Grand Cayman Stingray question.
 

Going to be taking a cruise which includes Grand Cayman. Thinking about booking a half day excursion to Stingray City. Would like to know if anyone used Capt. Marvin's to book this instead of the cruise ship. How much notice do you need to make arrangements for February 2007? thanks

Capt. Marvin is well known for tours to Stingray City. Their price is a LOT lower than the ship's tour. We went with someone across the street from him and stopped at two other places to snorkle. Go to cruisecritic.com and you can find our more about tours. You can type in Capt. Marvin and will gets lots of info and reviews of his tour. We didn't have a reservation and paid when we got there.

We will also be on a cruise with stop in Grand Cayman in Feb. Still deciding on cruise ship excursion or booking separate - one of the warnings I have gotten is that since ship must use tenders to island, those with cruise ship excursions get priority on/off ship. Since stop is only 10-12 hours, I do not want to waste time sitting on ship waiting for my tender turn - so we may use ship excursion.

While a small risk, the other factor is that if you take a ship excursion you know the ship will not leave until its own excursion gets back.

I have gone with Cpt. Marvin at least 10 times over the years. A top operator. KEY in your planning is TIME, if you have a half day in port, you are best to go with the ship tour, even though grossly inferior to an independent.

The ship tours, just go to the sand bar and return. Independents- always go to Coral Gardens and on Marvin's 3 stop tour, the reef. Great snorkeling.

GAil - We did an independant Stringray City with Native Way. We did a mid morning excursion..I think around 10am and did not have a problem. We had 2 stops.It was much more personal and less people.
We went on a shipwreck sail and snorkle with the ship in Aruba. 84 people!! A madhouse. It was just terrible!