Best Tour if on Jewel of the Seas (RCCL)

[JWMom]

We'll be arriving in GC on March 23 at 10 am (our first cruise)-the problem is that a lot of the tours leave between 9 and 10-my first question is, do the ships arrive pretty much on time (or early?) and what tours do you recommend if you've traveled on the Jewel? (or anyone that has a good tour to recommend-the Nativeway leaves at 9 I think and Buccaneer at 10:30. Thanks so much for your help!!

[lynninsc]

Hi! Never been on the Jewel, but we were on Enchantment (RCCL) in November and booked the stingray/coral gardens tour through the ship and had a wonderful experience. I was hesitant to book through the ship at first (it was our first cruise also) because of all the negative comments I read on here beforehand about ship sponsored tours, but because of tendering and it being our first cruise not knowing what to expect we decided to play it safe and book with RCCL and we were very glad we did. We did not experience any overcrowding, had a very nice boat and great guides. After the rays/reef the the driver gave us the option of being dropped off at the beach or going back to the ship area, we went to the beach, had lunched and lay in the sun for a couple of hours. Really enjoyed our day.

[nanfromatlanta]

Please don't be put off by some of the negative comments about booking your tour through the ship. We book most of our excursions that way, and have never run into a problem. In addition, if you are running late, the tour & the ship will wait for you.

 

One of our favorite excursions was the Stingray City Swim & Snorkel. Our tour was one of the first to leave the ship. We were the first boat out to the sandbar, and had the rays all to ourselves for quite a while before the other hoardes of tourists showed up. By the way, the boat out to the sandbar was quite large, well laid out, and not crowded at all.

 

Good Luck!!

 

Nan