Island Marketing Wave Runner/Stingray City Excursion

[CruisenGoddess]

Just wondering if any of you have done this excuriosn with Island Marketing. Grandbaby and I are staying behind at the resort while everyone goes on this excursion. Can anyone tell me what the resort is like? Doesn't say on the webpage what resort it is.... How was the excursion? Worth the $$$$ http://grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com/StingrayCityWaveRunner.htm

TIA

[moencat]

The excursion takes off from the Grand Caymanian resort, which is about a 15-20 minute cab ride from the tender pier. The beach is OK...more of a packed, brown sand, as opposed to the soft white sand of 7 Mile Beach. There is also a nice pool and a restaurant there.

 

The excrusion itself is INCREDIBLE, and well, well worth the money. It was one of the highlights of our cruise!

[soon to cruise]

We were just at the resort last week....we took the little jet boat while we had 6 or so jet skis in our group. Anyway, the resort is nice and clean and pretty. The beach is not a swimming type beach. Very rocky. The pool area is very nice and it has a porch like area with shade and lots of tables and chairs right by the pool area. We didnt try the restaurant, but it looked nice. Have fun. The guides are really nice and good.

[brain26]

after the jet ski portion of the excursion, is food and drinks included at the resort?

[Northshorecruisers]

Is this Rum Point Beach that is rocky?

I understand it's sandy at 7 mile - is parasailing available there?

[mtemple]

I don't think the food and drinks are included, and I hear they can be pricey (like everything in GC). I'm going on this excursion during our September cruise and can't wait!

[earl&vesta]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=564262

[soon to cruise]

Our lunch was not included. It was $200 to rent the jet boat for 2 hrs and Rum Point was pretty sandy.

[thoneycu]

The resort has a website, at least you can get a better idea of what it looks like :) http://www.grandcaymanian.ky/

[soon to cruise]

It is a very pretty resort with a nice pool. Not a good beach for swimming though. It's iron shore right through there.

[Harmons_Florida]

I am trying to figure out if this tour is on wave runners or the neat little speedboats pictured on the website. Are these 2 different tours? The price I see on the website is $200 for the vehicle up to 4 passengers. Does this price also include entry into the Sting Ray City?

 

Thank you,

 

-AH

[soon to cruise]

We had the little 4 seater jet boat, but there were about 6 jet skis in our group also. Jet boat is $200 weather you have 1 person or 4. Not sure how much the jet skis are. So, it is the same tour. One price takes you to stingray city sandbar and then to rum point and back to the Grand Camaynian (sp).....no food or drink is included. So, if you want to or drink at Rum Point or at the restaurant back at the resort you need to bring some money. Have fun!

[smalltowngrll]

7/22 Sailing of the Carnival Legend

 

Grand Cayman – We chose to book our tour outside of ship sponsored tours. We went with a wave runner tour (ask and I’ll let you know who. I can’t post it in my review) The tour started out at the Grand Caymanian Resort. We took the tender to shore and asked for a taxi to take us to this resort. It was $7 /pp since we were going a little out of their way and not to 7 mile beach. It is a little bit further than that ride and it was reasonable. We had a little time before the tour, so we just laid out by the beach. They had hammocks and different beach chairs to use, or their was a pool.

The tour guides were excellent. There was a slight rain storm that came through, but it was quick and only lasted about 15 minutes. We were given our paperwork to fill out and sign, our life vests and an instruction on how to use the wave runners. I’d never been on one before but my daughter had been. Let me tell you, I HAD A BLAST!!! I’m an adrenaline junkie anyway, so this definitely satisfied my urge. The guides will tell you up front that they won’t go at a snail pace for the slowest rider, but that is because it is not fair for the entire group. There were a total of about 9 of us. Some were much slower than others, but the tour guides always knew where we all were. You are able to as slow as you want or as fast as you want.

We took the wave runners over to sting ray sandbar and had a chance to swim and feed the stingrays. One of the tour guides was a stingray wrangler and did a great job of rounding up a few for us to feed and hold. When we pulled up on our wave runners, I thought how glad I was that we weren’t in with the other tour groups that were there because there had to be about 50-75 people in each of those tour boats. Our tour guides gave a little history on the stingrays, what they like to eat, how long they live, mating, etc. We were given quite a bit of information, along with some GREAT stories!

We then hopped back on the wave runners and jetted over to Rum Point Beach. I loved this quaint little place. There was a little bar there with a grill. We had time for a drink and a little snack. The longer you spend at Stingray Sandbar, the less time you might have here. Both are wonderful adventures. The gal that was bartending here gave us great service and was very sweet!! It was her birthday, too!! I would DEFINITELY book this tour again! Thanks guys!!!

 

My email is kerri77@juno.com if you have questions or would like to know the name of the tour company.

