Buccaneer Catamaran

[joannetk]

We are thinking about doing the Buccaneer Catamaran in November. Would appreciate any input, good and bad, from people who have done this trip. How far is the office from the port? How long does it take to tender off the ship? Are they ever late getting people back to the port? Do they have a contact phone number? It seems that everything is done on line.

Is the catamaran crowded? We would like to do it, but we are a little nervous about doing a non ship sponsored excursion. Thank you, Joanne

[Angel in FL]

JoAnn,

 

I'm taking a chance and replying to your question. I've reply to a couple of other threads and seem to kill them:confused: . If you are talking about doing this tour with Capt. Bryan, which I believe you are, then my advice is do this tour. My sisiter & I did this tour with them in April, and my sister was terrifed that we would be let behind. She wanted to book only ship tours but I talked her into doing two non-ship tours and we were fine. The Buccaneer is a beauitful boat. The office is not hard to fine, its in downtown GeorgeTown and they will give you easy to understand directions. It took us about 5-6 mins. to walk to the office, easy check in. Capt. Bryan takes a deposit on your credit card, and if the ship can't tender then you are not charged. We paid for the rest of the tour in cash when we got to the office and checked in. We were then divided into two groups, loaded into vans, short trip to boat and we were on our way. The boat has the ability to hold 30 people and our tour was full. There was still plenty of room to sit and spread out. We had a videoagrapher on board that day and she was wonderful. First stop was Stingray City. My sister was scared to death and did not get off the boat until the last possible moment. She did get to touch a stingray and we had our picture take with the stingray. Guide was excellant, very patient, and explained everything about the rays that he could. We had a guide change and the second gentlemen was very knowledgeable and just as friendly as the first. Second stop was at the Coral Gardens. It was here that it become very clear that Capt. Bryan cares about what he is doing. He explained to us that one finger touch would kill a large amount of the coral reef, so we were to be extremely careful and not swim to close to the coral. As I was getting off the boat, very easy ladders on the front & back of boat, Capt. Bryan started yelling at one of the other tour leaders that his passangers were standing on the coral reef! I know that some will say that he was just protecting his business and perhaps he was, but it made me feel good. The Coral Gardens is a great place to snorkel, lots of coral formations and sea life. The last stop was called The Aquarium. Again tour guide in the water pointing out all the sea life. I got a great picture of him feeding a spotted moray eel. Of course, I must have swallowed half the carribean!:D Anyway on the way back the videograper asked if you want the video, she passed around the camera so you could see part of what she filmed. Not pushy at all, if you said no, she moved on, no high pressure sales pitch. We got back to shore, divided into two groups and were driven back to a parking lot right next to the tenders and we caught the next to last tender back to ship. Our tour ran a little long and we were nervous about getting back. I would book this tour again even with the lenght of the tour. As everyone says, all it would take is for one person to miss a ship because of something the tour did and their business would just vanish! Hope this answers your questions. I'll check back to see if you have any more. Sorry about the length of this post:rolleyes: .

Linda

[joannetk]

Linda, Thanks for your reply. The Buccaneer Catamaran sounds great. It is the one with Capt. Bryan. What time was your ship scheduled to leave the port? We are on the Naviagator and the Grand Cayman departure time posted on the internet is 4 pm. Does that mean that the last tender will be at 3 pm? I guess my only worry right now is getting back in time. Joanne

[Angel in FL]

Joanne, I believe we were in port until 4PM. Last tender back to the boat was 3:30PM, which is the one we caught. Unknown to us at the time, was the one of the ship tours was late coming back so there was another tender after ours but I would not count on that. I would suggest that when you check in you remind them what ship you are on and what time you HAVE to be back in port by. I still don't think you'll have any problems. I hope you enjoy this tor:) .

 

Linda

[joannetk]

I just made reservations for this tour. I was told that we have 2 hours to get back to the ship, as the tour ends at 1:30 pm and it should not be a problem. I just hope we do not run late as you did, Linda. Karen, did your excursion run late? Joanne

[lindnet]

Our ship docks at noon and the meeting time for Capt Bryan's afternoon tour is 12:45 to 1:00. Do any of you think we'll have a problem making it??

[KimStead]

Hope someone can help me with a bit of a concern that I have. We are booked on the Buccaneer in Sept. I have had some ankle problems this past year, including 2 operations. How difficult is it to get on and off the boat? I am up and walking around, and am back at work, but am still a little afraid that if its a ladder up the side of the boat I won't be able to make it. I still don't have full range of motion in the joint. Thanks for your help in advance, we booked this before the second surgery, when I thought things would be fine by now............as the time gets closer I am panicing :)

[montgomeryfamily]

KimStead, one of our party is mobility impaired but likes to snorkel and we have snorkeled in many ports many times, including Grand Cayman several times. It is important if you are mobility impaired to have a ladder which goes under the water two or three steps in order to help you to get back on the boat. And the ladder should be wide (not narrow). We find that if the catamaran ladder steps extend under the water for two or three steps, the front catamaran steps, which are more like a staircase, can be easier to get up and down from than a regular ladder.

