grand cayman question

[deputy836]

Hello. I am going on Carnival Victory 2-26-06 to the western carribbean. One of our stops is in Grand Cayman. My question is this...We want to stop at the Stingray Sandbar, and also do a 1 1/2 hour horseback riding tour. Has anyone else done both of these in one day? Will we have enough time to do both. I believe we dock at 8:30 and leave at 4:30...but I don't kow how long it will take to tender on and off the island. I really want to do these excursions, but don't want to worry about not making the return tendering boats in time. If you did these excursions...which comapnys did you use? thanks

Dee

[TexasFyre]

Dee, I can't 100% answer this question, but ask what day your ship tenders in GC? Also, might want to concider that there will be several other ships to Tender then, so it may get crowded with traffic, not the tendering, but the vehicles

[deputy836]

We will be in Grand Cayman on Thursday March 2, 2006. Does this help?

Dee

[Raceroc]

We were in Grand Cayman on the Miracle last month (8:00am - 5:00pm). Only one other ship in port (Disney Magic). Tendering was easy and only took a few minutes, no long lines. We did the stingray/coral gardens snorkel with Capt Bryan. Had about 3 hours to spare after the excursion.

DON'T MISS THE STINGRAYS!

Hope this helps...Have fun!

[TravelWorks]

We will be in Grand Cayman on Thursday March 2, 2006. Does this help?

Dee

There will be 6 ships in port that day...could be crowded...tight schedule!

Good Luck!

[dan40]

I'd recommend forgetting the horses. You can ride horses in thousands of places. But there is only one StingRay City sandbar. IMHO this is the best excursion in the Carribbean. Way ahead of whatever is in second place. If everybody on 6 cruiseships went ashore it would double the islands population.

 

Dan

[serene56]

I agree with Dan; you will be worrying the whole time doing the stingrays on making the other excursion that you will be forgetting to enjoy the moment. Same with riding the horse-- you will be soooo worried about making the tender. Please do one or the other and I suggest the stingrays in Grand Cayman.

 

I am sure there are other horseback excursions in one of your other ports.

[jcs56]

We were just in GC.....we did not dock at the usual port. The ocean swells were a problem (this happens alot there) so we docked further down at what wasn't much of a dock...and only 2 tenders could get in at a time. Our 9am for stingrays was changed to a 10 am and when we got back we only had time for a bite to eat and then get back to that dock. We stood in line for 2 1/2 hrs.to get back on the ship and there were only 2 ships there. Yes!!! hard to believe but that is right. Others that went to the dolphin swim had no time for anything else....so, I would say decide on only one excursion. Especially if you dock at the other dock. It was horrible!!!!!!!

[Hot Hockett]

we stopped in grand cayman and did stingray city and that is probably waaaaaaay better than horseback riding. Also, are you going to jamaica on this cruise? You can do that in ocho rios also

[sallyb]

We were there last year and did the stingray excursion at 10 am. There was hardly even enough time to do any shopping, plus we were very tired after stingrays & 2 snorkel stops. We went with Captain Bryan.

[Hojo's redbeard]

we stopped in grand cayman and did stingray city and that is probably waaaaaaay better than horseback riding. Also, are you going to jamaica on this cruise? You can do that in ocho rios also

 

We are going horseback riding in GC because it's the only place we could fulfill my wife's fantasy of riding on the beach, where our 6 yo could also ride. Have to do Stingray's next year.

[slabeaume]

Sting ray city can be scary. My grown son and his wife refused to go with my daughter and myself. She and I did have a good time there, though, but be warned---if you try to feed them and you don't open your hand fast enough, they do have quite a chomp-at least they don't have teeth!

 

IF you choose the horse back riding, maybe you'll have time to go lounge around on 7 mile beach----possibly the most beautiful beach I've ever seen!

[sallyb]

We are going horseback riding in GC because it's the only place we could fulfill my wife's fantasy of riding on the beach' date=' where our 6 yo could also ride. Have to do Stingray's next year.[/quote']

 

I like your attitude! Since we did the stingray deal last year, we are also looking for something else this time. Maybe we will do the horseback trip, sounds great!

