Please help 1st time cruiser! VOS change of itinerary excursion problem/question?

[rsdroid]

Hi! I had booked Stingray Sailing for the afternoon tour on Jan 19th off of Voyager of the Seas out of Galveston. Even though I have not been able to find any info on whether the ship itinerary times in port is the same as the local (eastern) time or not, I was still sure we were going to be ok, either way. BUT, now RCI has reversed our port stops :(, causing me to have to rebook on the 20th, and we are now scheduled to be in port earlier in the day, from 7 am to 4 pm (ship's itinerary).

 

So my question for anyone who has been on RCI to Grand Cayman, How fast are the tenders normally to get off the ship, and when does the last tender normally leave before the ship's scheduled departure?

 

I need to decide on whether to do the morning tour or the afternoon tour based on our new itinerary. Is an 1 1/2 hrs from ship's scheduled arrival to tour departure enough time to tender and meet our guide from Stingray Sailing?

 

Thanks!

[baldilocks]

We did the stingray / beach tour on the Freedom last month. The tenders from / to the ship were running about every 15-20 minutes. They seat about 175-200 people each. The time we used was ship's time. Ask them about that. We had an early tour so I'm not sure about later tour timing. The bus takes about 20 minutes to get to the boat site for the stingray city (add 10 minutes for waiting around). It takes another 20 minutes to get to the stingrays. You will be in the water about another 20-30 minutes (beautuful experience...the highlight of our cruise). Then reverse the time back. Be aware that we were on the same bus as some of the people that went on to the dolphine experinece as we went to the beach. The beach was badly erroded from a recent storm and it was rocky in the water...but the people who rented snokel equipment and swam out said it was great to see all the fish. I would plan on seeking a tender at least 30 minutes prior to when they say the last tender will leave for the ship.