Soto Tour of Stingray City

[jeff33436]

Just got back from our first cruise (Carnival Sensation) and we did the Stingray City/Snorkel trip with Soto's. Everything was great- from the pickup at the pier , the actual trip, and the return to the pier.

 

The staff and crew were extemely nice and made the trip great. The snorkeling stops were nice, but I was a little disappointed as I was expecting bigger reefs and lots more fish (not Soto's fault, of course). The best part was Stingray City, which was much more exciting and fun than I imagined it would be. DON'T MISS IT!!! The crew really was very interactive and made sure everyone got to interact with the stingrays.

 

The price of $24 was a bargain and I thought the whole experience was great.

[Gingee]

Glad to hear it since we are booked with Soto's also.

[machunt]

Jeff we are going on the sensation in august what time did you book your excursion for? and was there a problem with the tender?

 

Any advice you can give us for the cruise would be great

[jeff33436]

Hi-

Here's the scoop- it's a bit confusing.

First, there is a one hour time difference on the island. They are one hour behind the ship time. I was very worried because the Soto tour was 9:30 - 12:30, which means it got back to the pier at 1:30 (ship time). The last tender back to the ship is 1:15!

 

So, I e-mailed Soto's before the trip to let them know this would be a problem. Turns out, there were many other Sensation folks booked on the same trip as mine, so they just adjusted the time of the trip to 9:00 - 12:00. They were very aware of the situation on the actual trip and got us back to the pier with plenty of time to spare. So, just e-mail them and let them know.

 

The tender in the morning was no problem. There are early tenders for those on very early excursions which leave the Sensation beginning at 7:00 (ship time). We took a tender at about 8:15 (ship time) which got us onshore at 8:30. Keep in mind this is 7:30 Cayman time. This gave us about 45 minutes to roam around (and buy some rum!) before Soto's picked us all up at 8:15 (Cayman time). The pickup was just a short walk from the pier. Coming back, just be aware that there will be a HUGE line for the tenders back, since everyone will be trying to get back to the ship at the same time. But don't worry, the line moved quickly and there were lots of tenders to handle it all. We got on the ship with no problem. By the way, the ship will has later lunch hours that day so don't worry about eating on Cayman. You will be able to grab a buffet lunch on the ship until 3:00 that day.

 

Just communicate with Sotos, and they hopefully will accomodate you. It was a great excursion. I was skeptical about Stingray City, but it was just phenomenol!

 

Let me know if you have anymore questions. Enjoy!

 

Jeff

[jodymc]

We are going on a cruise in Feb. and are interested in booking the Soto Tour. Is there a website for this tour and how did you go about booking it. Thanks for any help.

[lanabanana]

sotoscruises.com You can contact them by e-mail. They answer very promptly. We are planning to use them in Sept. My question is....How much do people tip? I hadn't given any thought to needing to tip on the excursions, but I notice that people are saying it is expected!

[jeff33436]

There were three of us and I put $5 in the tip jar. About half the people on the boat tipped- I saw some put a few singles in, others put in 5 or 10. Then the rest put nothing in. So it's really up to you and how hard you think the crew worked.

[bigd332]

One nice thing with those guys on the tour is they definitly don't push you for the tips. They mentioned the tip bucket once and that was it. I left them a $10 bill, the trip was great and so were they.

[Honeybear]

When in August? We are going Aug. 7, 2004!!!

[cantwait2cruise]

Anyone else going on Sensation Aug. 30th? Thanks for the info on Soto's...you just answered some of my questions about ship vs. island time.

[lauren0309]

To Jody Mc:

 

I too am going on a cruise in February. I tried booking with Soto's and he said he can't give me a confirmation yet because he doesnt have rates for February yet. I'm still waiting to hear from him again.

[sledman]

We are booked with Soto's for our cruise in Oct. We will also be on the Sensation, so thank you for your review and for the information on changing the return time to catch the tenders. Sounds like you hade a great time. We are very excited to see the sting rays. Heard it is a not to be missed excursion.

