sjbisanz1

We are arriving on Carnival May 1st at 7am and want to book Capt. Marvins 8:30am tour. This is the only tour they have that fits as we depart at 2pm. I have read some stories of people taking a long time getting off the ship; especially if they didn't book the ships tour. I really don't want to be in line at 6am (this is a vacation, yes?!) to be able to get off as close to 7a as possible. Is this even do-able? There is a 9:30 on Captain Bryan's that does the similar trip, but that wouldn't leave us much time when finished and I had hoped to grab lunch and maybe solo snorkel off Eden Roc before returning to the ship. Am I being too ambitious? I almost think we should forgo the stingrays, and just head to Eden Roc after a leisurely breakfast on board the ship then tender when its (hopefully) less crowded, say around 9a. Does anyone have any suggestions? I should also mention this is just myself, hubby and 5 (almost 6)yr old son who would not do well standing in line for an hour. (Son, not the hubby!)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Shelly

LLindaC

Shelly, I took my girls on Capt Marvin's trip and they loved it. They took us to a nice reef to snorkel after the rays, so you don't need extra time to go to Eden Roc. Besides, that place was packed when I last saw it. It doesn't take long to tender, just tell them you have a tour booked. Once you are at the dock, you walk a couple of blocks down the first street on your left and the office is in a bright yellow building across the street. Last time I was there, we had a time change and island time was an hour earlier than ship time. I'm not sure how Carnival handles this, but I'd check with the experts on cruisecritic.com on the Carnival board. If you'd feel more comfortable booking with Capt Bryan, I'd do so because they get good press as well. Either way your son will love it. Be sure to wear a life vest at Stingray City. At times, the water was up to my neck and my daughter kept grabbing me and it was difficult! Once you finish the tour, your son will be ready for lunch on the ship. You really don't need extra time unless you were going to hang out on the beach, but you'll be able to do that at other stops.

Hold

Having sailed Carnival many times and tendered at Grand Caymen I can tell you how it works... and you can make up your mind.

Carnival will group its own tour people together and call them to board in groups. If you are not with one of their tour groups, its first come-first served in getting on a tender as space is available.

And yes, people will line up an hour prior to the first tender leaving for this very reason.

This is always a challenge in ports with short stops and tenders. Hope you can make something work....and enjoy your cruise.

abhb

My husband and I used Captain Brian summer 2004. We are re-booking for a cuise in June with children. They were wonderful. If you haven't done Sting Ray City, don't miss it! It is unlike anything else you can experience. Captain Bryan does take you to a nice reef to snorkel too. We had to walk a couple of blocks to their office but it was well worth it.

sjbisanz1

Thanks so much for all the advice. I have checked the local time and thought they were EDT but actually they are EST. So rather than give us an hour upon arrival to get their offices, we actually have 2. We confirmed a reservation with Captain Marvins as both Capt. Marvins and Capt. Bryans seemed to have an equal number of positive reviews and Capt. Marvins was offering us a discount. Can't beat that!
Will be happy to post a review when we return. Thanks again!
Shelly

mom20four7

We just went with Capt. Marvin and did the 2-stop sting ray and snorkel trip. It was really great! You only get about 20 miuntues in each spot but it was good enough.

Carnival does let their people off first which can be a problem and bothersome if you want to get off first. We had the 10:30 tour so it was fine there because everyone was off already.But in Belize we had to get off first and they made us wait until all the people went to get off. It was frustrating because the people kept coming and coming. Luckily we made the tender we needed to. If we hadn't we might have had a problem.

The best thing to do is get there early and tell them you need to get off. If there is a lull in the traffic they will squeeze you in.

I think they need to find a better system or get more tenders because they know people are booking excursions on their own more and more.

sjbisanz1

Just a followup; we did Capt. Marvins and it went beautifuly. A couple things; we got in line perhaps 10 minutes prior to 7a. We went down the stairs as opposed to the elevator to where you board the tender. I don't know if that made a difference, but noone asked what tour we were part of and we were on the first boat to leave. So very easy. Hope this helps someone else.

Shelly

LLindaC

thank you for posting a followup! Glad you had fun, too!

bonniejns

We were on Carnival's Glory last Nov. in Cayman. I stood in line for 20-30 minutes to get a tender ticket to be 1st after tours to get a tender.I got a #1. BUT, when we were getting on the tender there were a few people holding higher numbered tickets - #4. They just came down when #1 was called and got on the tender! No one but us with #1's cared.