Recently, I had the fortune to experience a once in a lifetime Dad and Me at Sea adventure onboard Celebrity Cruise Lines, Celebrity Equinox with two of the munchkins. Celebrity Cruise is an incredible ship with top-notch service. One of the best parts of the cruise was the absolutely incredible shore excursions. Our second stop along our 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise aboard the Equinox was the Grand Cayman Islands. I have been to Grand Cayman once before and I have to say it is one of my favorite ports. The beaches are beautiful, the town is gorgeous and everywhere you go the people are incredibly friendly. On this day, we took our Dad and Me at Sea adventure up a level with an amazing shore excursion, Stingray City Tours Grand Cayman.
*This is a sponsored post in partnership with Celebrity Cruise Line. Thank you for supporting Global Munchkins.*
Stingray City Tours Grand Cayman – An Extraordinary Shore Excursion
Grand Cayman from Travel Mindset on Vimeo.
Getting to Stingray City –
Getting to Stingray City might seem complicated but Celebrity Cruise Lines actually made it super simple as their staff lead us each step of the way. In the morning we met at our designated location onboard the ship to take a tender boat to Grand Cayman Islands. From there the staff at Celebrity took us to a charter bus for about a 10-minute drive to the office of the Stingray City Tours. We then boarded another boat and were off to Stingray City. While this seems like a lot the whole thing took about 30-45 minutes and was super easy as the Celebrity Staff has it completely organized. As we arrived at Stingray City, our tour guide provided us with some basic instructions to keep us safe. Most were pretty common sense but it’s great to reiterate, especially when you have kids.
Stingray City Tours Grand Cayman – The Experience
Arrival
When we approached Stingray City I was pretty surprised by the number of stingrays in the water. The water was crystal blue and I could easily see 30-40 stingrays as we sailed in. When we exited the ship and jumped in you find yourself on a nice sandbar, so the water is only about the waist, maybe chest high in some parts. Ella and Shea could easily touch and the water was calm so there was no worrying about having them in the water.
Playing with Stingrays –
You don’t have to go far at all to play with the Stingrays. On our stingray city tour, we literally were just right behind the boat and all the stingrays were around us. The stingrays were so incredible. They would swim right up to you where you could touch their skin. Sometimes you would even find some of the smaller ones swimming between your legs. My son Shea loved swimming under the water with his goggles and swimming with a whole school of stingrays.
Feeding the Stingrays
The stingray city tours in Grand Cayman brought along a bucket of squid which you could grab to feed the stingrays and let me tell you the stingrays are not too shy to eat the food. You don’t feel overwhelmed by a whole bunch of rays swarming you at once, but when one notices you have food the ray will come right up to you for a meal. The guides on the tour instructed us to hold the squid in our fist with our thumb tucked in as the stingray will suck the squid right up. And the rays definitely do, you can feel the suction in your fist as the ray eats. It’s a pretty neat experience, the kids absolutely loved it, even though Ella was a bit freaked out at first
Photo Ops and Getting to hold a Stingray
My personal favorite part of the Stingray City Tour was when we got to hold the stingray. Normally I am not a fan of the cheesy photo-ops but this was such a unique experience. Our tour guide brought a ray over and had us reach our arms out and the ray would lie right in our arms, then the guides would take the ray and put it on your back for a little Stingray massage. It definitely feels weird but seeing Ella’s mixture of fear and joy was something I will never forget. On the boat ride home, you can buy the photos they took for $30, they also are willing to use your camera, but some of their pictures were so much better I had to splurge and shell out the $30.
Overall Experience of Stingray City Tours Grand Cayman
Overall, I would highly recommend the Stingray City Tours in Grand Cayman. One of the amazing things about our Dad and Me at Sea Cruise with two of my kids was how it made my bond with my kids even stronger. These types of experiences, I call it level two fun, where you have to push yourself a bit to try something new, seems to always be such a great way to build a bond with your kids. While my daughter was deathly scared at first of this adventure, by the end of our Celebrity Cruise it was one of the highlights of her trip and something neither of us will ever forget. So, if you get the chance to head to the Cayman Islands definitely check out Stingray City Tours excursion. It is one of those experiences that will for sure be the highlight of your trip.
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*This is a sponsored post in partnership with Celebrity Cruise Line. Thank you for supporting Global Munchkins.*
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