[Chief Cruiser]

I was in Grand Cayman in September and there were 5 ships in port that day. Both foot and vehicluar traffic was a nightmare. Allow plenty of time to do what you need to do, even if that means dropping something on the list.

 

Oddly, I had looked so forward to finally getting to Grand Cayman and it turned out not to be one of my favorite ports of call. With 5 ships in port, everything was just way too crowded to be able to enjoy the island. Shopping was much like it is on the day after Thanksgiving....crowded, rude, pushing, shoving and well, just not fun at all.

 

We took a shore excusion that lasted over 2-1/2 hours total time. We had four stops scheduled. We were allowed off the bus at only 3 of them. Unfortunately, only 44 minutes of that time was actually spent off the bus at the 3 stops. The rest of the time, we were stuck in traffic. Not much of a shore excursion for $35 per person.

 

I'm sure things would be lot better with less ships in port, but you don't have that luxury with 6 ships in port that day. The actual tender time is just a few minutes. Waiting to get on the tender turned into 20 minute cattle drive.

 

Just plan accordingly, keep in mind what you are going into, and I hope you enjoy your time. I was just unprepared to deal with that many people in one place.

[bruce-r]

Sting ray city can be scary. My grown son and his wife refused to go with my daughter and myself.

They don't know what they missed.

 

She and I did have a good time there, though, but be warned---if you try to feed them and you don't open your hand fast enough, they do have quite a chomp-at least they don't have teeth!

Gotta watch out for those stingray hickeys!

 

The number of ships in port on any given day will greatly affect crowds and traffic in and around Georgetown. At one point, Grand Cayman had a 3 ship limit. I don't know when that changed, but more than 3 makes a visit there less pleasant as it affects peoples ability to easily get to where they are going. That isn't to say that you will necessarily have a bad time when there are more than 3 ships, but you do have to take traffic into account when planning an excursion, especially one that isn't with the ship. You want to allow enough time to get back to Georgetown.

[deputy836]

Great help everyone. Thank you! The idea of horseback riding onthe beach has been somethingt I've wanted to do since I was little....but the chance to see the Stingrays sounds like a can't miss event! Maybe I'll just have to book another cruise in order to do both. I do know about the horsback riding in Ocho Rios...but we have opted to see Dunn's River, and do the dolphin excursion...as the dolphin excursion in Cozumel is not going to be back up and running until March or April according to the website for Cozumel. I think if we have to decide between stingrays and horses...the Stingrays win.

HOJO's REDBEARD.....how did you and your wife like the horseback riding?

 

Thank you everyone for your help.

 

Deputy836

[dan40]

"Maybe I'll just have to book another cruise in order to do both."

 

Ah Grasshopper, understanding and the path to knowledge begins to appear.

 

 

Dan

[piginmud]

Hello. I am going on Carnival Victory 2-26-06 to the western carribbean. One of our stops is in Grand Cayman. My question is this...We want to stop at the Stingray Sandbar, and also do a 1 1/2 hour horseback riding tour. Has anyone else done both of these in one day? Will we have enough time to do both. I believe we dock at 8:30 and leave at 4:30...but I don't kow how long it will take to tender on and off the island. I really want to do these excursions, but don't want to worry about not making the return tendering boats in time. If you did these excursions...which comapnys did you use? thanks

Dee

 

Hi,

Just curious...did you do both and if so, which horseback riding company did u use? I'm going on 8/27 and I'd like to do both as well!!!

Thanks,

debbie

piginmud@yahoo.com

[serene56]

Debbie: usually the last tender is about 3:30pm.

 

What time does your tour guide have you back at the pier?

