Key takeaways
- CI$1 = US$1.20, pegged since 1 April 1974. A menu or a fare board reading “$25” may be CI$25, which is US$30. Misreading it costs 20%. Paying cash in US dollars costs about 4%, because shops take US$1 at CI$0.80 while the peg values it at CI$0.8333. The whole sum.
- Shared boats start at US$79 per person. The cheapest private charter is US$650 for the whole boat, up to ten guests. That is US$65 a head if you fill it and US$162.50 each with four. Shared or private.
- Nine is the number. Nine people on the US$79 shared boat is US$711, so the US$650 charter wins from nine; the two US$765 boats win from ten. The US$1,200 boat caps at six, which is US$200 a head even full, and never wins. What an excursion really costs.
- The catamaran’s 4.7 rests on 325 reviews. The next largest sample is 17, then 4, 4, 4, 2 and 1, including a 5.0 from one review. How the scores compare.
- George Town is a tender port. There is no cruise pier: ships anchor offshore and passengers come ashore by tender at South Terminal, North Terminal or Royal Watler Terminal. Seven Mile Beach is about 10 minutes from the terminals by vehicle. Arriving by ship.
- The public bus does not run on a Sunday. The typical fare is CI$2, which is US$2.40, up to CI$5 (US$6.00) beyond Hutland Road; hours are 6:00am–7:00pm Monday to Saturday and it is closed on Sundays and public holidays — which is when ships call. Getting around.
US$650 is not eight times US$79
The two units, side by side
Seven boats, two different things being sold. Read the left column per head and the right column per hull, because that is how they are priced.
Sold per person — three boats
- US$79 — catamaran, 3–3.5 hrs, up to 50 aboard. The cheapest per head here and the busiest boat here, both at once
- US$99 — stingray and reefs, 2.5 hrs, up to 24 aboard. US$20 more than the catamaran for an hour less
- US$99 — the four-stop trip, 4.5 hrs, up to 24. The longest shared trip, at the same price as the 2.5-hour one
- Two people pay twice. Ten people pay ten times. There is no group rate on a seat
Sold per boat — four charters
- US$650 — whole boat, up to 10 guests, 4.5 hrs. US$65 each at capacity, US$162.50 each with four
- US$765 — whole boat, up to 10, 4–5 hrs. Two listings at this price with the same cap; on the numbers they barely differ
- US$1,200 — whole boat, up to 6, 4 hrs. US$200 a head even full, so the arithmetic never catches the shared boat
- The price does not move with the party size. Two of you pay what ten of you pay
Where a North Sound boat actually goes
Pickup, three stops inside the reef, back. In order, with the times somebody counted.
Andrew, reviewing the catamaran trip, wrote down the timings: “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.” That is one traveller’s timing rather than a published schedule, and it is a helpful guide.
- Hotel pickup, or the tender landing — Cruise passengers come ashore by tender at South Terminal, North Terminal or Royal Watler Terminal — there is no pier to walk down. Hotel guests get collected; Maria’s review notes the driver “gave us the pick up time the night before”.
- Out into the North Sound — The sandbar sits at roughly 19.3757 N, 81.3048 W, just inside a natural channel through the barrier reef. That channel is why the water there is flat when the open sea is not.
- Stingray City sandbar — about 35 minutes — You stand in about three feet of water and the crew hand out chunked squid. The animals are southern stingrays. Two different places share the name: this is the sandbar you stand on, not the deeper site used for scuba diving, and a product sold as “Stingray City” may mean either.
- Coral Gardens — about 25 minutes — Snorkelling over reef, in Andrew’s count the second stop of three. Stops can vary by operator; this is the name his boat used.
- Starfish Point — about 25 minutes — The stop people most often find smaller than they expected. Maria: “that is actually a very small area but we were able to see a few starfishes”. She saw a few and still gave the trip five stars.
- Back to the dock — Three to four and a half hours all in, depending which of the seven boats you took. Courtney’s advice after the same trip: “I would try to go on a day when cruise boats are not in port. Much more crowded but still good”.
