Turtles, and Stingrays, and Hell....OH MY!

NEW 2 CRUISIN · November 17, 2006

Just had to throw in a BIG THUMBS UP for the shore excursion we took last week through Royal Caribbean while in Grand Cayman with the Radiance!!!

The tour was called "Turtles & Stingray Land & Sea Adventure" and was booked online with the ship before the cruise.

We had a nice tour along past the 7-mile Beach area, with our driver pointing out interesting things along the way. Our first quick stop was "HELL" to take some pictures, buy some postcards and t-shirts, and refresh with some frozen bottles of water the ladies were selling.

Next we stopped at the Rum Cake Bakery to sample some cakes and rums! Right next door is the Turtle Farm, which these city guys found to be amazing! I have never seen so many giant sea turtles in one place, and to hear all about them and be able to hold them and feed them was a bonus! The new areas of the farm with the private lagoon and pools will be a nice addition to the new turtle facilities, snack bars, and gift shop! Took lots of pics here!

Finally, we were driven to the Yacht Club for out Stingray City Adventure, and WOW!!!....it was AWESOME! :eek: We had a great crew and a small group, so the ride to sea and the whole stingray experience was perfect!

The whole package was only $62 per person booked with Royal Caribbean, and it could not have been more convenient or enjoyable!!!

TIP: Got some great pics with the disposable waterproof camera underwater with the sting rays! They really came out great! The bonus was that the pics we took onland with the same cameras also came out bright and clear! I highly recommend using one of these for some really sool pics while in the water with the rays!

lorilea · November 18, 2006

Thanks so much for your review. We've been debating whether or not to do this particular tour on Radiance cruise in February.

Did you find that you were rushed at any of the stops or did you have enough time at each?

Lori

WiseGirl · November 18, 2006

Thanks for the nice review! :) I've been trying to contact Nativeway to set up a similar tour for our upcoming Western cruise, but am not getting a response. I think I'll book through the ship after hearing your experience. Maybe we'll get lucky and have a small group for the Stingray City Adventure.

lallybrock · November 19, 2006

New 2 Cruisin - I am interested in going to the Turtle Farm and wondered if you noticed if all of the new areas of Boatswain Beach were open yet. Would you mind sharing some of your pics for the Turtle Farm & did you take any of the new areas also? Thanks for your help.

Lallybrock

NEW 2 CRUISIN · November 19, 2006

New 2 Cruisin - I am interested in going to the Turtle Farm and wondered if you noticed if all of the new areas of Boatswain Beach were open yet. Would you mind sharing some of your pics for the Turtle Farm & did you take any of the new areas also? Thanks for your help.

Lallybrock

Hey LALLY! :)

I saw your similar post somewhere else, but did not want to give you conflicting info. Seems some other people had a different impression than I got.

My BELIEF, however, is that the guide working for the Turlte Farm told us that the lagoon area would be opening soon. What He meant by that is anybody's guess, but I can tell you this: When we visited the Turtle Farm the week of November 6th, THE ONLY THINGS OPEN WERE THE TURTLE TANKS, THE SNACK BAR, and THE GIFT SHOP.

You could see the other secton of the park with what I thought was a pool, etc. through the fences that closed off the area. Turns out that is going to be the lagoon area where you can actually swim with the turtles.

We saw no other signs of an aviary or anything else, so they must have been behind that fence too! There is one gator in a cage amongst the turtles, but that was it.

Also...not so sure how they can get away with calling it "Boatswain's Beach", when it is across the road from the ocean! :confused: Unless they are going to have a man-made beach around their lagoon, or an underground tunnel to the actual beach, I'm not really sure what they have planned.

For now, based on our experience, I'd recommend booking a tour with the ship that includes the Turtle Farm, just to avoid having to face a $60 admission fee (if, in fact, all the rumors on here come true and that is what they will be charging). It was fun.....but not THAT fun! HAHA! :D We spent about an hour looking at and playing with the turtles and that was about enough.

GOOD LUCK!

P.S. I'll look into getting some pics hosted somewhere so I can post them here. They are still on the Memory Sticks.

NEW 2 CRUISIN · November 19, 2006

Thanks so much for your review. We've been debating whether or not to do this particular tour on Radiance cruise in February.

Did you find that you were rushed at any of the stops or did you have enough time at each?

Lori

Hi LORI! :)

It really was a great trip, covering lots of stuff during our short stop on the island! We even had time to do a little shopping before and after the tour.

