excursions

[ontariocruise]

is it a must to book bus excursions through your cruise line or can you do it at port. we are travelling to grand cayman in march?

[cb at sea]

Excursons are NOT required, either through the ship or a private vendor! If you do your research on your ports, you can easily do things on your own. Now, what sort of thing do you want to do? That will determine if you need a guide or not! Things like beaches and shopping do NOT require anyone to "guide" you!

GC is an easy DIY place!!!

[Gemynii]

We'll be travelling to Grand Cayman in July (1st time cruisers). We're probably going to go off on our own to Boatswain's Beach (Turtle Farm). It's $25 cheaper to do it on your own, but the cruise line includes transportation and lunch. It seems like the easiest way to get around on your on is by bus. This is posted on a thread here on CC:

"City Bus : The bus looks like a large van along the main routes. The bus depot is next to the library - across from the Hero's Square Fountain. Walk about two blocks inland on Edward St.... You can grab a bus at the library... much cheaper than a cab. The buses are parked and waiting right next door... a short 5 minute walk from the dock. $2.50 US per person rather than $5 US per person or more for a cab.

To hail one, respond with a wave when the driver toots his horn. Sightseeing : one direction to Pedro St. James and in the other direction to Hell (and back). Any bus marked WB is bound for WestBay to 7 mile beach, and will drive right past your destination. Just tell the driver where you want to get off. The difference between the bus and the taxi: Taxis license plates are red numbers on a white background; the bus has white numbers on a blue background. Buses to/from 7MileBeach run every 15 minutes. The bus will stop where you ask it to; coming back to town; just cross the street from where you got off and flag the bus down. They will stop to pick you up. The fare is 1.50CI but we just gave the drive $2 US and he took it. We walked out to the main road and waited for a public bus with blue license plates. The ones to the beach have a yellow circle with #1 or #2 WB on the windshield. The fare was $5 for the 2 of us.

I'm not sure what kind of tour you took last time you were there, but if your interested in the turtle farm, which has a lot more there than just turtles, you can check the website out here: http://www.turtle.ky/

 

Hope this helps. :)

[ontariocruise]

thanks for your help