CruisingFan4Life Posted November 6, 2007 #1 Share Posted November 6, 2007 We are a group of 12 and we will be in GC around the end of Dec. I have been reading a lot of reviews of Nativeway Tours, Capt. Marvins, and some of MobyDick Tours. I am in charge of this decision and I want to make sure I make the right one, otherwise it will be walking the gangblank! Please help:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkletoes4445 Posted November 6, 2007 #2 Share Posted November 6, 2007 We always use Captain Marvin's, and have had a great time with them. I've also read a lot of positive comments about Nativeway. I've not really paid attention to anything about Moby Dick, so I don't know what to say about them. I'd probably go with whichever one offered the time and length of excursion that works best with your schedule. Nativeway does a Reef and Rum Point tour which is nice. Rum Point is a place that not everyone goes to since it's a 45 minute drive (each way). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KruznKel Posted November 6, 2007 #3 Share Posted November 6, 2007 We use Capt. Bryans.. they give a great tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenMo Posted November 7, 2007 #4 Share Posted November 7, 2007 We used Nativeway last May and will be using them again next May. We did the Rays, Reef and Rum Point trip. They stop for a snorkel and stop for the sting rays. They had a photographer on board who will download the pictures and let you pick which ones you would like to purchase. Somewhere during this time, they show you a menu so your lunch will be waiting for you when you get to Rum Point Beach. The lunch was really good! When I was stepping off the boat at Rum Point, the photographer told me to try the Rum Point Sunset, it was wicked.....boy, was he right. Can't wait to have another one!! Bring lots of money though.....3 drinks were $32 US.....yikes!!! Have fun with whoever you choose!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ltvscout Posted November 7, 2007 #5 Share Posted November 7, 2007 We did the Rays, Reef & Rum Point tour with Nativeway in '06 and are going with them again in '08. They took great care of us during the water activities and Rum Point is an awesome beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingFan4Life Posted November 7, 2007 Author #6 Share Posted November 7, 2007 We use Capt. Bryans.. they give a great tour. Oh no, another choice? You are not making this easy for me to choose!:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingFan4Life Posted November 7, 2007 Author #7 Share Posted November 7, 2007 With Nativeway tours, they also have a Stingray Sandbar, Coral Gardens and Starfish Snorkel. Does anyone know how this tour is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disneyfan551 Posted November 9, 2007 #8 Share Posted November 9, 2007 We did the rays, reef & Rum Point excursion in September, and love it SO much, we'll be doing it in December too! I can't say enough great things about it. We had a group of 8 (3 families) and there were only 2 other people on our boat! It was wonderful!! Other boats were VERY crowded. Have a blast!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingFan4Life Posted November 9, 2007 Author #9 Share Posted November 9, 2007 It certainly looks like that NativeTours is the peoples choice in this excursion! But has anyone just done the Stingray Island, Coral Gardens and StarFish Snorkel? This tour is 3 hours, which would give us lots of time afterwards to walk around and explore or head back to the ship. The Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion lasts for 5 hrs. There is a few in our group that are not really into the water stuff....so the 3 hr excursion might work out best for all of us. Any thoughts, comments on the 3 hr. excursion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkletoes4445 Posted November 10, 2007 #10 Share Posted November 10, 2007 We did the shorter excursion for our first time to Grand Cayman. We'd not been there before, so we wanted to be able to do other things. If part of your group really isn't into water things, I'd probably opt for the shorter tour. Have fun! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser1163 Posted November 10, 2007 #11 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I am going with Captain Marvins due to pricing and length of excursion. I wanted to be able to do something else afterwards. I'm not really interested in the starfish thing. Also, Captain Marvins was the original who started the whole stingray city thing, so they know a little more than the rest (IMO). They only typically put about 25 on the boats, so you also get a more personable experience (not sure how many the rest put on). I have heard that Captain Marvins also knows where to snorkel to see a cool looking eel as well as a nurse shark if you can get everybody to swim calm enough for it to come around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiserssandr Posted November 10, 2007 #12 Share Posted November 10, 2007 Captain Marvins is great. When we went with them in 2005 there were only 8 of us on our boat. Lots of personal attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingFan4Life Posted November 10, 2007 Author #13 Share Posted November 10, 2007 OK...now the vote is swaying to Capt. Marvins. Good thing I still have some time before I need to confirm any reservations....:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkletoes4445 Posted November 10, 2007 #14 Share Posted November 10, 2007 OK...now the vote is swaying to Capt. Marvins. Good thing I still have some time before I need to confirm any reservations....:) Whatever you end up doing, have a good time! One thing, many of these people are from the same family. I believe Captain Marvin and Bryan and several others are Eubanks. Once a poster went through and counted the different snorkel excursion companies and it seemed like there we about a dozen or more that were Eubanks. