island tour - ship or private

[cruisegirl1]

Friends want to have a nice few hour island tour. Do you suggest the ship tour (RCCL) or a private company. If private, who? -or should they just speak to a taxi driver?

 

 

Thanks.

M

[markadele]

Wife and I would also like to try this any info?

[laurieb]

I would always recommend finding a provate tour. It will be smaller, will cost less and will be a much better experience. You can google Grand Cayman excursions and will find lots of choices. You can also read others' experiences at sites like trip advisor.

[tak81288]

If you just want an island tour in Grand Cayman, there is no need to book an official excursion. Once you get off the ship, there will be taxi drivers right there at the port willing to take you around the island for a decent price. I was in Grand Cayman earlier this year and we paid $20pp to have a taxi driver take us to Hell, the rum cake store, and the dolphin park before dropping us off at 7 mile beach for the rest of the morning/afternoon. The dolphin park and turtle farm are right across the street from each so some people in our party went there too...

 

While driving the driver talked about the history of the island and pointed out things such as the Govenor's mansion, the oldest house in Grand Cayman...etc....

[cruisemainiac]

We did the same. The great thing about Caymen is there are no fly by night operators. All the taxi drivers and tour operators watch out for one another and understand that if the customer isn't happy then no one makes money. They all want to make money and provide good service, thats probably why so many ships go there.

[DebBrown]

If you walk past all of the regular drivers you will find drivers offering to take you for $10. They will try and get the full $20 but if you tell them someone else offered it for $10, the will usually go for it. It also depends on the season and how many ships are in port. The more ships, the more they will charge.

[tmitchell82]

We did an island tour through Captain Marvin's. They took us to 7 mile beach, rum factory, hell, and the turtle farm. It was just DW, DD, and I in a small van with our guide. We did this after our Stingray tour, so we did not spend much time at a few of the places, but we could have spent more time if we had wished. You can google captain marvins and look for the island tour. Cost was very reasonable and it included admission to the turtle farm.

 

Tim