Shore excursions for young ones - Mariner (Western Car)

[rthiebes]

Hello all,

This board has just been great! I have been reading some of the shore excursions on the Mariner (Western Caribbean)..thought the Stingray City would be great..but then realized that you have to snorkel out there...guess that wouldn't work for us and our two kids (age 5 and 7). Would someone here be willing to share what they did on their shore excursions with young children..to include any tour operators they may have gone with? It would be great if someone could share their "dos and donts" with young kids going off the ship as well [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img] I know I'm asking alot!

thanks in advance,
Raquel

Due to sail on Mariner of the Seas 7/4/04
La Palma - sometime in Spring 1993
MS Romanza - 8/8/87-8/16/87

[4ever]

Hi Raquel, I agree these boards are great for gathering such helpful info! I wanted to let you know that we did the Stingray City excursion with our family last year,our youngest daughter had just turned 5 and she had a great time. We went with Captain Bryan's on their Tri-maran boat,I think it's called the Hannibal. There are life jackets for everyone,and what made my daughter very comfortable was her little inflatable ring we brought along. The crew was wonderful and patient with her and she eventually wanted to touch and hold the stingray,and on the way back from Stingray City they let my daughter sit in the "captain" chair and drive the boat. This was a terrific excursion and as we watched a few other boats heading out to Stingray City with the passengers packed in like sardines, we were thrilled to be sprawled out on the deck of the catamaran style boat with plenty of room to move around. We did have another stop also for snorkeling, and a crew member was able to lure out many interesting creatures for us to see and take pictures of. Our other 2 children 9 & 12 had a great time also. Don't rule out Stingray City, the young ones may love it and they certainly don't need to snorkel to enjoy! [url="http://www.cayman.org/captainbryan/"]http://www.cayman.org/captainbryan/[/url]
I think the above website is correct, let me know if it doesn't work.
PS- looks like we're neighbors, we're from Parker Co.

[rncruiser]

My 7 year old loved stingray city. I'm not sure she would have loved it at 5 though. You can leave your kids on board in the kid's program while you do the shore excursions. We did this when we climbed Dunn's River Falls and when we went to the ruins at Tulum. I think the falls are too dangerous for young kids and the trip to Tulum is too long and they might get seasick on the ferry. My daughter knew in advance that we would be going without her and was fine with it. The kid's program has plenty for them to do and even takes them for breakfast and lunch.

[staylor]

Try buying masks and snorkels and let the kids practice in the bathtub. They can look for coins or small toys. That way they will be prepared. They will love the stingrays.

[img]http://www.gifs.net/animate/dolphin.gif[/img]
<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">
<param name="font" value="lcdb0">
<param name="year" value=2004>
<param name="month" value=2>
<param name="day" value=7>
<param name="hour" value=22>
</applet>
Ecstasy 1996, Fantasy 1997,1998,1999, Imagination 2000, Sovereign 2001, Fantasy 2002, Monarch 2003, Serenade 2004