Western Carribean Excursion Help Needed

[thejens]

I am trying to figure out which excursions to book for my family of four, DS4 and DS9. We love the beach but want to see the unique cultural aspects of the area. Due to my son's age we are limited. Does anyone have any experience re Key West? We are thinking of just the trolley tour to start out with. Possibly the aquarium, pirate museum, or butterfly house, however, we have done things like that in other places and would like to capture the feeling of Key West. For Grand Cayman we are considering Pirate Encounter since it combines Pirates, boat and beach. It is just 2.5 hours. Or should we do the Stingray City and Island Tour. I think some reviews were not impressed with the Stingray City compared to the Castaway Cay stingrays. Could we still go to the beach if we do this one? On Cozumel I am intrigued by the Dolphin Discovery, but would want to then go to the beach. Is this possible? At Castaway Cay I was thinking the Extreme Getaway Package with options of innertube, snorkel, stingrays and biking were open, but it says 5 and older. Does anyone know if this is a formal "tour" or is it flexible. Is it possible for us to come onto Castaway Cay and make decisions then? For example one adult bike rides with one son while the other checks out the stingrays? Sorry for all the questions. Would appreciate any feedback from anyone who has done this before! THanks.

[Trakar]

Key West...don't do the pirate museum with the "show". The show is very scary. They put you in a blacked out room with surround sound and tell a pirate story. You can't see the hand in front of your face, but the sounds are creepy. My kids wanted out! They were 6 and 4 at the time. The trolley tour would be nice. You could eat at a restaurant and shop in the open market.

Cayman...we did the stingray city. It was very cool, but there were soooooo many stingrays, the kids were scared and wouldn't get in the water. I even found it very intimidating due to the number and aggression of the stingrays. They would swim past you, rubbing their "fins" against your leg! The guides were awesome and very reassuring. I touched a couple but was a bit freaked out...of course this was right after Steve Irwin was killed by one!

Cozumel...My husband and 6 yr old snorkeled. My 4 yr old and I went shopping! I have never been to the beaches there. They are on the other side of the island. I heard the dolphin discovery was pretty cool, but not alot of interaction with the dolphins.

Castaway Cay...we just lounged, ate, drank and swam like a day at the beach...gorgeous!!

That's my personal experience. I hope you get more answers from others!

[thejens]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! I've been wondering about that stingray excursion! I am hoping others will share also.

[Tink1]

We did the Trolley tour in Key West, the one where you can get on and off all day. Stopped to visit Heminways house, went to Margaritaville, and for Key Lime pie on a stick. Had a great time.

For Grand Cayman, we did the stingray tour with a private company called Nativeway Watersports. Was much cheaper than the ship excursion and much more personal. Highly recommend them if you are going to do it.

My kids LOVED the stingrays, and we would do it again when in Grand Cayman. You go to the sandbar where the water was so warm and got to feed the stingrays that were swimming all around us. We were there before the ships excursions arrived so it was very nice. Once the huge boats came with tons of people, they took us to coral gardens to snorkle.

They had drinks on the boat, picked us up and dropped us off at the pier. Was easy and a great time.

Nanci