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingFan4Life Posted November 11, 2007 Author #15 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Whatever you end up doing, have a good time! One thing, many of these people are from the same family. I believe Captain Marvin and Bryan and several others are Eubanks. Once a poster went through and counted the different snorkel excursion companies and it seemed like there we about a dozen or more that were Eubanks. :) Out of all of them, which would you say had the nicer boat? It's hard to tell by looking at their websites. Also, how long of a boat ride is it to the stingrays, then the snorkel area. I also found out that 5 out of the 12 in our group will not go into the water. They will just hang out on the boat :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ariel7303 Posted November 11, 2007 #16 Share Posted November 11, 2007 We just got back from Grand Cayman this week. Went with Nativeways and the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour. Wonderful tour and wonderful group of people! They also keep their numbers under 20/25 to get the personal experience. I can't speak for the condition of the different boats... but we were there on a very rough seas day and it took us about 25 min. to get to Stingray City then another 5/10 min to the reef sight. However, due to the rough seas we went to the coral gardens rather than the reef, but they mentioned that the sailing time was approx the same. I think there are several good groups to chose from. I would pick the one with the schedule that best fits your group! Have a great time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkletoes4445 Posted November 11, 2007 #17 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Out of all of them, which would you say had the nicer boat? It's hard to tell by looking at their websites. Also, how long of a boat ride is it to the stingrays, then the snorkel area. I also found out that 5 out of the 12 in our group will not go into the water. They will just hang out on the boat :( We've only been on Captain Marvin's boats, so I really don't know the answer to which excursion company has the nicer (or newer) boats. The ones we were on were fine...nothing fancy. The boat does have a restroom on it, although we've never used it. Part of the boat is covered, so that makes it nice if you want to get in from the sun. It seems like it takes 20 or so minutes to get to the snorkel areas, maybe less. I love looking at and being on the clear water, so I am always lost in my thoughts when we're on our way out to snorkel. On the excursions we've been on, there have always been people who don't get in the water. There is a ledge that runs along the back of the boat (side-to-side) and some people sit on it and put their feet in the water, while others just sit on the boat. For those that stay on the boat, one of the crew members always brings a stingray over for them to look at up close. Edited to change the time to the snorkel area. I asked hubby and he said it was 20 minutes, at least. For some reason I thought the time was much shorter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ariel7303 Posted November 12, 2007 #18 Share Posted November 12, 2007 We just got back from Grand Cayman this week. Went with Nativeways and the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour. Wonderful tour and wonderful group of people! They also keep their numbers under 20/25 to get the personal experience. I can't speak for the condition of the different boats... but we were there on a very rough seas day and it took us about 25 min. to get to Stingray City then another 5/10 min to the reef sight. However, due to the rough seas we went to the coral gardens rather than the reef, but they mentioned that the sailing time was approx the same. I think there are several good groups to chose from. I would pick the one with the schedule that best fits your group! Have a great time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiserssandr Posted November 13, 2007 #19 Share Posted November 13, 2007 On our trip there were two non swimmers and Captain Marivins crew were so good in helping them feel comfortable with going in the water at Stingray City. The water there is only about waist deep and they both wore life jackets around their waist. But if some of your group does decide to just stay on board that would be fine. They might be happy just watching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart2val Posted November 13, 2007 #20 Share Posted November 13, 2007 We were on the Nativeways tour last week too. It was a wonderful time. The tour guides and the people on the boat were great. Dawn, I remember you by looking at your pics. Stuart and I were the two who were late getting to the boat and I was the one driving the boat on the way to Rum Point. We had such a good time. I highly recommend Nativeways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingFan4Life Posted November 13, 2007 Author #21 Share Posted November 13, 2007 It sounds like everyone does the Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion with NativeWay, which lasts for 5 hrs. Has anyone ever just did the 3 hr excursion with NativeWay? :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ltvscout Posted November 13, 2007 #22 Share Posted November 13, 2007 It sounds like everyone does the Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion with NativeWay, which lasts for 5 hrs. Has anyone ever just did the 3 hr excursion with NativeWay? :confused: The only real difference is that the shorter tour does not go to Rum Point. The rest of it would be the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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