anyone ever done this with Nativeway?

[CruiseCrAzieS]

Just wondering if anyone has done this tour with Native Ways and if so, what you thought of it.....the boats, the tour guides, the # of people in a tour...that sort of thing.

 

To my understangin, it leaves directly from the port with stops at stingray city, then barrier reef and then rum point.

On their web site it is listed as a 5 hour tour for $60p/p. is it worth the money??

Any help is appreciated!!:confused:

[LovemyYankees]

Just wondering if anyone has done this tour with Native Ways and if so, what you thought of it.....the boats, the tour guides, the # of people in a tour...that sort of thing.

 

To my understangin, it leaves directly from the port with stops at stingray city, then barrier reef and then rum point.

On their web site it is listed as a 5 hour tour for $60p/p. is it worth the money??

Any help is appreciated!!:confused:

:D YES! it was definately worth every penny. I just did this tour on 8/2 (Carnival Liberty 7/29 sailing) with my husband and 13 and 19 yr old sons. The guides were great, made sure everyone on the boat got a chance to hold the stingray and take pictures. I think we had around 20-25 people in our boat. Rasta Ron (that's what we called him, big guy w/ long dreadlocks) was waiting at the pier. We were bused over to a smaller marina where the boat was located. We went to see the rays first and had a great experience. They had 3 guys on board helping out. Then we went snorkling at a coral reef about 10 minutes away. They gave us menus to select lunch at Rum Point Beach so it was waiting when we arrived. THe selection was great. I had the catch of the day. Two large pieces of mahi-mahi and rice and beans w/ corn on the cob. IT was delicious. Rum Point was just gorgeous. It had plenty of lounge chairs with shade if you wanted. Not too crowded either. The only negative was that we had to leave!!!

 

I would highly recommend the tour. I felt it was a good value especially when you consider the prices in the Caymans. We were back to the port in plenty of time. Don't hesitiate to try them!

 

Let me know if you want any other info. Have a great time no matter what you decide to do! :)

[Matlily]

I have only heard really good stuff on this board about Nativeways and have already booked my excursion with them for september

[hoff4man02]

We did this excursion with them on 7/25 ( I think) the 7/22 sailing of the Carival Valor. It was great. There were 15 of us on the boat and the price of the excursion is worth every cent. You go out much earlier than the other tours. We had the area pretty much to ourselves. Obviously the stingray were plentiful and gentle because they hadn't been disturbed all morning. The snorkling was OK and the food at Rum Point was really good especially after using so much energy doing the other 2 things. I think you'll be really happy with them. ;)

[Jan_In_Maine]

We did this tour last week and our boat had approx 10 people. We had a wonderful time with them. I'd do it again in a minute. Great people, great time, great food. Loved Rum point ... and even being a total chicken I snorkled at the reef (beautiful fish, coral, etc.) and like others really enjoyed the rays ... even kissed one! Wish we could have stayed at Rum Point forever!! Jan

[afkpar]

We did the Rays,Reef & Rum Point Tour 2 years in a row. It is an absolute blast!:D

Our younger daughter who kept telling us she wasn't going in the water, loved it.

I wish I could attach pictures. It was the highlight of those 2 cruises.

Their guides are wonderful.

I hope that they all keep safe with Dean on the way.

[suzy1212]

We loved it. There were only nine people on our tour. Sheldon, our captain was the best!

[TexasMommy]

Has anyone ever got sea sick on this our had motion sickness problems? My DD got sick when we took a glass bottom boat last month and we were wondering if it may be an issue on this. Sounds like such a great excursion.

[sunsetme]

they pick you up at the port in a van and take you to their boat--its a great day!

[suzy1212]

Has anyone ever got sea sick on this our had motion sickness problems? My DD got sick when we took a glass bottom boat last month and we were wondering if it may be an issue on this. Sounds like such a great excursion.

None of us had any problems. I have only gotten motion sick once in my life. It was on one of those boats where you go downstairs and sit on benches and look out the windows under water.

My mom gets motion sick easily, but ginger pills helped her a lot on our cruise.

[Jan_In_Maine]

Many years ago (34) DH and I had a water bed and I was green with seasickness for weeks (go figure!) :rolleyes: ... but didn't have a problem with the small-ish boat that Nativeway used. Jan

[ken_nyc]

Just returned this past Sunday from our cruise and I HIGHLY recommend Native Ways "Rays, Reef & Rum Point" Tour. We meet at the port and was taken by a small bus to the marina where they have the boat that takes you first out to Sting Ray City...this was fantastic. You arrive before most of the crowd. You hold the rays, you kiss them and feed them. There was also a photographer on board that takes photos of you with them, there was no pressure to buy any. The photographer shows you the photos on the screen of his camera, you select as many as you want and pay him, then they mail you a CD with your selected photos. I also recommend bringing a disposable underwater camera, I used Kodak and the photos came out really good, even the ones taken while snorkeling on the reef. After Sting Ray City they take you to a reef that is right near Rum Point for about a 45 minute snorkel. On the way they give you a menu to select your lunch, while snorkeling they are preparing your lunch. The snorkeling was very good, there was a lot of different types of marine life, fish, lobster, conch, etc. Then you are brought to Rum Point where you can relax and have a very good lunch. After lunch you can use the hammocks or chairs that are at the beach of this resort. The crew was excellent. Hope others take our recommendations!!

