Catamaran cruise with Stingray City and snorkel: the reviews, read closely
The verdict: this is the only excursion on the site whose rating rests on a sample large enough to argue with, and it is the busiest boat here. Those two facts are the same fact. One reviewer wrote down how long the boat stopped at each of the three sites, which makes his review more useful for planning a tender day than anything the listing says. The score, the sample size and the price are in the panel directly below.
The most useful review on this site
Andrew wrote a timetable. Nobody else in 29 reviews did, and for anyone coming ashore on a tender with a fixed all-aboard time, a timetable beats an adjective:
“Easy, efficient and such a great time! Stringrays, snorkeling and starfish were all excellent stops and exactly what you’d expect. 35 mins at Stingray City, 25 mins at Coral Gardens and 25 mins at Starfish Point were ample time to take photos, explore and enjoy the area. Would highly recommend this tour!”
“This was such a great activity! Our guides were knowledgeable, funny, and energetic. They absolutely made the experience top-notch. The activities were well paced, so it didn’t feel rushed. It was a good mix of fun and relaxing. I really enjoyed the cruise. Thank you!”
“It was very organized!! We were cruisers and the tour was perfectly fitted for our short time ashore. The experience with the stingrays was amazing!!”
Add Andrew’s three numbers up: 35, 25 and 25 minutes is 85 minutes in the water across three stops, inside a trip the listing puts at three to three and a half hours. The rest is boat. That is not a criticism, it is the shape of the morning, and it is the number to hold in your head when a longer trip costs the same money. Those were his stops on his day; the operator does not publish a schedule and I am not going to turn one man’s stopwatch into one.
What the ten reviews agree on
The crew, almost without exception. Nine of the ten name a guide, a captain or a driver, or praise one. This is the pattern in every review pool on this site and the reason I read the sentences rather than the average.
“Jake, JJ and his family were incredible!! I had an 8 month old son with me and they were so accommodating and lovely! I would do this tour with them again if I were to go back to the Cayman Islands! :)”
“We had a great time with the captain, poncho, and Ashley were fantastic. Drinks were provided. Overall, great trip. Saw lots of stingrays and starfish.”
“This was absolutely amazing! Tour guide and captain were incredible, the snorkeling was awesome! After snorkeling we went over to the stingrays, OMG, what an experience, you can’t miss this! We got to swim, kiss, and hold the stingrays. After that starfish point, perfect way to wrap it up. This might be the best value you’ll get you on Cayman Islands, we definitely recommended. It!”
Marianne’s is worth pulling out. She took an eight-month-old on a boat capped at fifty people and rated it five stars. That is one family on one day rather than a policy, and the listing is where to check what is allowed on yours.
The complaint, and it is the one that matters most for cruise passengers
There is exactly one critical sentence in the ten, and it sits inside a five-star review:
“Everything was wonderful! The communication was excellent (because we had to switch days). All three stops were great and an appropriate amount of time. The boat was clean and very newly painted. The only thing.. I would try to go on a day when cruise boats are not in port. Much more crowded but still good !”
“We had an unforgettable and amazing experience visiting Stingray City and Starfish City!!! We had so much fun, and everyone in our group was very friendly. Thank you to our driver and the three guys who made our activity unforgettable. What an awesome experience!!!!”
“We had such an amazing time during the excursion! Definitely recommend this company to anyone interested with going to the sting ray city”
“I would try to go on a day when cruise boats are not in port.” If you are reading this because your ship calls at George Town, that advice is not available to you. You are the crowd. George Town has no cruise pier — ships anchor offshore and passengers come in by tender, so your time ashore is shorter than the itinerary suggests and the sandbar is at its busiest on exactly the days you can go. Plan around it rather than against it: arriving by cruise ship and how much time you need.
The review with a company name cut out of it
Maria’s is the only one of the ten that covers hotel pickup, which is worth having if you are staying on the island rather than arriving by ship. Her first clause names the transport company, so it is not here:
“…they gave us the pick up time the night before. Prompt and very cheerful driver. The tour was very well guided and we were always briefed about our safety before we go down from the boat.. They provided the mask and the life vest and always on the look out for all the people passengers.”