[CruisinDawn]

Sorry to continue to take this off topic but where would one see the jet boat tour? We have waverunners already booked but my mom might be happier in a jet boat. Curious :)

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[smalltowngrll]

You could just request it by sending an email to the same people you booked the tour through. The other option is that you might be able to request the boat the day of. They seemed to be very flexibable with everything.

 

Here is a link to a review of my trip last week!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=603076

[Bubblez]

This is the jetboat I think http://www.grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com/StingrayCityJetBoat.htm We have done the wave runners:-)

[libertybelle41]

This is the jetboat I think http://www.grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com/StingrayCityJetBoat.htm We have done the wave runners:-)

 

 

 

How easy or difficult is it to get back in these boats once you're in the water? I think my mtr-in-law would love them, but not sure about getting back in.

[smalltowngrll]

How easy or difficult is it to get back in these boats once you're in the water? I think my mtr-in-law would love them, but not sure about getting back in.

 

The only time you will have to get back in the boat from the water in at stingray sandbar. They will be glad to help you if needed. But, there is also a step up on both the boat and the waverunners. There were a couple of people that needed assistance on our excursion and they did just fine getting back in with a little help. The jet boat looked like a lot of fun for those that were in it with us. They said they really enjoyed it!!

[soon to cruise]

That was basically the boat, but the real one is yellow and black...not that it matters. Anyway, the boat can be very bumpy. If you have any back/neck problems I wouldnt reccommend it. Of course it depends on the water conditons.

[amandaray80]

Hello. these excursion seem great, but does anybody know the cost to get to the resort that they start from? I've read on other boards that Rum point is really far away (if that's where most of the tours end-do you take a cab back as well, or do they take you back to the resort/cruise port)???

[amandaray80]

Hi! I saw that you took the Wave runner excursion in Grand Cayman. You said it wasn't too bad ($7/pp) cab ride to resort, but what happens when the tour ends at Rum Point? Did they take to back to the resort or port? How much was THAT cab ride? I really like these excursions, but Rum point is far away ($$$ Cab ride?). Please let me know if you remember, thanks!

[smalltowngrll]

Hi! I saw that you took the Wave runner excursion in Grand Cayman. You said it wasn't too bad ($7/pp) cab ride to resort, but what happens when the tour ends at Rum Point? Did they take to back to the resort or port? How much was THAT cab ride? I really like these excursions, but Rum point is far away ($$$ Cab ride?). Please let me know if you remember, thanks!

 

The excursion finishes back at the grand caymanian resort. They will call a cab to come and get you afterwards, or you can get the cab drivers card when they drop you off and have the gal at the desk call them to come back and pick you up afterwards. It's the same price.

[earl&vesta]

I wasn't in the "boat", I was on the jetski and had a challenging time getting back on. I'm 5'11" and was in chest high water where we anchored the jetskis at Sting Ray City. It was VERY windy that day and the jetski was moving and I was moving and...

My husband had to drag me on over the back of the thing. I'm sure our tour guide would have helped if we'd have asked, but I'm sure I was putting on quite the show trying to get on myself. I half-expected my swimsuit to end up in a tangled mess, but it didn't.

 

I didn't have much trouble at all getting on when we first started at the Grand Caymanian.

 

How easy or difficult is it to get back in these boats once you're in the water? I think my mtr-in-law would love them, but not sure about getting back in.

[soon to cruise]

You dont end at Rum Point. You take a cab ride from where you get off the tender. It was $7 pp. It takes you to the Caymanian Resort. From there you either get your boat or your jet ski depending on which you reserved and you go to stingray city and then Rum Point and then back to the resort. You have to call a taxi from the resort to come back and get you and this takes a while, so while waiting for the cab you can go outside and enjoy the pool or hammocks and they can let you know when the cab gets there. No sense just sitting in the lobby.

Hope that helped.

[wolfganghowell]

We did this excursion last December and loved it - we will be doing it again in April 08. You can look in the Rhapsody review section to see my comments on it.

 

Initially we did have a hard time getting a cab to take us to the resort which was kind of irritating. Next time I will know to say upfront that I would like them to pick us up so they know going in they have a roundtrip fare. The guides are fabulous and we really enjoyed Rum Point. We had a post excursion foo foo drink at Grand Caymanian and it was quite good and quite strong!

 

In my opinion, you need to be in fairly good shape because the waverunners are powerful - my thighs had a death grip on that thing but then Mr Wolf liked to jump the waves a bit! :) The guides will also help you get back on after the stops. Like others have said, be sure and bring some cash for drinks or snacks and tips. We were more than happy to tip the guys - they were outstanding and a lot of fun! They have a cabin that they can lock your stuff up in and the waverunner has a waterproof storage compartment as well. We highly recommend this.