Carnival Excursion -- Coral Garden & Stingray Sandbar

[BigZfan]

My husband and I are looking into booking the Coral Garden & Stingray Sandbar excursion through Carnival. But before we do, I am looking for some feedback from people that have been on this excursion. Was it worth it? Do you wish you did something else? There are so many excursions for snorkeling with Stingrays, I am just trying to find the right one.

 

Here is what the Carnival Web-Site says about this 3 hour tour.

 

"When it comes to getting wet and interacting with the underwater world, there's not a better excursion. Your adventure begins with a relaxing boat ride to your first snorkeling stop, the beautiful and exotic “Coral Garden." Here, in our warm, crystal clear water, you'll see all types of beautiful and colorful coral as you snorkel alongside the likes of elegant Angel fish, schools of Blue Tangs and the comical looking Parrot fish.

 

Your second stop is the famous “Stingray Sandbar”. In waist high water, you'll be greeted by hundreds of our friendly and gentle stingrays. Watch our professional staff hold and feed them, while they educate you on the names and habits of their favorite stingrays, or if you’re feeling adventurous, hold one yourself! It's an experience you'll never forget."

[mebfalcon]

I was wondering the same thing. We are going there on the Freedom in April.

[agor75]

Is the tour around $60 or so? I did a snorkel/stingray tour on carnival destiny in march 2010 and it was $60...it was definately worth it...just for the stingray part even...it was awesome!! however...we are cruising again march 3 on the glory and grand cayman is one of our stops and I am looking into booking a private tour company to do the same thing...about half the price! The snorkeling was okay...it wasn't amazing and I don't recall what place we went to for the snorkeling...but the main focus wasn't snorkeling anyways it was the stingrays....right now I'm looking at booking through http://www.mobydicktours.com/ or http://www.captainmarvins.com/index.html ...I can't wait!!

[Dabs01]

We used Captain Marvin's, best tour we took on this cruise, our group was only about 10-12 people, and our guide made sure that everyone who wanted to hold and kiss a ray got the chance to, I did it twice to make sure my photos came out. They use a motor boat, some company has a catamaran but I didn't catch who it was. We did the 2 stop tour because it left early 8:30 am and left us with a good part of the day to still visit Hell and 7 mile beach. I can't compare to what Carnival offers but I'm going to guess that there will be a lot more people on that tour which will mean that your rays will be spread out between more people. The rays are not captive, by the way, but if there are a lot of people in the water there are only so many that come in.