[ColoradoMom!!]

Thanks for the report Ken! I check this thread all the time just for posts like yours! I e-mailed Nativeway and reserved my spot for our family for our time in GC. What might you suggest for lunch??

[Jan_In_Maine]

I'll answer for Ken ... but he might have a different answer!!! For lunch both the conch fritters and the jerk chicken were excellent. DS (16) had the conch and I tried some of his and it was wonderful ... A few years back I had tried conch marinated in a salad and thought it tasted like rubber bands .... but was very impressed with the fritters. Also try the local beer, very nice. Jan

[SusieM]

From the website, the length of the tour is 5 hours. How much of that is spent in Rum Point? Is it possible to stay longer if everyone is enjoying the beach? We are on the Liberty which gives us nine hours in port, so I would rather stay there than go shopping, which is what I would do with my remaining time if not on the beach....:)

[Jan_In_Maine]

You'd have to check with Nativeway ... we had people that were not only from our cruise ship, from from hotels in town, so the times are probably pretty standard.

 

We were at Rum Point for perhaps 1 1/2 hours .. enough time for lunch, a few local beers, swimming and lazing around.

 

It was a wonderful day, with great people. Jan

[SusieM]

Thanks for the replay Jan...

 

An hour and a half is fine, I just thought that I had read one post that said they had 20 minutes at Rum Point and that doesn't seem like enough time for the beautiful beach that has been described.

 

I understand that the lunch is ordered ahead of time, is there a bar to get drinks at when you get there?

[Jan_In_Maine]

Yes there is a bar .... I lounged DH got the drinks so I don't know anything about it (I'll ask him tonight though). Jan

[suzy1212]

I had a Pina Colada or a Banana Daqueri or something like that... it was over $10. :eek:

[nicknack]

Just noticed the Rum Point tour starts at 9;00 AM. The NCL Pearl will be making frequent weekly stops on Cayman next winter, but does not arrive until 10:00AM and leaves at 7. Kind of dumb of Nativeway to maintain a schedule that excludes an entire cruieline.

[Jan_In_Maine]

I'd send them an e-mail and explain the time that your cruise gets in and see if they have anything they can offer. Jan

[suzy1212]

Just noticed the Rum Point tour starts at 9;00 AM. The NCL Pearl will be making frequent weekly stops on Cayman next winter, but does not arrive until 10:00AM and leaves at 7. Kind of dumb of Nativeway to maintain a schedule that excludes an entire cruieline.

Most of the ships get to Grand Cayman at 7:00 or 7:30 am. No one on those ships could go on a tour that started late enough for a ship that doesn't arrive until 10:00. You could contact them. Maybe they could have a tour start later if there were enough people signed up and they had a boat available.

[leahmariess]

Just noticed the Rum Point tour starts at 9;00 AM. The NCL Pearl will be making frequent weekly stops on Cayman next winter, but does not arrive until 10:00AM and leaves at 7. Kind of dumb of Nativeway to maintain a schedule that excludes an entire cruieline.

 

 

I am sailing the Radiance this December and ran into the same problem. They want you to be at the pier at 9:45 but we don't tender until 10am.

 

I contacted them again and let them know and asked if perhaps we were an hour behind local time but no.

 

She said that they would need 15 people to book another tour and have it leave at 11 and get back at 4. So she kept my reservation and said that she would notify me if i booked up or didnt.

 

In the mean time I am looking for another tour.

[BoysandGirlsinAmerica]

My girlfriend and I used Native Ways for their Rays, Reef and Rum Point Tour last Wednesday when we were guests on the Carnival Liberty.

 

I would absolutely suggest both this tour and Native Ways. My girlfriend had initially booked the Stingray, Hell, Turtle Island tour, but did so at the last minute. We arrived at the pier and find out the tour was sold out. The gentleman from Native Ways offered us a spot on the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour instead and even knocked off $15 dollars a person to compensate for our lost reservation (from $60 - $45).

 

In retrospect, I'm glad our initial reservation was lost, as we heard ho-hum reviews of Turtle Island and Hell and we found our tour to be fantastic. We had only 8 people on our tour and two guides, Sheldon and Moses. They were both very polite respectful and demonstrated a deep respect for the island and the wildlife/nature we encountered. Sheldon made snorkling especially memorable by coaxing both a moray eel out of its cove for us to see and directing a nurse shark towards our group.

 

The stingray sand bar was also fantastic, the small size of our groups allowed for us to spend a ton of time in the water and take a variety of differnt pictures.

 

Lunch on Rum Point was fantastic, and was hot and waiting for us when we arrived. The bar on rum point served one of the best (and rather stiff) Pina Coladas I've ever had, the down side being that the U.S. dollar is weaker than the Cayman dollar, making the drinks 9-10 dollars U.S.

 

Overall a great trip, in fact my girlfriend almost felt remorse for getting so much for only $45 dollars. Everyone I dealt with at Nativeways was fantastic and they really went out of their way to make what could have been a disaster for our port of call day one of the most memorable parts of our cruise. I would highly recomend Native ways and cross your fingers that you get Sheldon and Moses as your guides

[ColoradoMom!!]

Thanks for the great report - I love to hear it!

 

We are booked (and paying full price LOL :) ).

 

What was your favorite lunch item??

 

Thanks!!