I felt we had plenty of time in each location. Our driver told us when we arrived at each place what time to be back on the bus so we could get everything in. As long as everone cooperates, there is plenty of time to do everything!

HELL only requires a few minutes, to take a couple pictures and buy some t-shirts and some drinks. It's just a funny tourist stop, with some very cool rock formatiions out back!

The Rum Cake factory is a little store where you get to taste the different flavors of cakes and maybe sample some rums. That didn't take long.

We spent about an hour at the Turtle Farm taking pictures and palying with the turtles, which we felt was plenty of time. Those aniumals are truly amazing! We even had a couple minutes to lok in the gift shop. Some folks ate lunch and got ice cream in the snack bar there.

All of that was done, really, with the goal of getting us to the Yacht Club in time for our Stingray City Tour - the true highlight of the day! I'd guess that was almost 3 hours total - plenty of time with a small group to do all there is to do with stingrays! We hjad a GREAT crew on that one!

I think you will really enjoy it as much as we did. That's the main reason I am recommending it to everyone. It was my first cruise, and I know I always appreciated hearing people's reviews of their trips. I was not able to find out much about this one, so I figured I'd share our thoughts on it with everyone.

HAVE FUN!!!!

:)

Wilson · November 26, 2006

Just had to throw in a BIG THUMBS UP for the shore excursion we took last week through Royal Caribbean while in Grand Cayman with the Radiance!!!

The tour was called "Turtles & Stingray Land & Sea Adventure" and was booked online with the ship before the cruise.

We had a nice tour along past the 7-mile Beach area, with our driver pointing out interesting things along the way. Our first quick stop was "HELL" to take some pictures, buy some postcards and t-shirts, and refresh with some frozen bottles of water the ladies were selling.

Next we stopped at the Rum Cake Bakery to sample some cakes and rums! Right next door is the Turtle Farm, which these city guys found to be amazing! I have never seen so many giant sea turtles in one place, and to hear all about them and be able to hold them and feed them was a bonus! The new areas of the farm with the private lagoon and pools will be a nice addition to the new turtle facilities, snack bars, and gift shop! Took lots of pics here!

Finally, we were driven to the Yacht Club for out Stingray City Adventure, and WOW!!!....it was AWESOME! :eek: We had a great crew and a small group, so the ride to sea and the whole stingray experience was perfect!

The whole package was only $62 per person booked with Royal Caribbean, and it could not have been more convenient or enjoyable!!!

TIP: Got some great pics with the disposable waterproof camera underwater with the sting rays! They really came out great! The bonus was that the pics we took onland with the same cameras also came out bright and clear! I highly recommend using one of these for some really sool pics while in the water with the rays!

Did you snorkel, swim or stand with the rays? There seems to be several excurs to choose from. Did you get to feed, pet, hold, or God forbid...kiss them? Thanx in advance for info.

NEW 2 CRUISIN · November 27, 2006

Did you snorkel, swim or stand with the rays? There seems to be several excurs to choose from. Did you get to feed, pet, hold, or God forbid...kiss them? Thanx in advance for info.

WOW!

We did ALL of that stuff! HAHA! :D

The boat actually took us about half hour out into the ocean where the sand bar is. When you jump out of the boat, the water is about 4-5 feet deep.

We brought our own snorkels to go underwater and take pics of the rays, and it was worth it. The boat also had snorkel equipment for everyone who wanted to go underwater and see them close up.

Our crew was awesome as far as making sure everyone got to interact with the rays as much (or as little) as possible!

We fed them, held them, and, of course, had to get the 7 years of good luck by kissing one too! We even got the "Stingray Back Massage" before we left!

It was truly an unforgettable experience! To top it off, our cheap disposable underwater Kodak camera took AWESOME pics!!!

HAVE FUN!

:)

JLC@SD · November 28, 2006

The Turtle Farm.....when we visited.....we were surprised to learn that it is a real farm....they harvest the turtles for their byproducts......few are raised to return to the wild. Here is a sign explaining what the turtles are raised for.....

JLC@SD · November 28, 2006

Did you snorkel, swim or stand with the rays? There seems to be several excurs to choose from. Did you get to feed, pet, hold, or God forbid...kiss them? Thanx in advance for info.

Here is a photo of "Stingray City".......:)

jamiesducks · January 16, 2007