We have chosen our cruise

In article , Jean O'Boyle
wrote:

When we went on the stingray excursion we booked it online with
http://www.captainmarvins.com/index.html
Captain Marvin is 90 years old but I understand he still goes out on the
boat himself occasionally... They are reputable and very good and you can
get the times of their excursions online so that you can book one that is
safely in bounds with the ship's stay in the Caymans.

I have a picture of Captain Marvin somewhere. He actually drove the
boat I was on. Another company is Native Way.

--
Charles

On 1/16/2011 9:44 PM, Jean O'Boyle wrote:

Marsha,
When we went on the stingray excursion we booked it online with
http://www.captainmarvins.com/index.html
Captain Marvin is 90 years old but I understand he still goes out on the
boat himself occasionally... They are reputable and very good and you can
get the times of their excursions online so that you can book one that is
safely in bounds with the ship's stay in the Caymans.

I think we used them when we were in GC many years ago. The thing I
remember most about our stop there was that we thought we were running
late, so we had to rush the few block walk down to their office from the
pier (I think we tendered, not sure if the ships still do, I assume not
if Freedom is there). When we got there, we discovered that GC was on a
different time zone than the ship, and we were actually an hour early.

Bill

On 1/16/2011 4:49 PM, MAS wrote:
We have selected a group cruise on Freedom of the Seas, leaving 5/15/11
out of Port Canaveral, cabin 8354, visiting Labadee, Falmouth
(hopefully), Georgetown and Cozumel. We will be flying down to Orlando
the day before and probably take a shuttle to the port. Now we have to
iron out all the little the details....is it May yet?

Marsha


I just did the Sea Trek Helmet Dive at Grand Cayman. It was great. It
was $6 more to do it with the ship than to do it directly with the
company. It's a short walk to the Sea Trek place so you might consider
just booking it by yourselves. Sea Trek Helmet Dives has a website.
Here's me in my helmet. I could scratch my nose in the helmet at 30'
under water!

http://i54.tinypic.com/2qspdew.jpg

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

On 1/16/2011 9:22 PM, Bill wrote:
On 1/16/2011 9:44 PM, Jean O'Boyle wrote:

Marsha,
When we went on the stingray excursion we booked it online with
http://www.captainmarvins.com/index.html
Captain Marvin is 90 years old but I understand he still goes out on the
boat himself occasionally... They are reputable and very good and you can
get the times of their excursions online so that you can book one that is
safely in bounds with the ship's stay in the Caymans.

I think we used them when we were in GC many years ago. The thing I
remember most about our stop there was that we thought we were running
late, so we had to rush the few block walk down to their office from the
pier (I think we tendered, not sure if the ships still do, I assume not
if Freedom is there). When we got there, we discovered that GC was on a
different time zone than the ship, and we were actually an hour early.


I was just in GC. There were 7 ships there at the same time and all
tendered. Our ship advised us to stay on ship time even though the
local time was different. I believe GC is on Eastern time.


--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

In article om, Janet
Wilder wrote:

I was just in GC. There were 7 ships there at the same time and all
tendered. Our ship advised us to stay on ship time even though the
local time was different. I believe GC is on Eastern time.

Grand Cayman stays on Eastern Standard Time all year. So when the US
changes to Daylight Savings Time from early April to late October is
when the ship and local time may differ if a ship does not change its
clocks to the local time. Some ships change and others do not.

--
Charles

MAS wrote:
We have selected a group cruise on Freedom of the Seas, leaving 5/15/11
out of Port Canaveral, cabin 8354, visiting Labadee, Falmouth
(hopefully), Georgetown and Cozumel. We will be flying down to Orlando
the day before and probably take a shuttle to the port. Now we have to
iron out all the little the details....is it May yet?

Marsha

Are you going with George Leppla's group? He has a group on that sailing.

--
Charles

On 1/17/2011 12:12 PM, Charles wrote:
wrote:
We have selected a group cruise on Freedom of the Seas, leaving 5/15/11
out of Port Canaveral, cabin 8354, visiting Labadee, Falmouth
(hopefully), Georgetown and Cozumel. We will be flying down to Orlando
the day before and probably take a shuttle to the port. Now we have to
iron out all the little the details....is it May yet?

Marsha

Are you going with George Leppla's group? He has a group on that sailing.


Yes. We thought it would be best to go with a group, since this is our
first cruise. George has been a huge help, but he hasn't mentioned
anything about the free car that Nonnymous says he gets with every
booking....

Marsha

Stingray City is about a 30-40 boat ride out to a waist deep sandbar on
the calm side of Grand Cayman. The boats anchor in slightly deeper water,
and you need to get to the sand bar. Once on the sand bar, the water is
only waist deep. I think it's a wonderful experience.

There are several stingrays that are so gentle that the excursion people
lift them to the surface of the water where you can tough them. They will
also give squid to people who'd like to feed the stingrays.

You can either do a ship excursion, or some here may recommend a private
excursion (I think Charles knows several). Either way, I think it's
something not to be missed.

--Tom

Marsha,
When we went on the stingray excursion we booked it online with
http://www.captainmarvins.com/index.html
Captain Marvin is 90 years old but I understand he still goes out on the
boat himself occasionally... They are reputable and very good and you can
get the times of their excursions online so that you can book one that is
safely in bounds with the ship's stay in the Caymans.

You made a good choice booking the Freedom of the Seas! Have a great time!

--Jean


My goodness, my printer cartridge ran dry after printing all of these
helpful suggestions! I have started to use a little notebook of things
that need to be done and it is filling up rapidly. Those of you who are
seasoned cruisers - do you still do that? Do you remember how excited
your were before your very first cruise?

Not everyone from Ohio is like Ohioguy (wonder how he's doing). I do
heed advice from those who know what the heck they're talking about. One
or two more questions will probably be coming before May...

Marsha

On 1/16/2011 9:53 PM, Tom K wrote:
And for shopping, Cozumel has the jewelry shop in the pier terminal that
Leslie likes. Good stuff, good prices and good reputation. Suzy, or
Charles, do you remember the name?

--Tom

Oooh, jewelry. There is nothing better as a memorable souvenir from trip
than jewelry. If anyone knows the name of the shop, I would appreciate
it very much.

Marsha

On 1/17/2011 7:09 PM, MAS wrote:
On 1/17/2011 12:12 PM, Charles wrote:
wrote:
We have selected a group cruise on Freedom of the Seas, leaving 5/15/11
out of Port Canaveral, cabin 8354, visiting Labadee, Falmouth
(hopefully), Georgetown and Cozumel. We will be flying down to Orlando
the day before and probably take a shuttle to the port. Now we have to
iron out all the little the details....is it May yet?

Marsha

Are you going with George Leppla's group? He has a group on that sailing.


Yes. We thought it would be best to go with a group, since this is our
first cruise. George has been a huge help, but he hasn't mentioned
anything about the free car that Nonnymous says he gets with every
booking....

Marsha

If that's the case, then you will have plenty of people you can share
excursions with. I would definitely consider that instead of booking on
your own. In Cozumel, we've done pretty well shopping. My wife has
purchased stuff from a jeweler called Regal. Can't really tell you where
it is, it's not right near the pier, it's on a side-street down in the
main shopping area. What I remember best about them is that I wore a
Simpsons t-shirt there, and one of the guys in the store said "oh, Senor
Simpson!".

Bill