Grandparents on stingray trip?

[kkenlo]

We are a somewhat unique family group, in that we have a wide age spread and differences in mobility. There are five of us: 13-year-old daughter, 40's parents, and grandparents ages 78 & 82. Grandparents are in good health for their ages, but are experiencing that older-folks slow-down in mobility and are not swimmers. Also, access to restrooms at various stops is an issue.

Daughter wants to do the stingray excursion, and we would really only be interested in a short swim time (not necessarily interested in snorkeling). If Grandparents come at all they would almost certainly stay on the boat.

We are interested in the Stingray Sandbar and Island Tour, but are worried about how well grandparents can tolerate the trip, boat, etc. How difficult will it be for them to get on and off the boat? Will they be comfortable and able to see / watch us with the stingrays? What about restroom availability? Should they just skip the boat part? Can we do 3 of us with the stingrays and all 5 of us for the island tour?

Please be frank about whether grandparents should make this excursion, would rather know ahead of time whether they should not go, than get out there and have them miserable or have problems.

Thanks for any advice.

[sdwrdt]

That's the exact tour we took last Wednesday.

 

The boat has a toilet in it (the kids were grossed out when they looked in and saw no sink) but no one on our tour used it, so no verification of what was there.

 

No swimming necessary if your parents would want to get out of the boat. My father stayed in the whole time, but that's because he wore pants (I don't think he owns a pair of shorts).

 

Getting in to the boat at the dock is no problem. There is climbing involved if they want to get in and out of the boat at the sandbar.

 

The ride to the sandbar was a bit rough, but that's because Shyster was going fast. I'm sure you could discuss it with Sharon to say that you need to have a slow ride - that's what we had on the way back and there was no bouncing.

[judyzoo]

Remember that at Grand Cayman you will leave the ship by tender, so you'll need to consider whether the grandparents are up to that. When we were there recently the sea was absolutely smooth; the captain said it was the best he had seen all year. But I do understand that it can be very rough at times and that even if it's not too rough to tender, tendering can be quite difficult.

[bell2]

We also are going with a family group ranging from 12 to 82. I asked the Nativeway info person about the grandparents going and just staying on the boat. She thought it would not be as enjoyable for them(and they might be seasick with the extra boat time).

 

So, that day we are going to split up. I put them on one of the ship tours of Grand Cayman (and they do take a short boat ride to see the rays as part of it), and we are going on the Nativeway snorkeling and Stingray city excursion.

 

Cathy

[TravelWorks]

Probably not a good idea---just not fun to watch others having fun, but not participate.

 

...But there are wonderful tours for your parents of Grand Cayman and the city of Georgetown through the ship(some even stop at a butterfly farm)...or also there is a airconditioned glass bottom boat (feels like a sub) that is fun for older folks who want to see the sea life without getting wet...

We had to split up this day and on several stops when we had my husband's parents we actually went and they just stayed on the boat...because it was airconditioned and they didn't handle the heat very well...but they were happy becaue we got them a nice balcony room.

 

They didn't bring shorts either!!! LOL

[lanabanana]

My 86 yr. old mother went on her first cruise last month with my brother's family. They took the Moby Dick stingray city tour and though she didn't get in the water, she had a wonderful time. They brought a stingray right up to the boat so she could examine and touch it. She also very much enjoyed watching everyone else interacting with the stingrays.