 

However, a catamaran poses other problems you need to consider. If the primary seating area is the trampoline, this is very difficult for someone who has ankle, knee, and hip problems to walk on because of lack of stability of the surface (more bouncy surface). Plus if the catamaran uses sails, the motion can make it more difficult to walk on than a motorized boat. There is also more motion on a sailing catamaran when it is anchored because of the design of the boat. If a catamaran has a covered seating area, then you can sit there until it anchors and then go down the steps. If it is a sailing catamaran, then if you when you have to walk on it, have someone with you who can provide assistance to steady you if necessary through the motion. People that don't have mobility problems typically don't notice these types of things, including the boat's motion, because it isn't a problem for them.

 

As far as Buccaneer catamaran, I understand that it is also known as Captain Bryans catamaran. When we first looked for private snorkeling excursions in Grand Cayman which would provide assistance to someone who is mobility-impaired in getting to/from the ladder and the seating area, plus meet the required needs for covered seating and appropriate ladder, I contacted Capt. Byran's (via email). They were the only ones that offered a catamaran snorkeling tour at Grand Cayman. (I believe this is still the case). However, they were not advertising their excursion as the Buccaneer catamaran. As I understand it, Captain Byran's has two catamarans, the Buccaneer and the Hannibal.

 

Capt. Byran's did respond back, but did not answer all of my questions. They did not respond to the questions about the ladder but did say that they had limited seating available and only part of that was covered--passengers were expected to ride on the trampoline and other exposed parts. They also stated that they did not provide assistance to guests, disabled or otherwise, and that we should look to book with another company. So we did not book with them. (I still have their email in my excursion file)

 

I have posted our experience before. Some others have posted that when they were on the Buccaneer, there was covered seating and others have posted that the covered seating is limited. Some have also posted that the crew was helpful and did provide assistance to the guests.

 

I don't know whether their providing assistance to guests as some have posted was typical or not. If it was, then I can only conclude that Capt. Byron did not want a tour group that included a person who had a mobility impairment (walks with cane/not confined to a wheelchair) and that is the reason I was given the response I received from Capt. Byron. You can decide for yourself whether or not you would want to go with this company or choose a company that welcomes all guests.

 

Kathy

[KimStead]

Kathy,

Thanks for the info, I hadn't even thought about walking about and sitting on the catamaran, will look and see if I can find the e-mail address to find out what kind of ladder they have. which company did you end up going snorking with?

 

Kim

[montgomeryfamily]

Kimstead, we ended up going with Captain Marvin's and have actually used them twice. We are also booked with them again for a non-stingray city snorkeling tour in November.

 

In addition to Captain Byran's, I also contacted Sotos, Nativeway, and a few other companies which offer snorkeling that you don't see mentioned on these boards. The other companies didn't meet our needs. Sotos was willing to offer assistance, but had a narrow ladder that didn't go down far enough. Nativeway also was willing to offer assistance and they have large boat which has a wide ladder and has several steps under the water. However, they also have a smaller boat, similar to Sotos and they will not guarantee which boat you will be on because sometimes the large boat gets chartered/booked up by large groups. It was actually Nativeways that referred us to Captain Marvin's.

 

Captain Marvin's has several large boats which have a wide ladder which goes several steps under the water. They offered to provide assistance and, when on-board, were very helpful, not just to the disabled passengers, but to everyone. There were about 25 people onboard and a videographer, so they do not have large groups like the cruise lines.

 

If you do decide to go with Captain Marvin's, email Ruth of Captain Marvin's office and let her know of your disability and that you need the ladder that has several steps into the water. This way if there is any problem with the boat which is assigned for the tour on which you are scheduled or an overflow issue and they are going to substitute boats, they will get you on a boat with the appropriate ladder. I also confirm/remind them when I check in that the large boat with the long ladder which goes several steps under the water is being used.

 

We started using private companies after booking cruise line snorkelng tours only to find that we couldn't go on the excursion due to the type of boat or the refusal of the boat captain to provide assistance.

 

We do like motorized catamarans and find these these to be fairly stable and the easiest to use, as long as the ladder meets our requirements and there is adequate covered seating. The sailing catamarans are much more difficult to use and we prefer motorized boats over sailing catamarans due to the stability issue.

 

Hope you find the information useful.

 

Kathy

[Angel in FL]

Kimstead--the bucanner is not a catamaran but a trimaran. I have very bad ankles due to several breaks, sprains, and torn ligaments. I had no trouble whatsoever on the Bucanneer. The ladder does extend one maybe two steps under the water, but like I said no problems. I believe the Bucanneer has more of a solid hull than a catamaran. The boat had some shade but I did not find this to be a problem The most time you spend on the boat is going to and from the dock. The rest of the time you are in the water, and believe me the time seems way to short. It is amazing how fast time goes by when you are snorkling and haveing a blast. The Bucanneer hold a maximum of 30 people. It has a cash bar on board, if that is of interest to you. It was not to my sister & I. The bar is not open until after the last snorkling spot has been left and they were not pushy about the use of the bar. I hope this helps. I had such a wondeful time and the DVD that I purchased of our trip it just terrific. I believe the cost was $60. and the videographer does a great job of getting everyone in the video. They are not pushy about you buying the video. If you deciede to book with them you need to ask for a videographer to be on board. I would have been very upset without the possibility of purchasing such a great reminder of my trip:)

 

Linda