Native Way Watersports?

[crusin cowboy]

Has anyone had any dealings with Native Way Watersports in Grand Cayman? What kind of lunch do they serve on their 5-hour tour? and any other info. you could give?

[andezz99]

I just returned from my cruise this week (7/1). We took the Native Way Watersports and Rum Beach tour and had a great time. Because we booked with Native Way, our tour consisted of only 8 other people, unlike the large groups that go out with the cruise ship tours.

 

We first went to a reef to snorkle then to sting ray city. Both were the highlight of our trip. On our way from the reef to sting ray city, the captain "Sheldon" and co-captin "Lionel" passed out a menu so that we could call in our lunch ahead of our arrival at Rum Beach. The lunch options were many from standard burgers to Mahi Mahi wraps, chicken, fish and for kids chicken fingers and hot dogs. You could select one entre off the menu which included ice tea or water. Cocktails or addtional food could be purchased at Rum Beach for an addtional charge.

 

Rum Beach was a nice location, better then I expected with chairs, a boardwalk, and fresh water showers, changing rooms and clean restrooms. People who were staying specifically in the Cayman Islands said it was their favorite beach. I know 7 mile is poplular and I never seem to make it there so I cannot compare but I did like Rum Beach.

 

This is a good tour, pick up out side the terminal was easy to find, drivers and captains were professional and tried hard to make sure everyone had fun. Also, snorkle equipment was good (this is important because I've been on tours with crummy equipment).

 

I highly recommend.

[crusin cowboy]

Thank you for your reply. Your information has been very helpful in us determining what we will do in Grand Cayman. :o

[Schasz]

I just returned from my cruise this week (7/1). We took the Native Way Watersports and Rum Beach tour and had a great time. Because we booked with Native Way, our tour consisted of only 8 other people, unlike the large groups that go out with the cruise ship tours.

 

We first went to a reef to snorkle then to sting ray city. Both were the highlight of our trip. On our way from the reef to sting ray city, the captain "Sheldon" and co-captin "Lionel" passed out a menu so that we could call in our lunch ahead of our arrival at Rum Beach. The lunch options were many from standard burgers to Mahi Mahi wraps, chicken, fish and for kids chicken fingers and hot dogs. You could select one entre off the menu which included ice tea or water. Cocktails or addtional food could be purchased at Rum Beach for an addtional charge.

 

Rum Beach was a nice location, better then I expected with chairs, a boardwalk, and fresh water showers, changing rooms and clean restrooms. People who were staying specifically in the Cayman Islands said it was their favorite beach. I know 7 mile is poplular and I never seem to make it there so I cannot compare but I did like Rum Beach.

 

This is a good tour, pick up out side the terminal was easy to find, drivers and captains were professional and tried hard to make sure everyone had fun. Also, snorkle equipment was good (this is important because I've been on tours with crummy equipment).

 

I highly recommend.

 

 

We have this excursion booked for July 29th, and I have a couple more questions...Did they serve you rum punch? We were told that the excursion included rum punch. Also, did they get you back in time to shop in Grand Cayman? We have 19 people in our group and I am sure some would be disappointed if they did not have a little time to shop before the last tenders.

 

Thanks,

John & Shari

[ColoradoMom!!]

Also -- what were your lunch favorites?

[NthernLgts]

We booked the stingray city & snorkel with Native Way next month for our upcoming cruise too. I have yet to read a negative post about them.

[Scooter650]

Andy, is that you?! Scott here, we were on the tour with you and the ship.

 

I would highly recommend Native Way and Rum Point Beach, they were excellent and Sheldon was great. My boys said this was the best day of any vacation they have had and thought Sheldon was a hoot. Great young kid that can drive a boat like you can't believe!

[ginag]

We've used Native Way and they are great. A very reputable and professional company. We had Sheldon as well, and he took great care of us. I think we had a total of about 15 people on our trip...not crowded at all.

The food at Rum Point was delicious! We had cheeseburgers on homemade bread that were HUGE. Our friends had the conch soup and they loved it!

It was a great day!:)

Enjoy!

[terboo]

Greetings Fellow Critics!

 

Guess what…..Nativeway Watersports is going to continue offering the Stingray City/Island Tour! Isn’t that great!:D

 

At first, it was due to be discontinued in October due to the increase cost of entrance to the Turtle Farm. :(

 

However, they have priced adjusted the cost of the tour to allow for the increase. So back by popular demand……

 

 

Here is the message Nativeway emailed me:

 

"Hi,

 

Pleasant Greetings from Grand Cayman...and thanks for contacting us!

 

We have changed the price of the tour to $60 USD per person to help absorb the Turtle Farm increase. So, the tour is now back in our permanent tour line up.

 

We still require a minimum of 8 people to send the tour out. The 8 people do not have to be in your group. However, there must be at least 8 people booked on the tour.

 

Let me know if you would like to reserve space."

 

Sharon Ebanks

 

Anyone as excited as I am? Just an FYI...

 

terboo

[vplsh]

We just returned from this tour last week. To put it bluntly, we were disappointed. The city tour with a stop at the turtle farm was nicely done, but then we boarded a boat with many other people to go to a very crowded stingray city. When we got into the water, only one person got into the water to grab a stingray (except for the photographer) and one family of 8 monopolized it for quite some time. I expected there to be a lot of people there- after all there were 4 ships there that day- but we really didn't get a good experience. We were never given squid to feed the stingrays and then we were taken to a snorkeling stop, which we didn't pay for. We arrived back at the dock over an hour late to long lines for the tender. Our tour should have been back by 1:30 and we didn't get there until 2:45. Fortunately we didn't have any reservations on the ship! In addition, my confirmation did not say anything about a 4% charge for using my credit card, and I didn't bring enough cash so was forced to pay the charge.

 

Hopefully others will have a better experience.

[emd1]

From other posts in the last few weeks on another thread, it sounded like Nativeway was getting a better scheudling routine for their excursions so people wouldn't be getting back so much later than planned....but this post doesn't sound like it for this tour.

[vplsh]

The schedule wasn't the problem, it was the fact that we were combined with people who had purchased a different package. Had they told us that before we went, we probably would have gone with someone else.

 

Just an addition to my earlier post- I emailed Sharon at Nativeway about my tour and she was very apologetic.

[Matlily]

In addition, my confirmation did not say anything about a 4% charge for using my credit card, and I didn't bring enough cash so was forced to pay the charge.

 

Hopefully others will have a better experience.

 

Sorry you had such a horrid time. I have booked this tour for september and in their defence Nativeways have told me on my confirmation that there is a charge for credit card use. Maybe its a new thing to tell you.

 

Most seem to have a great time on this tour, maybe the other family spoilt it for you.

[vplsh]

Apparently when she sent my confirmation, Sharon cut and pasted from another one. She didn't include the part about the 4% charge and also put in that I got lunch at Rum point- and we weren't going to Rum Point. We really didn't want the long tour so we could get back to the ship earlier. Also, we thought we'd go to Stingray City first, before the crowds, and we didn't.

 

Sharon was very nice in her response to my complaints. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Nativeway to others, I'd just check before we left that we were getting what we wanted.