Best excursions/tours with kids?

[soxfan1495]

Has anyone gone on an excursion with kids that would include Stingray City, the turtle farm and snorkeling? Which are best? Should we go with an excursion through Royal Caribbean or should we go with a private company? We will be arriving at 10:00 am and leaving at 6:00 pm. I will be with an 8-year old and there are so many options for Grand Cayman that I am unsure which way to go. Thanks!

[teachnh]

I am doing a private tour next week and when I get back I will let you know how it went. We are doing the Eco Outrage Tour with Captain John Michael. We have twin 8 year olds, one who just turned 6 yesterday and a 4 year old. We are going to Stingray City, Starfish Beach and snorkeling at rum point. So I can update you in two weeks. :) Happy New Year!

[soxfan1495]

Thanks for this info... we are leaning towards Captain Marvin or Nativeway, but will be interested in hearing more about other options. The private eco tour sounds wonderful, but reading their website it seems that it really is private - am I correct that they wouldn't allow us to book and then have another family book also? If there are only going to be two or three of us, the cost would be too high to charter the boat just for ourselves.

[teachnh]

Well we are back and wishing we were still in GC! We had a great tour. The boat holds up to 8 people so you could book with another family as long as your numbers worked out. It was a great day in GC for us. We went to see the stingrays, then the coral reef for snorkeling, after to star fish beach and finally we had lunch at Rum Point while the kids played in the sand. The kids had a fantastic time. He is really good with kids. My one son had a fear of the water (which he hadn't had before) so he stayed on the boat a lot. John Michael let him "drive" the boat for a little while and my son was in heaven. I would do the tour over again in a heartbeat! :)

[familycruising4us]

We will be on this tour on the 20th. I just emailed John Michael yesterday asking about the winds that cause Stingray City to be cancelled. I wasn't sure if I needed a back up plan if we were able to tender in, but Stingray City was closed. (I've read a lot of posts discussing it getting closed lately)

He has back up plans, apparently! :D

We will be with our 3 children, DD13, DD7, and DS5.

I'll let you know how it goes as well, but I have no worries, as I have only read wonderful things about John Michael and his tour!!

[torso]

Private tours are better for kids because they are customizable. We went to cayman with my 14 year old who had never snorkeled. We booked Outrage Stingray City Eco Tour for a 1/2 day. We went to Stingray city, snorkeled, visited Starfish beach, and went up a river to a mangrove ecosystem. We were out almost 5 hours. Having a small group allowed the Captain to show us so much and teach my daughter the proper way to snorkel. He also set out a tube on 100 feet of line allowing us to run up and down the line with the reef underneath. It was easy and so much safer without the current being a risk. It was worth the extra cash.

[torso]

I would guess you could book 2 families up to the boat's capacity. I found the captain John Michael to be very accomodating. The experience was awesome and we were the only boat that made it to stingray city as the ship's tours were cancelled because of the choppy weather. I would email him.

[loveysbydesign]

I would have to agree with you, the Outrage Stingray City Eco Tour with John Michael was incredible!!!

 

We went to stingray then to hold the starfishes on the beach and we did some tubing behind the boat. This was the most fun our kids had in a port, they loved it!

This looks awesome but is a little too much $$ for us....is there any type of comparable tour that would be a good for my kids...they'll be 10, 7 and 2 1/2 when we cruise in Nov.:confused:

Wow...I checked out their website and they offer so many things my head's spinning-LOL!