Today we will deviate from Cruise Ship Monday to review an excursion we took this past week while sailing on Carnival Paradise.
My husband, two of our daughters, and I sailed this past week aboard the Carnival Paradise on our first cruise with my brother, Tony, and the lovely Jenny B. We sailed out of Port Tampa Bay and made calls in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. While in Grand Cayman we took part in the Stingray Sandbar, Hell & Turtle Center Experience. The cost was $89.99/person and was about a 4 ½ hour excursion. We chose this excursion for a variety of reasons: 1) turtles, 2) Hell, and 3) stingrays.
Here is the description of the excursion directly from Carnival’s website:
Experience all the major highlights of Grand Cayman in one excursion. Drive past the world famous Seven Mile Beach and stop for a photo spot at the old Homestead. You will have an opportunity to explore and tour the Turtle Center at Boatswain’s Beach which is home to thousands of turtles. Savor a sample of rum cake at the Rum Cake Outlet and visit a town called Hell which features a pre-historic rock formation. Moving from land to the sea, you will visit the Stingray City sandbar where you can interact with the stingrays in shallow water.
Looking back, reading the description a little more carefully might have made some points of this excursion not disappointing, but let me not get ahead of myself.
We were all excited to begin our day so we got off Paradise early and had a little time to explore the port before our excursion actually began.
Our host was super friendly and kept us updated on timing and how soon we would leave, etc. The excursion began almost right on time with about 16 people in our group. The youngest was 2 and I would guess the oldest was over 60.
As we boarded our bus, we met our very personable, friendly, and knowledgeable driver for the day, Philip. As we drove the streets of George Town, he pointed out various sights and gave lots of interesting information about the area we were driving through. We drove past Seven Mile Beach before stopping at the end where we were able to take some beautiful photos.
We continued on to the Cayman Turtle Center, that was not at all what I expected. I was very excited about touring the Turtle Center, possibly snorkeling and seeing turtles, etc. Instead we were left to explore the Turtle Center on our own and there was not enough time in the excursion we booked to snorkel with the turtles. We were able to get into a “tank” with some small turtles and touch them, or stand at the side and do the same. The breeding tank is exactly what it sounds like, and there was a large sand area next to the tank for the turtles to lay their eggs which was neat to see. There was a predator tank with a couple sharks in it along with more turtles and some fish. Had we booked a different excursion that explored this Turtle Center more in depth with a guide and allowed us time to snorkel with the turtles, it would have been great.
Next up was Hell. If you have been to Hell, Grand Cayman, you have been to Hell, Grand Cayman. My family, however, had never been and enjoyed the experience. If you have never been, I recommend going!
Made a short stop at the Rum Cake Outlet and sampled some Banana Rum Cake. It was good, but hang with me, we still have stingrays
Now, I was least excited about the stingrays and most excited about the turtles, but interacting with stingrays in shallow water seemed cool enough. I went into this expecting to go to some stingray center, change into our swimsuits and wade into a stingray pool. Remember, how I said we should have read the description a little more? Yeah, my expectations were incorrect.
Philip took us to a Yacht Club to get onto a boat called Trouble, a private charter boat through Double Trouble, which took us on a 30 minute boat ride to a sandbar in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Our guide, Jefferson, and captain, Alan, were phenomenal. Jefferson gave us so much information about stingrays and how to handle them safely. They were informative, funny and engaging.
My husband was all in! Tony, our youngest daughter and I were not as all in for different reasons. I had expected to be able to change somewhere before getting to the stingrays, but since I had not, I would need to change on the boat which I initially decided I would just sit this one out and take pictures for everyone else. While I was the last to get in the water, it did not take me long to change my mind (and my clothes), because when would be my next opportunity to hold a Southern Atlantic stingray on a sandbar in the Caribbean Sea? As you can see, we all ended up in the water enjoying the stingrays.
Again, Jefferson and Alan were so amazing. Alan would dive down to get the stingrays, bring them to the surface and help us safely hold them. Jefferson took these amazing pictures and we paid $20/person to get all of them (literally, about 700 in all). A 30 minute ride back to the dock and then back to the port right on time to get back on the ship.
We booked this excursion through Carnival and it was worth the price we paid. If I had it to do again, I would book just the Stingray Sandbar as Hell was a one time visit for me. However, as a first-timer, I appreciated the tour of the island and each stop we made.