Grand Cayman Tender

[MAF23]

Can anyone give me an idea how long it takes to tender from the ship to port? I have read that it takes longer to get boarded, but no real time line. I am not a fan of tendering, and my mom is less than excited, as she is prone to getting sick on smaller boats. Any info is greatly appreciated? Also...is Turtle Farm worth the price? Have read mixed reviews. THank you.

[afrikaa]

Can anyone give me an idea how long it takes to tender from the ship to port? I have read that it takes longer to get boarded, but no real time line. I am not a fan of tendering, and my mom is less than excited, as she is prone to getting sick on smaller boats. Any info is greatly appreciated? Also...is Turtle Farm worth the price? Have read mixed reviews. THank you.

 

About a 5-10 minute ride, so I have heard. Not sure about the Turtle Farm, sorry!

[tak81288]

Can anyone give me an idea how long it takes to tender from the ship to port? I have read that it takes longer to get boarded, but no real time line. I am not a fan of tendering, and my mom is less than excited, as she is prone to getting sick on smaller boats. Any info is greatly appreciated? Also...is Turtle Farm worth the price? Have read mixed reviews. THank you.

 

The tender at Grand Cayman is really short..Only about 5 minutes or so....How long it takes to actually board the tender might depend on your sailing because I too have seen conflicting reports...

 

Our ship got to GC around 7am...Seemed as though most people wanted to get off around between 8 and 9am...(I saw a huge line of ppl waiting at that time)...We had a leisurely breakfast and went down around 10am and had no wait..We got right on with a few other people and were off to the island...

 

I think in GENERAl if you wait until the majority of the ppl with early morning excursions are off the ship, the wait for a tender and the ride over won't be too bad...

[slsgal]

Can anyone give me an idea how long it takes to tender from the ship to port? I have read that it takes longer to get boarded, but no real time line. I am not a fan of tendering, and my mom is less than excited, as she is prone to getting sick on smaller boats. Any info is greatly appreciated? Also...is Turtle Farm worth the price? Have read mixed reviews. THank you.

 

Went to Cayman at the beginning of June with the Carnival Legend. The tenders are a good size and once you are on board the trip is really only 5-10 minutes max.

 

We went to the Turtle Farm, my kids enjoyed it. With what is going on in the Gulf with the oil spill the conservation at the turtle farm is pretty timely. There is a lot of walking around involved out in the sun. The day we were there it was about 95

[Santaa]

It takes about five min. to go from the ship to the pier as you can see from the pic the cruise ships are very close. As far as the turtles I can't help you we do the stringray sandbar:D

[sandy18]

Santaa!!!

 

Hi! This question is for Santaa or anyone who has done the stingray sandbar in Grand Cayman through Carnival.

 

I am an experienced cruiser but this is the first time that I will be traveling as a mom of twin 1 year olds. Yikes!

 

I've seen in independent tours of the stingray sandbar that the boats have "regular" stairs that make it easy to embark/disembark once you get to the sandbar.

 

Is it the same way with the Carnival excursion? They dont show that many details in their website and I am afraid that it might be difficult to disembark with the babies.

 

Thank you in advance for your help with this one!

[JohninDC]

We did the Moby Dick Stingray & Snorkel tour - great tour and great service, but it was more of a ladder to get back into the boat.:( A bigger tour boat might be easier:confused: You can stand in the water, it is only 3 feet deep or so, and pass your babies to someone already on the boat. Service on our tour was great and the crew worked hard to ensure the kids had a good time, but there were none quite that young with us. Good luck!:)

[Breucklin]

thank you so much for posting the pics of the tender, ive been very hesitant to go to the grand cayman islands because of it....im a bit more at ease!!!

[Friscorays]

My tender ride was exactly ten minutes from departing the ship to pulling up to the tender dock.

[Santaa]

This might help you can check them out on the internet and they have a nice ladder as you can see.

 

Enjoy our Grand Cayman Stingray City Excursion in style with the newly refitted 50ft Buccaneer Catamaran! The Buccaneer Stingray City shore excursion is legendary within the local and stay over tourism sailing vessel knowledge. This beautiful 50ft catamaran offers specious surroundings, a fully equipped galley, easy water entrance for snorkeling, comfort and more

[sbnuggie]

Santaa!!!

 

Hi! This question is for Santaa or anyone who has done the stingray sandbar in Grand Cayman through Carnival.

 

I am an experienced cruiser but this is the first time that I will be traveling as a mom of twin 1 year olds. Yikes!

 

I've seen in independent tours of the stingray sandbar that the boats have "regular" stairs that make it easy to embark/disembark once you get to the sandbar.

 

Is it the same way with the Carnival excursion? They dont show that many details in their website and I am afraid that it might be difficult to disembark with the babies.

 

Thank you in advance for your help with this one!

 

Howdy Sandy18,

 

I'm a father of identical twin girls, albeit they are 8 yrs old now, but I still remember how much work they were at 1yrs old, although I miss that age (enjoy it while you can). I couldn't recomend taking your little one's into the water at Stingray bar. Yes the water in some spots is only 3 - 4 ft deep, but there is a lot of wave action and you/they will get splashed in the face and salt water does sting the little one's eyes, and at one I don't think they would enjoy/appreciate the experience. Plus looking at the photo of that ladder I wouldn't want to haul the kiddos up and down that ladder. With the hot sun, you will be in for a long day. If you want to go to stingray bar, as already been suggested, have someone stay on boat with the kiddo's while you go into water and kiss the rays, then swap spots with whoever is in the boat.

 

Also, I wouldn't take the Carnival Excursion, it's a cattle call, in other words, you will be cramed on the boat with 50 - 75 people and all of you want to see the stingrays at the same time. When we went the 1st time we went on jet ski's and we could see the cruise ship excursions pulling in with a mass of humanity pouring off, it was not a pretty sight and made us happy we were in such a small group. Do a search on this board, most people like Capt Marvins or Nativeways I believe. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Skeeter60]

Can anyone give me an idea how long it takes to tender from the ship to port? I have read that it takes longer to get boarded, but no real time line. I am not a fan of tendering, and my mom is less than excited, as she is prone to getting sick on smaller boats. Any info is greatly appreciated? Also...is Turtle Farm worth the price? Have read mixed reviews. THank you.

 

It took us about 5 minutes to tender but about 20 minutes standing in line. We had a private charter from:

Island Marketing Ltd (Cayman)

http://grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com

 

Here is our boat compared to a tour of other groups we saw!

jmboat2 (2).pdf

theirboat (2).pdf

[griffy116]

There may be some who disagree, but I can't imagine taking a 1-yr old (let alone 2 1-yr olds) to Stingray City. It's going to be hot, climbing a ladder while holding a child, while keeping the stingray away. The safety talk about how to behave in the water with the child would make me think twice for safety reasons. If you or husband accidentally stepped on one of the rays while carrying your child, it would be terrifying. I would re-consider taking the little ones along unless one will be staying in the boat with the children at all times.

[jbh7]

we took the Moby Dick tour, which was great, especially since they have a cover on the boat to sit under. But I would not take 1 year olds - I'm only 5 feet tall and while I could stand and pet the rays, the waves (which weren't too strong) were still moving me around and splashing. And remember you are climbing that ladder while the boat is moving. So if you go and take the kids - recommend you take turns on the boat staying with them and getting in the water. Plus Moby Dick also took us over the reef to snorkel, so if the others do also you would have to stay on the boat with the twins.