[deputy836]

Debbie, Hi there. As far as what we did at the stops: they are as follows:

 

1. Rerouted to Costa Maya instead of Cozumel: Beach break at Tequila Beach (there was a stand at the back of the port shops...there were numerous stands with the locals offering their excursions at a cheaper price than the ones the boat offered) We negotiated prices without a problem..Always negotiate there!...also paid for the parasailing for 2 also part of the Tequila Beach package. It included our van ride, free drinks all day, free appetizers all day, free chair rental, and the parasailing...as I recall we paid about $80 for all 3 people..although only 2 went parasailing. But for an all day trip, parasailing, drinks, and food...it was well worth it. We also went walking from there to the little nasty town of Mahaluah (spelling) where there were lots of shack type shops and vendors, also many massage tables set up near the beach. The vendors were VERY pushy and sometimes scary, the little town was very dirty and not really worth going to although we got some better deals there than at the port shops. Costa Maya had set up a very nice port area with shops, food, and entertainment...so not really necessary to go into other parts but worth the money to Tequila Beach. Our waitress there was a sister of the person who 'owned' that location and she was well spoken in english.

 

2. Grand Cayman: Went with Moby Dick tours to Stingray City....OH MY GOODNESS!!!! AWESOME!!!! This company met us right the dock, bussed (a very informative and fun ride with the bus driver) us to there boat location and we had fun on the 30 minute ride to Stingray City with the crew...they explained in a very theatrical and funny show about the stingrays and the area. Stingray city was unbelievable...a must see!!! The snorkeling there was also a great experience and the water was picture perfect!!! We then went back to town by the pier and walked around and stopped at a restaurant near the dock for lunch....very very expensive!! Grand Cayman itself is very expensive...but a beautiful place. Tendering back and forth was not a problem although getting back in the afternoon was much busier and we had a longer wait...definitely don't play with your timing on your return tender boat...lots of people held up our ship by being very late in returning.

 

3. Ocho Rios: Hired Marva (a local tour guide found on cruise critic recommendations) she picked us up at the port and drove us first to Dunn's River Falls...very nice and pretty...we walked down by our selves thru the park like setting and stopped for pics and walked down the steps to the bottom and the water...we noticed Carnivals big tour boat company coming with about 100 people all having to hold hands to walk up the falls...not us..We did it ourselves by going thru a local: we just paid a fairly cheap admission...well worth it to see it and say 'Been there: done that' stopped on the way out for Blue Mountain coffee...if you like coffee..make sure to pick some up....delicious. Marva picked us up at the Dunn's River about 1 1/2 hours later and our next stop was Tubing on the White River....great time...very mild rapids: slow but fun. With a stop half way down for pics and the locals explaining some of the area to us: although I don't recommend this stop for single women traveling alone...I felt like I might as well have been naked and if alone maybe not safe. At the end of the tubing there was a local's shack where once again they were quite pushy about selling us stuff..this also was when you paid and picked up your photos..nice pics with a banner on them reading 'Ocho Rios' 2-$10. Marva then picked us up again and drove us around the area some more..she also stopped at a couple of shacks that stuck out of weird places in the road with locals selling stuff and where many times we smelled some local 'ganja-mon'...we had Marva drop us off at the dock area where we shopped and went to Jimmy Buffets Margarhitaville..awesome time there...swim up bar...music...games...fun time!!! We then made it back to the boat with pleny of time to spare. Marva only cost us $20 per person and for a local tour guide all day..it was a great price..although we came to find out later that after she would drop us off at our stops she then went to pick up another group of people...she had herself double booked with a couple we had met on cruise critic prior to the cruise and whom we had drinks with on the boat! Luckily, they are honest people otherwise I would have been unhappy to realize that my belongings (which Marva had told us were safe in her van) were with other people who very easily could have taken them. Overall though, she was very nice, knowledgeable, prompt, and made us feel safe in a foreign country. I am glad we saw as much as we did of the area as I had planned a family trip to Beaches Jamaica for my family, but after visiting while on the cruise, I will not go back to the island and leave the port area. I am a police officer, but never felt safe there..at least not as a woman!

 

Any more questions...please feel free to contact me directly. My next cruise will be the Bahamas in February!!! Can't wait!

Dee

deputy836@aol.com