We took a family Disney Cruise in February and booked through ShoreTrips.com.  We had planned to go to Stingray City and had found a provider that had great reviews. When we arrived in Grand Cayman, the water was actually so rough that day that the coast guard prohibited all tour providers from taking tour boats out. When we arrived for our tour, we talked with the operator who told us that the tour wouldn’t be able to happen but they could refund our money or refund part of the money and take us on a tour to the turtle farm. 

We decided to do the tour and were grouped with only one other family. The kids had an absolutely blast climbing in the pools with the turtles of all sizes and playing with them. It turned what could have been a huge disappointment into the favorite excursion of the entire trip. 

As we talked more with the tour provider, we learned that they were actually the original group that started taking tourists to Stingray City in Grand Cayman. They had done so well that the cruise lines came to them and told them that they needed to fit 70+ people on their boats. They shared how they had told the cruise lines that fitting that many people on their boats wasn’t safe and it would take away from the experience they were able to offer their guests. They told us that there are companies that have the super large boats that the cruise lines work with but they continue to have the highest reviews online and are completely booked every day. 

After spending the day with this tour provider, it really hit home what a difference it can make to have the right research tools to plan our excursions. When we returned home, our partial refund was already processed and we’ll definitely be using ShoreTrips again for our next cruise excursion planning.