum point was good and the Cay Brew beer was nice and cold. I recommend them.

[smkohler7491]

We are going on the Carnival Valor April 25 and booked the Rays, Reef and Rum Point through Native Ways Watersports dot com. After much research we decided to try them out. Will post some pics when we get back along with a short review. :)

[ladylawyer]

Just back from a Panama Canal cruise that stopped in GC. My group of 17 had booked the Ray, Reef and Rum Point tour, but due to problems with the ship, we were delayed coming into the Caymans. Sharon (the owner of Native Way) was wonderful! She adjusted our tour and pick-up location. The tour (Rays & Reef) was so much fun. The guys on the boat are very good with kids and freaked-out adults (after all, their first name is "Sting" :eek:).

 

Fabulous experience. I can't recommend it highly enough!

[ama-sam]

I concur with previous posters - the Rays, Reef, and Rum Point tour was great.

[Debbierpof]

Which reef do they take you to when you do the R,R & RP tour? How would you rate the reef? We are contemplating this tour or renting a car, going to Rum Point and snorkeling from there (just, no rays :(). Price wise, we save about $100 per couple if we rent the car, but not sure if the rays experience is one not to miss. I imagine we will return to GC in the next couple of years and could do the rays then... Thanks for any advice or recs!

[ama-sam]

Which reef do they take you to when you do the R,R & RP tour? How would you rate the reef? We are contemplating this tour or renting a car, going to Rum Point and snorkeling from there (just, no rays :(). Price wise, we save about $100 per couple if we rent the car, but not sure if the rays experience is one not to miss. I imagine we will return to GC in the next couple of years and could do the rays then... Thanks for any advice or recs!

 

I do not remember what reef it was. It was not the best snorkeling of our cruise (that was in Roatan), but it was good with lots to see.

I will never need to see the Stingrays again - not really my thing, a brief touch and I was done! But, I am glad I went once.

[reno3]

Just returned a week ago from the 6 day on the Freedom. Booked on line 6 months in advance. There seems to be a problem with cruise ship time and island time with these excursions. We were to meet at the dock one hour after the ship came into port. Which we did. We than sat around for over an hour. The Nativeway employee said he was trying to get other people to sign up for the tour that we had booked. We were the only people signed up for the Stingray and Island Tour and back to the dock earlier enough to do some shopping. After the hour the employee handed me his phone which Sharon was on the other end telling me that a staff member had signed me up for the wrong tour. I had emailed back and forth with them a couple of times. I also had my computer print out of our tour description. I think they just did not get others to book this excursion and did not want to take just us. That would have been fine. I would rather they had been up front with me one hour earlier, now we had lost an hour . We did a different tour that included what we wanted. We all got on a school bus for transportation to the boat. We swam with the stingrays and snorkeled (which was wonderful, beautiful colorful fish right at your fingertips). The staff on the boat was the best, they took pictures that you could purchase, which we did. They showed us how to feed the stingrays and had us hold them etc. that was a blast. When we got back to the dock Sharon was waiting for us. The others were going to a beach. We did not want the beach. We wanted to do what we had originally planned on. Sharon apologized for the mix up and she herself took us in here SUV for the rest of our planned trip. We went to the turtle farm, rum factory and a place called hell. Because of the mix up and the late start we did fell rushed at the turtle farm, rum factory and hell and did not have much time for shopping at the end. She gave us a tour of the island and was very informative in telling us about the island and culture. Everything worked out in the end and we were very happy with the outcome. Sharon really stepped up to the plate to fix the problem. I would use Nativeway again. I should have contacted them before we left for the cruise to confirm our plans and maybe it could have been straighten out before we got there.

[workn2cruise]

We used Nativeway last week for a Stingray and Island tour; we were nearly the first passengers off the ship that day and were a little early for our tour, I used that time by purchasing some Amaretto in the liquor shop on the dock and used the coupon given to me on my way off the ship. Sharon picked us up in her car, explaining we were the only ones who had booked that tour for this day. She was great! She gave a good tour and since there were only four of us it was more personalized. When it came time for the Stingray portion of our tour, we met up with the group from Carnival who had booked the Stingray and Dolphin tour (through the ship), we all boarded the catamaran and set sail. The captain was very attentive and made sure everyone had a chance to touch and kiss the stingray and those that wanted to could feed them. We headed back to land and continued our tour with Sharon and ended up at the Tortuga Rum factory for some samples and shopping.

