Who's Capt. Marvin...

[MzShelle2U]

I am looking into my excursions for my upcoming cruise on the Valor. I just feel so lost and I don't even know where to start. In Grand Cayman, me and the hubby decided that we wanted to see stingrays. He even agreed that we could see dolphins (I just may wait until we hit Cozumel).

 

Okay, so what I want to know is: Who should I go with to see stingray's? What's their contact information so that I can book? Also, my hubby can't swim that great. Is the water deep?

[jaga04]

We went to Stingray City with Capt. Marvin's and had a really good time. Adults can stand there, so no need to swim.

[explorergrl]

We also did Stringray city with Capt Marvin a couple of years ago. Great time and there is no swimming there. You need to shuffle your feet in the sand. So you don't step on the sting rays There are a couple of stops he will do for snorkeling before Stringray city. you can either stay on the boat or use a life jacket. :o Have fun!

[ssbeard1]

We too went with Capt. Marvins several years ago and again 2 weeks ago. Their priorities have changed. We would not use them again - the boat was extremely crowded (apprx. 35 people), they were more interested in everyone huddling together to wait in line to get your pic. made with a stingray (for a fee of course) rather than enjoying the experience. They only opened one small box of bait to feed the stingways, with 35 people not everyone got a chance. They were 30 minutes late leaving town to go to the boat, which made us late getting back into town, leaving only 30 minutes before we needed to be back on the ship. Where they anchored (which is totally luck of draw) for sting rays the water was at least chest high, occasionally neck high on me (5'3") - there are areas where the water is waist high but we did not get that spot. Many people on board were not happy. Very few left a tip for the boat workers (we were one of the last to get off the boat as we were up front and their tip jar held a single "green bill" - didn't see denomination and maybe $2-4 in quarters) and no one tipped the driver of the bus (even though he mentioned several times that tipping was appreciated). we are usually extremely generous with tipping on these tours, but did not this time. Of all the tours we did, this was the only one we did not tip on.

[ladeeesquire]

We too went with Capt. Marvins several years ago and again 2 weeks ago. Their priorities have changed. We would not use them again - the boat was extremely crowded (apprx. 35 people), they were more interested in everyone huddling together to wait in line to get your pic. made with a stingray (for a fee of course) rather than enjoying the experience. They only opened one small box of bait to feed the stingways, with 35 people not everyone got a chance. They were 30 minutes late leaving town to go to the boat, which made us late getting back into town, leaving only 30 minutes before we needed to be back on the ship. Where they anchored (which is totally luck of draw) for sting rays the water was at least chest high, occasionally neck high on me (5'3") - there are areas where the water is waist high but we did not get that spot. Many people on board were not happy. Very few left a tip for the boat workers (we were one of the last to get off the boat as we were up front and their tip jar held a single "green bill" - didn't see denomination and maybe $2-4 in quarters) and no one tipped the driver of the bus (even though he mentioned several times that tipping was appreciated). we are usually extremely generous with tipping on these tours, but did not this time. Of all the tours we did, this was the only one we did not tip on.

 

wow! sounds like you had a bad experience. we used marvin's last september and we had very few people on our boat, (maybe 10-12 and we were 5 of them). They actually didn't take any pix. I was surprised somewhat as I'd read that many of the outfits do. It makes sense really as so many people don't have water cameras. Anyway, I cannot imagine that many people on one of those little boats that would be way too crowded.

 

One of the questions I always ask before I book as how many is the max they will take (either van/taxi tour or boat). Did they tell you in advance there could be that many?

[twinkletoes4445]

We've been using Captain Marvin's for years and have always had a wonderful experience. Maybe we've just been lucky, but we have no complaints at all. They did take pictures, which we loved! We didn't stand in line waiting ... we fed the stingrays and spent time in the water, and then at some point we walked over and had our picture taken with the rays. I think I read that they've clamped down on how many boats can be at the sandbar at one time ... so maybe they are also limiting how much they are fed, at any rate, we were able to feed them this past time and in our other trips.

 

This time we asked Denver (Captain Marvin's son) if we could meet CM. Of all our trips there we've never met him. We spent a little time chatting with CM, took a few pictures and were on our way. They are just the nicest people. Their fleet has expanded and they really take care of their boats. We've never been on an excursion that had more than 15-20 people.