Questions on Grand Cayman Excursions for kids:

[hurls88]

I am bringing my 3 year old daughter and 10 year old son on the maiden Freedom of the Seas cruise and have started booking excursions. Need help on a couple:

 

 

1. Difference between Stingray City Swim & Snorkel and Stingray City Snorkeling both are $45 one is 1/2 hour longer? If you did either of these help me out. (10 yr old)

2. Butterfly Farm vs Turtle Farm? One of these my wife will do with the 3 yr old while myself and the 10 yr old do stingray city, then we will all do the other. Which one would be easier to do without buying the excursion? Which one is closer to the ship?

 

3. Best place to Parasail during the Western Carribean itinerary?

 

Thank You for any input,

 

Mike

[hurls88]

One more try with this.

[luvinsun]

It really depends on your child. If they like to swim, I would do the swim and snorkel because when you are at sting ray city, it really isn't snorkeling. It is very shallow water and very clear....you can really see everything just standing there. If you want to actually snorkel, I would do the trip where you can go to reefs and see the beautiful fish. We did the Captin Marvin's trip and our kids (17,16,12,9) loved it!:D

[TennisLover]

We haven't been to the butterfly farm but we did the Turtle Farm (and they take you to Hell also -- just a little tourist trap to buy some t-shirts). My kids must have been 10 and 8 at the time. If I remember correctly, it was a little ride from the port (but nothing like the rides we recently had in Costa Rica and Panama for excursions). Both of your kids would like the Turtle Farm -- great photo opps!

[hurls88]

Thank you

[CapeCodGuy]

I agree with one poster and REALLY disagree with another! The trip to Hell will seem like just that to your kids. Nothing interesting there for them (or me for that matter) unless they find mailing a postcard or buying a t-shirt thrilling. As for the Turtle Farm...what a depressing place IMO. I'm sure the kids will love a nice bowl of turtle soup after they get to see all the turtles crowded in marginal circumstances, I kid you not.

 

Now, a tour with Captain Marvins is another story! We took the combo reef snorkel and Stingray City Sandbar excursion. The boat was reletively small and very clean and well kept. There were 2 crew for 12 passengers (compared to 3 crew for 200+ passengers as we saw on several other boats) so the personalized attention and the resulting safety factor were excellent. A really great time. It was the highlight of our vacaton and I can't recommend it enough.

[shellie100]

I am bringing my 3 year old daughter and 10 year old son on the maiden Freedom of the Seas cruise and have started booking excursions. Need help on a couple:

 

 

1. Difference between Stingray City Swim & Snorkel and Stingray City Snorkeling both are $45 one is 1/2 hour longer? If you did either of these help me out. (10 yr old)

 

2. Butterfly Farm vs Turtle Farm? One of these my wife will do with the 3 yr old while myself and the 10 yr old do stingray city, then we will all do the other. Which one would be easier to do without buying the excursion? Which one is closer to the ship?

 

3. Best place to Parasail during the Western Carribean itinerary?

 

Thank You for any input,

 

Mike

 

 

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but....I would book a private (not ship-sponsored) stringray/snorkel excurion and go as a whole family. My 3-yr-old would way rather be on a boat and in the water than looking at turtles and butterflies and driving around in a taxi. If (s)he doesn't want to be in the water then you could just take turns snorkeling or whatever. Not sure how much time you have there, but people rave about the Rays, Reef, & Rum Point excursion from Nativeway. Here's a link

http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/shiptours.html#RRR

There's also more info on the Grand Cayman boards.

 

Hope you have fun whatever you do!

 

Shellie

[wrp96]

For parasailing, I would recommend parasailing at Labadee. Beautiful view, great experience.

[cmich068]

I was told by the Excursion person on Explorer that the two Stingray City excursions are exactly the same, they are just two different operators, and the name is used to diffentiate them. Both of them drop you off at the public beach or at the boat after (your choice)

[nanfromatlanta]

We did the Stingray City Swim & Snorkel and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would highly recommend it for families with children. The water at Stingray City is just waist to chest deep, They provide vests for those who feel the need. Child sized vests and snorkel gear were also available for free.

 

This was one of our favorite tours.

[hurls88]

Great info from all of you. My three year old daughter is the Poster Child for a Priss. In fact see freaks out if she see's an ant. Butterfly's might even freak her out

[rdy2sail]

We did the Stingray City Swim & Snorkel and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would highly recommend it for families with children. The water at Stingray City is just waist to chest deep, They provide vests for those who feel the need. Child sized vests and snorkel gear were also available for free.

 

This was one of our favorite tours.

 

On this excursion, did you snorkel only at stingray city, or were you taken elsewhere for the snorkel portion? The reason I ask, I don't want to snorkel on a sandbar. If the snorkel portion is actually on the sandbar, I will likely cancel and schedule a different excursion.

[cruisingwith6]

We love the Rays, Reef and Rum with Native Ways as well as the Stingray City, Coral Gardens Snorkel Tour with Captain Marvin's. Some or our kids wanted to be in the water with the stingrays...some didn't. The Native Way trip was better for kids IMHO because of Rum Point. The lunch was perfect for us and the beach gorgeous. The less adventurous of our kids still really enjoyed the boat ride and the view of the sting ray from the boat. My husband and I took turns waiting on the boat and snorkeling. We had the time of our lives!

 

My mom and stepdad parasailed and because of the wind we had were unable to do it at Cayman but did parasail from Paradise Beach. They had fun and the prices were more reasonable in Cozumel than Cayman would have been according to them.

[hurls88]

We love the Rays, Reef and Rum with Native Ways as well as the Stingray City, Coral Gardens Snorkel Tour with Captain Marvin's. Some or our kids wanted to be in the water with the stingrays...some didn't. The Native Way trip was better for kids IMHO because of Rum Point. The lunch was perfect for us and the beach gorgeous. The less adventurous of our kids still really enjoyed the boat ride and the view of the sting ray from the boat. My husband and I took turns waiting on the boat and snorkeling. We had the time of our lives!

 

My mom and stepdad parasailed and because of the wind we had were unable to do it at Cayman but did parasail from Paradise Beach. They had fun and the prices were more reasonable in Cozumel than Cayman would have been according to them.

 

Thank you for the Info

[CapeCodGuy]

On this excursion, did you snorkel only at stingray city, or were you taken elsewhere for the snorkel portion? The reason I ask, I don't want to snorkel on a sandbar. If the snorkel portion is actually on the sandbar, I will likely cancel and schedule a different excursion.[/quote

 

You snorkel in an area off the reef with coral and sandy bottom. It's approx 15-20 feet deep. The Stingray sandbar is anly a three minute boatride away and is in waist deep water.