chellyroo

Could someone give me a price range of current prices for going to Stingray City? Thanks in advance!

cawhite

Hi chellyroo -

Captain Marvin's (www.captainmarvins.com) is a popular tour per cruisecritic.com. I just looked up on their website and it is $40 for a 1/2 day excursion ($27.50 for kids 4-11... under 3 are free); $65 ($45 for kids 4-11) for a full day excursion.

When we stopped there on a cruise stop the kids had a blast! They still talk about that as one of the best things they ever did. We were on a scuba trip and asked them to stop there on the way out.

Carole

chellyroo

Thanks, Carole! I had gone to Capt. Marvin's website some time ago, but for some reason couldn't find the rates. How long is a half day excursion, and how much of that is time to/from the sandbar? This is one of the things my husband and I are most looking forward to! Oh, I just re-read your post and see you went there on a cruise, so I guess maybe you went straight there from the ship??

cawhite

chellyroo - We got off the ship in Grand Cayman, and took a cab to meet our dive operator at one of the Marinas (we actually got off the ship earlier than expected so we went over to 7 Mile Beach for a bit of wave runner riding first).

I don't recall how long it took us to get from the Marina to the sand bar, but it wasn't a particularly long time.

It looks like their half day excursions are 3 hours and full day excursions are 5 hours.

There may be other good / better choices. I just remember reading about Captain Marvins when I was doing research for our August '05 trip.

Carole

caribtraveler

We paid $85 total for 2 adults with Soto's Cruises back in April. We were staying at the Hyatt and they picked us up in a van (we didn't realize their dock was right by the Hyatt and that we could have walked! We actually walked back to our hotel after the excursion). Anyway, all this to tell you that they should be able to pick you up where your ship docks.
Our excursion was 9:30am-11:30am. We snorkeled at a reef (Coral Gardens) for 30 minutes, then on to Stingray Sandbar for another 30 minutes.
We had a good time.
http://www.sotoscruises.com/

chellyroo

I've checked out the rates and excursions for Capt. Marvin's tours, and his full day is only $65/person and includes a conch appetizer on the boat, a lunch at some yacht club, snorkeling at Stingray City and also a snorkel stop at some reef or coral garden (I'm trying to write this from a very faulty memory of what I read on the website!). Anyhoo, it sounds fabulous to me and my husband.

owlwoman

We were just in GC three weeks ago and did a day tour with Native Ways. It was $60 pp, picked us up at the cruise ship dock, went snorkling, then to Stingray City, then to Rum point for lunch and a little beach time. Dropped us off back in town around 3:00. It was the best day trip we've ever done, the guides were fantastic, lots of fun and it was a nice small group of people. Highly recommend them.

cawhite

Now that I hear the other company names (Soto's, Native Ways), I recall reading really good things about these companies as well. I did a lot of research on Cayman excursions a couple of years back, and all got excellent reviews.

Carole

christiegr

We did the 3 hour Stingray City tour with Captain Marvin's last May.It was wonderful,we stopped at Coral Gardens,Barrier Reef and finally Stingray City.

The crew at Captain Marvin's was the best!We bought a DVD of the trip for $60 USD...worth every penny as our kids enjoy looking at it and it will be nice to look back at in the future.

Have a wonderful trip!
Christie

caribtraveler

I saw another one of your posts and realized you're not arriving on a cruise ship. Some great advice I've gotten on this board is how to avoid the crowds at Stingray City: by going when there are no cruise ships in town (or not to many). You can check out the cruise ship schedule here:
http://www.caymanport.com/schedule.htm

chellyroo

Thanks for that link! I had read somewhere to try to avoid going when the cruise ships were in, and was wondering how we could know the schedule in advance...problem solved!