Worth knowing: Wikipedia’s article on Stingray City notes “growing concerns about alterations in behaviour, feeding patterns and general ecology of these rays, when compared to rays not receiving supplemental nutrition”. No population figure is published there. The sandbar, the dive site and the welfare question.
How to book this without overpaying
Count your party first
Not your dates. Under nine people you are buying seats; from nine you are buying a hull. Everything else follows from that one number.
Read the unit beside the price
US$79 is one person. US$650 is one boat holding up to ten. Always check the unit beside the price.
Check the review count behind the score
Four of these boats sit at a perfect 5.0 on four, four, two and one reviews. One product carries 325. Review counts are worth a look alongside the score.
Work out what a Sunday call costs you
The public bus is closed on Sundays and public holidays, so the cheap way to Seven Mile Beach or Rum Point is not running on the day many ships are in.
The boat here with the most reviews behind it
The shared catamaran carries 4.7 from 325 reviews. Every other product on this site has 17 reviews or fewer, which is why this is the widget on the homepage. It is also the cheapest per head and, at up to 50 aboard, much the busiest.
Two shared boats and a whole boat, compared like with like
The bottom two rows are the point. Read down to what a party of two and a party of ten actually pay and it stops looking that way.
| 325 reviews behind itGrand Cayman: Catamaran Cruise with Stingray City & Snorkel | Grand Cayman: Stingray City and Cayman Reefs Snorkeling Tour | Private: Stingray City & Snorkeling Charter (Most Popular) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | US$79 | US$99 | US$650 |
| Unit | Per person | Per person | Per boat, up to 10 |
| Length | 3–3.5 hrs | 2.5 hrs | 4.5 hrs |
| Boat size | Up to 50 aboard | Up to 24 aboard | Whole boat, up to 10 |
| Rating | 4.7 from 325 reviews | 4.9 from 17 reviews | 5.0 from 4 reviews |
| Two of you pay | US$158 | US$198 | US$650 |
| Ten of you pay | US$790 | US$990 | US$650 — US$65 each |
| Book this → | View → | View → |
Photo Gallery
The North Sound, the reef and the harbour
Shallow water, a southern stingray, reef, sand, a tender under way and the ironshore — the six things a day out here is actually made of.
Six of the seven boats, and what each one is
The three shared boats first, because for a cruise passenger with a few hours ashore that is the real choice, then the charters cheapest first. The seventh — a second US$765 charter with the same cap and the same 5.0 from four reviews — is on the full list of all seven, left off here because the listings barely differ. Every private price below is for the whole boat.
Most reviewedGrand Cayman: Catamaran Cruise with Stingray City & Snorkel
Smaller shared boatGrand Cayman: Stingray City and Cayman Reefs Snorkeling Tour
Most stops4-Stop Ultimate Grand Cayman Tour
Private — per boat, up to 10Whole boat, up to 10Private: Stingray City & Snorkeling Charter (Most Popular)
Private — per boat, up to 10Whole boat, up to 10Grand Cayman Private Tour: Stingray City & Starfish Visit
Dearest hereWhole boat, up to 6Private Luxury Boat Tour in Grand Cayman
What travellers actually wrote
Verbatim, first names as published, every one of them a five-star review. Two of them are five-star reviews with a complaint inside, which is the useful kind.
35 mins at Stingray City, 25 mins at Coral Gardens and 25 mins at Starfish Point were ample time to take photos, explore and enjoy the area.
The only thing.. I would try to go on a day when cruise boats are not in port. Much more crowded but still good !
We were also brought to the starfish point and that is actually a very small area but we were able to see a few starfishes.
The organization was excellent from start to finish. Unfortunately, the prices for the photos were too high.
Top Very friendly crew Lack of a little freedom with the rays
It was very organized!! We were cruisers and the tour was perfectly fitted for our short time ashore.
Ratings and reviews are the operators’ live GetYourGuide figures. Read our full tour reviews ›
Five things worth settling before you pay
In the order they cost you money.
Which dollar is that price in?
