Nativeway -Ray, Reef & Rum Point

[dalton165]

So excited!!! We'll be going on this tour in April!!!!! Traveling on the Carnival Freedom 4/1 - Thanks for all the great reviews. I know it'll be the highlight of our trip. I'll be sure to write a review with a TON of pictures when we return!!!

[katiepe]

Going on the Rays Reef and Starfish in... what is it 7 DAYS!!

Ditto!

[girlscruise2011]

So excited!!! We'll be going on this tour in April!!!!! Traveling on the Carnival Freedom 4/1 - Thanks for all the great reviews. I know it'll be the highlight of our trip. I'll be sure to write a review with a TON of pictures when we return!!!

 

Going on the Rays Reef and Starfish in... what is it 7 DAYS!!

Ditto!

 

Please come back and give a quick review of both these excursions. These are the 2 I'm confused between to do if I go with Nativeway. With a family of 5, the Starfish one is more affordable but Rum Point looks gorgeous and lunch too seems worth the extra $$. I'm so confused :confused:

 

Have a great trip and enjoy your excursions :D

[cruizer1001]

You are going to love it. did that last august :D

[Bug'sMom]

The Native Ways tour is AWESOME! Probably one of our favorite excursions ever! If I could just take an excursion to Rum Point I would spend the day there! It wasn't crowded, super tropical, and the food was super yummy! We rented a waverunner while we were there and that was a little pricey but everything is on Grand Cayman. Have a blast on your trip!

 

Kathy

[tlcs]

We have this excursion Rays, Reefs and Rum Point booked with Native Way for our Carnival Freedom cruise coming up in May. Heard that this is a awesome time and a really good company. Looking forward to some fun in the sun.

[melc0305]

We have this tour booked for next week! This board is awesome for getting reviews and ideas.

[katiepe]

Wish I could give you my Native Ways review!

We missed it. Got to the port just at 1115am which was when Sharon said it would depart and it had left.

We had a terrible time getting off the ship.

Obviously some people did get off in time..dont quite know how..we were in line for 2 hours waiting for the tender. And that was being in line 45 minutes early before arrival. Not Carnival's finest hour for sure.

We did do a stingray and snorkel booked at the pier. Had fun but I am sure not the same at all.

BTW there were about 9 or 10 people on our boat that were also booked with Native Ways and they were put on the wrong bus/boat somehow. They waited an hour for us to arrive before sailing out. Felt bad for them.

[Biris]

For those who have toured with the Nativeway, were you provided with lifevests?

 

Katiepe: I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get to tour with the Native Way. Did you loose your deposit?

[katiepe]

Luckily not. We didnt have to provide any money in advance.

I can tell you our independent tour offered vests but certainly didnt make them mandatory. In fact no one wore one.

[Biris]

We finally made reservation with Nativeway :)

[dalton165]

Katiepe- Sorry you didn't get to tour with the Native Way. I'd definately be mad if that happened to me.

 

Melc0305- How was your experience?

[jimdanahar]

We are booked with Native Way Water sport for the Rays, Reef, and Rum Point tour. After we pay the Native Way Tour fee how much other cash should we bring to pay for tips and other incidentals?

 

We are a family of 4.

 

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

We can't wait. Only 10 more days!

[katiepe]

I am putting my two cents even tho we didnt go with Native Ways..

we tipped 10.00 US to our "crew"..we felt that was fair for what we received. Mind you we didnt get any extra or "special" service. one couple was given a conch shell by the guy who took us in the water with the rays.I am hoping they tipped extra. MHO

You have to buy drinks from what I have read at Rum Point so obviously that would be extra cash needed.

see other posts about prices.

[opshannon]

We toured with Nativeway last week. We were the only family who did not continue on to Rum Point. Being from Florida, the extra money for beach time didn't seem well spent to us. We were orginally told we'd transfer to another boat to go back to the bus and then ship. However, something happened that wasn't explained to us, and frankly didn't matter to us. They ended up taking us to Rum Point. Sharon came with a van and drove us back to port. It was a fascinating tour of the island. Sharon was very friendly and informative. It really ended up being quite a highlight of the trip. I would not hesitate to book with them again. They were great. They did provide life vests, btw.

[lanabanana]

This is our experience with Nativeway. We were on the Disney Fantasy preview cruise and should have been in port in plenty of time to make the 11:45am snorkel trip with Nativeway. I had made reservations several weeks in advance. Tendering took longer than expected and we didn't get to the meeting point until 12:15 where Eldon met us and explained that the previous tour had left, but that he would take us out himself at 1pm. There was only the 4 in my family on the boat and did we have a LOVELY time! Randy was our 1st mate and he was SO knowledgeable about the sea life and obviously had a great reverence for the things from the sea. At the second stop, Randy even found a blow fish that he brought to the surface for us to see. That was amazing. He brought the ten conch that they were allowed to harvest for that day and he and Eldon made sure we had a shell to take home AND Randy made us the most delicious fresh conch right on the pier after we docked. I've never had anything so fresh!

 

We loved our afternoon with Nativeway and would highly recommend them to anyone!

[katiepe]

This is our experience with Nativeway. We were on the Disney Fantasy preview cruise and should have been in port in plenty of time to make the 11:45am snorkel trip with Nativeway. I had made reservations several weeks in advance. Tendering took longer than expected and we didn't get to the meeting point until 12:15 where Eldon met us and explained that the previous tour had left, but that he would take us out himself at 1pm. There was only the 4 in my family on the boat and did we have a LOVELY time! Randy was our 1st mate and he was SO knowledgeable about the sea life and obviously had a great reverence for the things from the sea. At the second stop, Randy even found a blow fish that he brought to the surface for us to see. That was amazing. He brought the ten conch that they were allowed to harvest for that day and he and Eldon made sure we had a shell to take home AND Randy made us the most delicious fresh conch right on the pier after we docked. I've never had anything so fresh!

 

We loved our afternoon with Nativeway and would highly recommend them to anyone!

How lovely that someone came back for you! So jealous..didnt happen for us:(

[mitsugirly]

This is our experience with Nativeway. We were on the Disney Fantasy preview cruise and should have been in port in plenty of time to make the 11:45am snorkel trip with Nativeway. I had made reservations several weeks in advance. Tendering took longer than expected and we didn't get to the meeting point until 12:15 where Eldon met us and explained that the previous tour had left, but that he would take us out himself at 1pm. There was only the 4 in my family on the boat and did we have a LOVELY time! Randy was our 1st mate and he was SO knowledgeable about the sea life and obviously had a great reverence for the things from the sea. At the second stop, Randy even found a blow fish that he brought to the surface for us to see. That was amazing. He brought the ten conch that they were allowed to harvest for that day and he and Eldon made sure we had a shell to take home AND Randy made us the most delicious fresh conch right on the pier after we docked. I've never had anything so fresh!

 

We loved our afternoon with Nativeway and would highly recommend them to anyone!

 

How lovely that someone came back for you! So jealous..didnt happen for us:(

 

I feel the same way. Too bad they didn't offer to do something like that for us instead of overcharging us for an excursion we didn't get and putting us on another overcrowded cruise ship tour that was nothing but aggravation after aggravation! :( It sure didn't do a whole lot for their "reputation" with me. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=33256125&postcount=37

[yoyomum]

Hello,

 

My husband and I are interested in this tour. Do you recommend it as we are travelling with a 3 year old.. does this include snorkeling? we don't plan to do that.. only see and touch the stingrays. I saw that Nativeway has the Stingray and Island tour. Maybe this is better for us?? Anybody done this specific tour with Nativeway.. would love to hear your experience. Thanks!!