kayak safari and barrier reef

[new2cruising86]

we booked through carnivals website for the kayak safari and barrier reef snorkel. has anyone done either of these excursions? is there any insights you can give? thanks!

[FlaGrl4Evr]

My fiance and I want to do the Kayak Safari excursion when we cruise in Oct. I had a hard time finding any reviews as well. I went to the top of this Grand Cayman thread and typed in " Kayak Safari" in the search box. It brought up a few reviews.

 

We chose this excursion because it combines both a kayak tour with a little bit of snorkeling. We are not too much into just lying on the beach so this should be fun. The tour lasts 3 - 3.5 hours so afterwards we are heading to Margaritaville. :D

I don't have any info on the reef snorkel but perhaps you can search this too. I do know that the kayak exc. allows for some snorkel time though.

 

 

I hope you have a great time. Post a review if you decide to do this. Cari & Rick. :)

[erinmarie424]

We just did this excursion last Tuesday. There were eight couples there. We met the guide at the dock and all got in an open air bus to the kayak site about 10-15 minutes away. We were introduced to our guides and given a brief demonstration on the correct way to kayak. We kayaked for about 45 minutes which included a couple of stops for our guide to teach us a few things about the vegetation in the area. We ended up at the snorkeling platform and spent about 45 minutes there - several people just stayed on the platform and sunned themselves but most got in the water for a while - it was a nice sunny day so we were able to see a lot. One of the guides helped spot some interesting things for us to look at. The water was not very deep - 4-5 feet for the most part.

 

After snorkeling we kayaked back to shore and were all given a granola bar (each of us had previously been given a bottle of water) and got back on the bus to town. On the way back to town there was another guide that talked about the vegetation, and some cultural aspects of Grand Cayman and answered questions from some of the guests.

 

The tour was supposed to last from 9:30 to 12:30 so we did not really have time to do anything prior to meeting our group, and due to some operational hiccups on the part of the tour operator (waiting for the bus, waiting for the guide to get the snorkel platform ready for us) we did not get back to port until after 2:00. Fortunately we had not planned to do much else while we were there.

 

I'm not super athletic and I did not think it was too bad - I didn't have to over-exert myself and didn't have any pain the next day.

 

Giving the tour operator the benefit of the doubt that they usually stick to schedule a little better I'd recommend this activity to anyone that might be interested. It's not really terrific snorkeling like we did in Roatan but it was a nice way to spend our time in GC.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Erin

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Thanks Erin for posting the review. I think this is exactly what we are looking for. I especially like the fact that the water around the platform is only 4-5 ft. I am not great at snorkeling and being able to touch the bottom is always a plus. I also like the fact that the tour guides added a little bit of history and flora/fauna facts into the tour.

 

Once again, thanks. We can't wait to go. I just hope we have a sunny day like you did. Cari & Rick :)

[new2cruising86]

this Definately helps! hopefully the safari doesnt run too much after time because we wanted to snorkel at the barrier reef too :). me and my best friend going have never been snorkeling so we are so excited to try it! she and I are both wanted to do excursions to actually DO things instead of just beach because of course we can do beaches anyday. we booked the canopy adventure in jamaica and the dolphin excursion in cozumel. I wasnt aware that there was a margaritaville in GC? I knew there was one in jamaica. thats good news to know. thank you for the review on it also it puts me a little at ease because there wasnt too much of a description on the website. ill try and post a review when I get back also to help :)

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Have a good time and do post a review. The more info the better. Also, I heard that the GC Margaritaville has a cool pool area too. :) Cari

[duppa5]

We did this excursion, it was fun kayaking around. The platform snorkeling wasn't that impressive. I saw one big coral head, and a few fish. Our guide was pretty cool and informative. It is worth your time to do this.

[new2cruising86]

We did this excursion, it was fun kayaking around. The platform snorkeling wasn't that impressive. I saw one big coral head, and a few fish. Our guide was pretty cool and informative. It is worth your time to do this.

 

thank you. I figured the snorkeling on the kayak safari excursion wouldnt be that good so we booked another with the barrier reef hoping to see beautiful underwater life :)