 

I'd definitely use them again for future stops in Grand Cayman. I did have a small problem when booking the excursion in that I didn't receive Sharon's original confirmation email, when I emailed her about the confirmation she forwarded the original back to me, so we definitely had a technical problem there.

[afkpar]

We've done the rays, reef and rum pt tour twice with Nativeway. Both times awesome!

[lulu99]

used them 2 years ago..sharon was the best!!! we got back too late to go to seven mile beach as originally planned,(got a late start due to other passengers) Sharon saw how disappointed my daughter was and dropped us off there for 1 hour, took everyone else back to port,then came back to get us and would not take any extra money. I would not hesitate to book with them.

[MDSue]

Our Nativeways, Reef, Rays and Rum Point was one of my favorite excursions. They guides were very friendly and knowledgeble, they made sure we all got plenty of interaction times with the rays, the snorkelling area was very nice, and Rum Point was beautiful. They make sure that your lunch is ready when you arrive. I highly recommend the tour.

[zstell]

What type of food and beverages are included with the Nativeway tour?

[kitkat9438]

I'd like to know this as well. We are thinking of taking the Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion in December as a private excursion. Has anyone had any experience with this one and what does it include, regarding food and drink. How much time do you get at the beach?

 

Thanks!

[workn2cruise]

What type of food and beverages are included with the Nativeway tour?

 

there was water and fruit punch in a cooler on the boat that took us to Stingray City; no food was provided on our tour but we stopped at the Tortuga rum factory and had samples of rum cake (I loved the coffee one!). We did the Stingray and Island tour, other tours may be different.

[Bug'sMom]

aaahhh! to think that this time last week we were in heaven.....:)

We booked through Nativeways online and did their “Rays, Reef and Rum Point” tour which was the highlight of our entire cruise. (The Blue Hole in Jamaica was a close second). We have been to the Rays and Reef before but wanted our son to see them. The snorkeling was just average but Rum Point was breathtaking. Very picturesqe. Like a Corona commercial I could have spent all day there. In fact, when we go back, that is what I plan to do. They had a yummy lunch waiting for us (they give you a menu after you leave the snorkeling site and it's ready when you get there. The food was really good and big portions). We we rented jetskis for 1/2 an hour for $95. Single rider was $75 but my husband and I took turns taking our son out with us. The place was so tranquil and uncrowded and completely off the beaten path so to speak. Rum Point is my new “happy place” that I go to in my mind when I check out….ha ha!

Kathy :D

[kitkat9438]

Kathy thanks for the great review. Was your excursion "private"? Did it include alcohol at all? How much time did you get at the beach?

 

Thanks again.

[Bug'sMom]

Kathy thanks for the great review. Was your excursion "private"? Did it include alcohol at all? How much time did you get at the beach?

 

Thanks again.

 

Hi! The great thing about Nativeways is that they limit the tour to 25 people. We only had 8 other people with us and it was really fun getting to know them. Some were on the same ship as us and others on Carnival. I do have to say that when we pulled up to Rum Point, a HUGE cattle boat of cruise passengers were dropped off as well. I bet there were a 50 -75 people on their boat.:eek: They were on the ships excursion and they were only there briefly and then one of them said that they were on their way to snorkel and see the stingrays. SO glad we didn't do the ships excursion!!! Oh yah, there was only punch and water offered on the boat out there but I bet you could get an adult beverage at Rum Point - in fact, I am sure you could because I saw a beach bar right by the place where we ate. We had about an hour and a half there - not long enough!

[cheaptravel]

Rum Pt. has a bar for mixed drinks and a Cayman brewed beer - which is basically a light lager but cold and refreshing. The food (if I can recall, it's been a while) is along the lines of nachos, dogs and burgers. It's so far my favorite beach in the Caribbean. The picture above by my name is from Rum Pt.

[blroper]

We went on the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour a week ago. It was great! The sandbar was beautiful where the sting rays were. I am not a great swimmer but the employees on the boat were very accomodating and gave me a life vest which they strapped around my waist so I could enjoy everything. This is the first time I have ever snorkeled so I can't really rate the reef. It is near the stop for the string rays. Rum Point is beautiful but by the time we got there, we were very tired. We enjoyed lunch. I had a really yummy grilled chicken snadwich with pesto. Others had Conch fritters, hot dogs, chicken wings, hamburger. If you want to see pictures of some of this excursion see my review of the Carnival Legend.

[kitkat9438]

One question I have is if you actually get to stand in the water with the rays and hold them?

[bookbabe]

One question I have is if you actually get to stand in the water with the rays and hold them?

 

You don't really hold them so much as have them swarm you looking for handouts... :D