Assume CI$ until you know. CI$1 = US$1.20 under a peg set on 1 April 1974, so a CI$100 dinner is US$120. Paying cash in US dollars is a separate and much smaller penalty: shops take US$1 at CI$0.80 where the peg values it at CI$0.8333, about 4%. The full working.
Is a private charter cheaper than the shared boat?
Only from nine people. Nine seats at US$79 is US$711 against US$650 for the whole boat; at ten it is US$790 against US$650, or US$65 each. Below nine the shared boat wins every time. The crossover table.
How do the ratings compare?
One of them. The catamaran’s 4.7 comes from 325 reviews; the rest come from 17, 4, 4, 4, 2 and 1. The four-stop trip’s 5.0 comes from two ratings, with no written review behind either. How the samples compare.
How much time do I really get ashore?
Less than the itinerary suggests, because George Town is a tender port and you reach the island by boat rather than by walking off. Allow time for the tender in your plans. Planning the hours you have.
Is Seven Mile Beach seven miles long?
No. A generous measurement puts it a bit over 6.3 miles (10.1 km), with about 6 miles of uninterrupted sand. It is public along its whole length whatever hotel you are staying at, and Hurricane Helene in 2024 left hardly any sand in places. What happened to the beach.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available grand cayman excursions and find one that fits your schedule.
The complete guide to a Grand Cayman excursion
A Grand Cayman excursion is a half-day boat trip out into the North Sound to stand on the Stingray City sandbar, and the numbers are what decide the day. I work North Sound boats out of West Bay and take payment from visitors every working day, so the numbers are what I notice. Two of them decide what the day costs you.
The dollar sign means two different things here
The Cayman Islands dollar has been pegged at CI$1 = US$1.20 since 1 April 1974. It does not float, so there is no rate to check on the morning you land — only a dollar sign that could belong to either currency. A menu or a fare board reading “$25” may well be CI$25, which is US$30. Read it as your own money and you have paid 20% more than you thought.
The bigger risk is the misreading. Paying cash in US dollars costs you about 4% — shops take US$1 at CI$0.80 where the peg values it at CI$0.8333 — and four per cent is a rounding error next to twenty. The best everyday example is the bus fare: CI$2, which is US$2.40, not “two dollars”. The whole working.
Three boats are sold per person. Four are sold per boat.
Here is the sum that matters. Of the seven trips on this site, the shared boats charge per head — US$79, US$99, US$99 — and the private charters charge for the whole hull — US$650, US$765, US$765 and US$1,200. Put US$650 next to US$79 in a price column and it reads as eight times the money. It is not. US$650 buys the boat for up to ten guests, which is US$65 a head, under the shared boat.
The crossover is exact. Four of you: US$316 in seats against US$650 for the hull, or US$162.50 each. Six: US$474, or US$108.33 each. Eight: US$632 against US$650, closer than most people guess and still not there. Nine is where it turns — US$711 in seats against US$650 for the boat — and ten makes it US$790 against US$650. The two US$765 charters overtake the shared boat at ten exactly. The US$1,200 charter caps at six, which is US$200 a head even full, and no party size rescues it. Shared or private, as a table.
Read each score with its review count.
The shared catamaran carries 4.7 from 325 reviews. The next largest sample on the whole site is 17, and after that: 4, 4, 4, 2 and 1. Four of these boats show a 5.0, several from newer listings with few reviews so far. Every card prints the review count beside the score, so the cards are not sorted by score alone. How the scores compare.
George Town has no cruise pier
It is a tender port. Ships anchor offshore and passengers come in by tender to one of three landings: South Terminal, North Terminal or Royal Watler Terminal. Two things follow. Your time ashore is shorter than the itinerary implies, because getting ashore is itself a boat trip. And a call can be cancelled outright in a swell.
Grand Cayman is a tender port; allow time for the tender in your plans. Taxis are not metered either — they work on dispatch from an approved fare table — so ask for the fare before you set off. Arriving by ship.
