This was the best tour we booked through Carnival. The staff on the catamaran were amazing, very knowledgeable, and helpful to a few who were hesitant to get in the water. The cruise to the sandbar was fun, and the time spent with the stingrays was ample. The number of guest onboard was more than reasonable. Most of the other boats were packed with people, but ours was so comfortable. On the way back we laid out on the netting and enjoyed the ride. The staff were so friendly and accommodating, and since there was a smaller number of people, we all got to visit with the crew and get to know them. It was my favorite day!
Booked through Carnival. I have been to see the stingrays 3 times. This was the best experience so far. The Allura is a beautiful catamaran handcrafted from wood. The crew was super fantastic and made everyone feel at ease in the water. You can feed the stingray squid. I also took home some amazing photographs. This company had a reasonable amount of tourists on board and you could enjoy laying out on the catamaran or sit comfortably on a bench. Due to the smaller numbers we got time to know the crew. I highly recommend this company for your stingray city experience. Some of the other companies herd 100’s of tourists onto their boats like cattle and it is not the same type of experience.
Booked this excursion through Carnival since Grand Cayman is a tender port. I was a bit hesitant to book this one since we have a younger son who’s not entirely comfortable in the water – but I thought worse comes to worse he’ll enjoy the sailing even if he doesn’t get in the water with the stingrays.
I shouldn’t have been worried – the ladies did a wonderful job of preparing our younger son and daughter before we got out to Stingray City, told them what to expect etc. Also provided a snorkel vest for the little guy who wasn’t comfortable standing on the sandbar on his own. They had one woman hold the stingray for pictures, another one take the pictures and our captain for the day also caught some stingrays and let us “pet” them for lack of better word.
They did a fabulous job taking our picture with the stingray, first just the 4 of us and individually and when our youngest jumped back in with us, she took a few more with just him and the whole family of 5. Coming home, the CD was well worth the price – the pictures are gorgeous!
Our catamaran wasn’t as crowded as other boats at stingray city either, think I heard a count of 23 on our boat, compared to the 40+ on the other boats.
Honestly this excursion made the whole port worthwhile…wouldn’t hesitate to book this next time we’re in Grand Cayman.