 

Shane

[truckintocruisin]

I have been reading about the soto's stingray trips. Is this thru the cruislines or is Soto on his own? We are sailing for the 6th time this time on RCC on 2/12/05

[Bob46]

I just returned from the Explorer and we went with Sotos. I'm afraid I don't remember the crewmembers names, but these guys were fantastic. The whole trip had the feeling of being out on a boat with a bunch of friends. Everything was very relaxed but you could see the guys keeping their eye on everyone. The fish at the reef were great, the stingrays were unbelievable, and the morray eel was the icing on the cake. I tipped $20 for three of us. At my 2 other excursions on this trip I did not tip anything. I would highly recommend Sotos.

Bob

[lauren0309]

Truckintocruisin:

 

I see your cruising in February also and are considering Soto's. I gave my credit card number to hold reservation for me and my family but he told me he can't give me a confirmation yet since he doesnt have February 2005 rates. If you decide to use him, let me know if you get any rates or a confirmation.

[fajitapita]

We are thinking of doing another western caribbean cruise late winter/early spring '05. Our DD will be 4 1/2 at the time. I notice that soto's cruises doesn't charge for kids under 3 years old. I'm assuming this means my 4 1/2 year old would be able to go on this excursion? How deep is the water where you snorkel and play with the sting rays? Do they offer life vests? Any info would be greatly appreciated....

[Jojiboy]

We are thinking of doing another western caribbean cruise late winter/early spring '05. Our DD will be 4 1/2 at the time. I notice that soto's cruises doesn't charge for kids under 3 years old. I'm assuming this means my 4 1/2 year old would be able to go on this excursion? How deep is the water where you snorkel and play with the sting rays? Do they offer life vests? Any info would be greatly appreciated....

 

The area where you snorkel is around 8-10 feet deep so I'm not sure your 4 1/2 year old would be able to do that part even with a life vest. The sandbar where you play with the sting rays is about 3-4 feet deep so that shouldn't be a problem but one of you may have to hold your daughter while in the water. Yes, they do provide life vests. We were there last Friday and had a blast.

[obosix]

We had a family with an infant and they had a baby inflatable type ring that the child sat in when we went to Sting Ray Alley, the baby stayed aboard with his mom for the first 2 stops. I used the life vest myself and so did my kids Don't think it would be a problem and am sure your child would do fine (we had a few younguns aboard)

[cmez]

Thanks for the info everyone!! I was considering Capt. Bryan's but after reading this post, I've decided to booked with Soto's when we cruise on Conquest 10/31/04. I'll give a full review upon my return.

[MERED1TH]

We did Soto last week with 2 kids 10 and 6. Excellent tour 100% recommend.

Much better than the Ship tour we did 2 years ago, and better prices.

[jodymc]

To Lauren0309,

 

I saw on one of your posts that you are going on the Enchantment Feb. 19th....that is when we are going too. We have a total of 10 (2 families) 4 adults and 6 kids ages 11-18 (5 boys & 1 girl). I have been emailing different tour companies in Jamaica as we want to tour Dunns River Falls and water tube. In Cayman Islands we are looking to do stingray City. A few years ago we did Stingray City through Norwegian and paid $48 each. Heard it is much less expensive to book on your own which we plan to do this time.

[lauren0309]

Hi JodyMc-

 

Yes we are going on the Enchantment February 19, 2005. We are going 2 families. My husband and I are bringing our two boys 17 and 12 and my friend and her husband is bringing their two boys 17 and 13. The kids are going to Ocean Adventure the first day so they can meet other kids. Maybe they'll meet up with yours. In Jamaica we are going to Dunns Falls and some rain forest which we already booked with Ionie McBean. In Cayman Islands we booked with Soto's but I havent received a confirmation yet because he said they havent gotten their rates for February yet. The only thing that bothers me is that they have my credit card number but didnt give me a confirmation yet. I know now is not the time to try to reach them. I last received an e-mail from them in August.