“We were also brought to the starfish point and that is actually a very small area but we were able to see a few starfishes. Over all, we had a safe, good time and the entire crew made it as engaging as possible.”
“It was really nice in small group, very private., very professional. Price was ansolutely reasonable”
One thing about that quote. This site never prints the name of a tour operator, a transport company or a booking platform, so where a reviewer named one the sentence stops and the cut is shown. The words that remain are theirs, in their order, with their spelling.
Two things in there are planning information rather than praise. Masks and vests were provided on her day, and Starfish Point is, in her words, “a very small area”. Nobody advertises that.
What the reviews do not cover
Not one of the ten mentions the stingrays themselves as animals with an ecology. That is not a criticism of the reviewers, but it is a gap, and the gap has a source behind it. Wikipedia records “growing concerns about alterations in behaviour, feeding patterns and general ecology of these rays, when compared to rays not receiving supplemental nutrition”. The rays at the sandbar are fed chunked squid by hand on every trip that goes there, this one included. That sentence is the whole of what is sourced, it is not softened here and it is not extended beyond itself. The rest of what is known, including the fact that “Stingray City” means two different places, is on Stingray City.
Every price on this page is in US dollars, which is what the booking panel is set to quote. Ashore, a price written “$” is very often CI$, and CI$1 has been pegged at US$1.20 since 1 April 1974. Read a CI$ price as US$ and you are out by 20 per cent. The whole argument is on the dollar trap.
What works
- 325 reviews, and the only rating on this site with a real sample behind it
- The cheapest per head of the seven at US$79 per person
- One reviewer’s own timings: 35 minutes at the sandbar, 25 and 25 at the other two stops
- Three stops in three to three and a half hours, which fits a tender day
- Masks and life vests provided on at least one reviewer’s trip
Worth knowing
- Up to 50 travellers — the largest boat here, and it is a shared one
- One reviewer advises going on a day with no ships in port, which is no help if you are on one
- About 85 minutes of Andrew’s morning was actually in the water
- All ten quotes I hold are five-star, so they cannot be where the 4.7 comes from
- Starfish Point is “a very small area”, in one reviewer’s words
For two people this is the cheapest sensible way to do the North Sound: US$158 the pair, against US$650 for the cheapest whole-boat charter. The arithmetic only flips at nine people. If there are nine or ten of you, read shared boat or private charter before you book this one.
The other shared boats
Smaller shared boatGrand Cayman: Stingray City and Cayman Reefs Snorkeling Tour
Most stops4-Stop Ultimate Grand Cayman Tour
The full list, with the per-person and per-boat units made unmistakable, is on all seven tours. The other two review pages are the stingray and reefs tour and the four private charters, and the index is the reviews hub.
Quotes are verbatim from each product’s own page, read on 16 August 2026, with first names and star ratings as published. Spelling and punctuation are the reviewers’. Where a reviewer named a company the sentence is cut and the cut is marked, because this site does not print operator names. Scores, review counts and prices move; check the live figures in the booking panel before you pay.
Frequently asked questions
Is the catamaran cruise with Stingray City worth booking?
It carries the only rating on this site with a real sample behind it, 4.7 from 325 reviews, and it is the cheapest per head at US$79 per person. For one or two people it is the sensible choice. For a group of nine or more, a whole-boat charter costs less per head.
How long does the boat stop at each site?
The operator does not publish a schedule. One reviewer, Andrew, wrote his own down: 35 minutes at Stingray City, 25 at Coral Gardens and 25 at Starfish Point. That is about 85 minutes in the water inside a trip listed at three to three and a half hours. It was his day, not a timetable.
How many people are on the boat?
Up to 50 travellers, which makes it the largest boat listed on this site. It is also the cheapest, and those two things are connected. One reviewer notes the sandbar itself is far more crowded on days when cruise ships are in port.
Why is it rated 4.7 when every review you quote is five stars?
Because I can only read ten of the 325. Ten five-star reviews cannot average 4.7, so the ones that pull it down are among the 315 the platform has not surfaced. A large sample with a 4.7 is worth more than a perfect score from four people.