Stingray City Excursion - Great Stirrup Cay

[ncklhaus]

Hi everyone. We are booked on the Breakaway November 8-15. We'll be at Great Stirrup Cay (weather permitting) on Wed November 11. I have already reserved a small cabana for the day. We were thinking about doing the Stingray City Excursion at 10:30 am. Has anyone done this? I'd appreciate opinions, good, bad, or indifferent.

Thanks in advance.

[carolmacey]

Hi everyone. We are booked on the Breakaway November 8-15. We'll be at Great Stirrup Cay (weather permitting) on Wed November 11. I have already reserved a small cabana for the day. We were thinking about doing the Stingray City Excursion at 10:30 am. Has anyone done this? I'd appreciate opinions, good, bad, or indifferent.

Thanks in advance.

I don't know if this will help or not...We have done Sting Ray City in Grand Cayman several times and it is one of my absolute favorite things to do now. We recently did it in Tahiti as well. Those creatures are so amazing, I just love being near them. i hope you decide to go and I truly hope you love them as much as I do.

[ncklhaus]

Thank you! The only thing I'm a little nervous about is if they have the barbs on their tails or not.

[familyfun4]

Thank you! The only thing I'm a little nervous about is if they have the barbs on their tails or not.

 

 

We were at GSC in April 2014 and it was a great day for all of us.

 

Just a little nugget of info...my son who was 16 at the time came running out of the water to tell us that he went to put his foot down on a smooth tan sandy patch in thigh high water and just as his foot was about to land, the "patch"zoomed away like a rocket and he realized that it was a smallish stingray. He said he was afraid to die like Steve Irwin and was a bit freaked out by it. the lifeguard said it's not uncommon to see them in shallow water. I don't know about the barbs, but he definitely saw the long stinger tail. From that point on, my feet never touched the bottom, I floated around on a raft and saw beautiful fish.

 

So you may see one at least without having to look for one ;)

[ncklhaus]

We were at GSC in April 2014 and it was a great day for all of us.

 

Just a little nugget of info...my son who was 16 at the time came running out of the water to tell us that he went to put his foot down on a smooth tan sandy patch in thigh high water and just as his foot was about to land, the "patch"zoomed away like a rocket and he realized that it was a smallish stingray. He said he was afraid to die like Steve Irwin and was a bit freaked out by it. the lifeguard said it's not uncommon to see them in shallow water. I don't know about the barbs, but he definitely saw the long stinger tail. From that point on, my feet never touched the bottom, I floated around on a raft and saw beautiful fish.

 

So you may see one at least without having to look for one ;)

 

Thank you. I was also thinking about what happened to Steve Irwin. :eek:

I know that at the island itself there really is no way to control what is in the water. We always do the stingray shuffle. ;) I was actually wondering about the 100 or so stingrays in the enclosure. :confused:

[PIPER50]

My daughter and I went to Stingray City at it was a fantastic experience for me but my daughter hated it. She was terrified of the stingrays and did not like the experience at all. Before entering the water, we were advised to shuffle our feet along the sea floor just in case we stepped on a stingray. You will be fine if you follow the instructions and are not freaked out by very large fish

[mistertoaster]

We took the Sting Ray City excursion in Grand Cayman. It was a great experience wading in the rays habitat as opposed to a large swimming pool used for some dolphin experiences. You do need to expect the unexpected. The rays are larger than I anticipated, and they will nuzzle your legs and swim between your legs. The water was crystal clear, and seeing the rays was not a problem. The rays were docile and mostly interested in the food delivered by the excursion staff. Overall, unless you are a frequent diver in the Caribbean, a once in a lifetime experience with some great photo opportunities.

[sparks1093]

Hi everyone. We are booked on the Breakaway November 8-15. We'll be at Great Stirrup Cay (weather permitting) on Wed November 11. I have already reserved a small cabana for the day. We were thinking about doing the Stingray City Excursion at 10:30 am. Has anyone done this? I'd appreciate opinions, good, bad, or indifferent.

Thanks in advance.

 

Personally if I had a cabana that would be the only excursion we would be doing. Given the price of them I'm not going to spend hours away from ours. There are no stingrays on GSC, they could not keep them alive. You have to take a boat to wherever the stingrays are. At least that was what we were told by a ShorEx employee last May.

[saxgirl84]

Thank you. I was also thinking about what happened to Steve Irwin. :eek:

I know that at the island itself there really is no way to control what is in the water. We always do the stingray shuffle. ;) I was actually wondering about the 100 or so stingrays in the enclosure. :confused:

 

 

I had booked what I Thought was a trip to Sting Ray City in Costa Maya, but it turned out we just ended up in a reef area that had about 20 stingrays and we snorkeled with them. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! There was a wide range of sizes of stingrays, and the guides that were with us were awesome at bringing some up to the surface so we could "pet" them. What amazingly docile creatures! We did ask about the barb and how dangerous they are, and they told us unless you are pretty much wrestling with the rays, they will not "strike out" with the barb... what happened to Steve Irwin was a complete fluke, a one in a million (or more) occurance, and even his family and co-workers said as much after it happened.

 

The stingrays are very intimidating at the beginning, but I would love to do it again! I didn't realize they had this excursion available on GSC, so I'll be definately be looking for it for our trip next year!

[sanger727]

I can't comment about the string ray city in GSC, but we did it and Grand Cayman and it was a wonderful experience. If you think you will be traveling there in the near future, I would wait and do it there. The sting rays are huge, you can definately see them, and once the tour guides get the food out, they are so active, not just laying at the bottom where you might step on them. I believe they do have the stingers still, but you will be gentle with them and there were at least a thousand people there the day we went, no indications that getting stung happens often if at all.

[ncklhaus]

We are going to book it! Thanks everyone for your input.

Since we have the cabaña booked we get to go to the island on the first tender. We can get set up and then go to the excursion for 10:30. We'll be back at the cabaña by around noon. My daughter and I will also be doing the Hippo slide. It's so much fun!

We only get off the ship at the island so we want to get the best experience possible. When we are in Port Canaveral and Nassau, we stay on the ship and enjoy.