What the trip is, and what to know about the rays
The sandbar sits at roughly 19.3757 N, 81.3048 W, just inside a natural channel through the barrier reef, which is why the water there is flat when the sea outside is not. You stand in about three feet of it among wild southern stingrays while the crew hand out chunked squid. Two different places share the name: this sandbar, and a deeper site used for scuba diving. A product sold as “Stingray City” may mean either.
The rays are there because fishermen once cleaned their catch in those shallows and the animals learned to associate an engine with food. Worth knowing: Wikipedia’s article records “growing concerns about alterations in behaviour, feeding patterns and general ecology of these rays, when compared to rays not receiving supplemental nutrition”. No population figure is published there. More on the sandbar and the concern.
The Sunday problem, and one beach correction
Cruise ships call on Sundays. The public bus does not run on Sundays or public holidays. Monday to Saturday it runs 6:00am to 7:00pm, at CI$2 for a typical fare and up to CI$5 beyond Hutland Road — US$2.40 and US$6.00. On a Sunday call the cheap way to Seven Mile Beach is not running. Buses, fares and hours.
And Seven Mile Beach is not seven miles: a generous measurement puts it a bit over 6.3 miles (10.1 km), public along its full length. Hurricane Helene in 2024 left hardly any sand in places, and in August 2025 the Grand Cayman Marriott announced a plan to place 8,000 cubic yards of sand to restore its shoreline. What happened to the beach.
Allow time for the tender, and check the latest details on the day.
Frequently asked questions
How much is US$1 in the Cayman Islands?
The Cayman Islands dollar is pegged, not floating: CI$1 = US$1.20, fixed on 1 April 1974, which makes US$1 worth CI$0.8333. Shops, hotels and restaurants generally take US dollars at CI$0.80, and banks buy them at CI$0.82, so paying cash in US dollars costs you roughly 4% against the peg. The arithmetic in full.
Can I use US dollars in Grand Cayman?
Yes, widely, and your change usually comes back in Cayman dollars. The expensive mistake is not paying in the wrong currency, it is reading the wrong one: a price written “$” is very often CI$, so a CI$100 bill is US$120. The public bus fare is CI$2, which is US$2.40 rather than “two dollars”. Why the 20% misread beats the 4% one.
What is the best Grand Cayman excursion?
For a couple or a small family, the shared catamaran at US$79 a head: 3 to 3.5 hours, up to 50 aboard, and the most-reviewed trip on this site at 4.7 from 325 reviews. For nine or more people the answer changes to a whole boat at US$650. All seven, ranked.
Is a private boat charter cheaper than a shared tour in Grand Cayman?
From nine people, yes. The US$650 charter takes up to ten guests, so nine on the shared boat costs US$711 and the charter costs US$650; at ten it is US$65 each. The two US$765 boats only win at ten, and the US$1,200 boat caps at six, which is US$200 each even full. The crossover, worked through.
Can you walk to a beach from the Grand Cayman cruise port?
George Town is a tender port with three landings — South Terminal, North Terminal and Royal Watler — and Cruise Critic puts Seven Mile Beach about 10 minutes from them by vehicle. Taxis are not metered; they work on dispatch using an approved fare table. Exploring on your own.
Are the stingrays at Stingray City wild?
They are wild southern stingrays that gathered decades ago where fishermen cleaned their catch in the shallows and learned to associate boat engines with food. Visitors wade in to about chest height and staff hand out chunked squid. 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 sandbar, the dive site and that concern.
Is Seven Mile Beach really seven miles long?
No. A generous measurement puts it a bit over 6.3 miles (10.1 km), and a realistic figure for the uninterrupted sand is about 6 miles. It is public property along its whole length. Hurricane Helene in 2024 left hardly any sand in places, and in August 2025 the Grand Cayman Marriott announced a plan to place 8,000 cubic yards of sand to restore its shoreline. The full story.
Can you drink the tap water in Grand Cayman?
Yes, for the piped supply. The Water Authority produces it by reverse osmosis, removing 99.5% of dissolved salts, and states the result is of a higher standard than the World Health Organisation guidelines for drinking water quality; it samples 21 taps across the Grand Cayman network. That statement covers its own piped supply, not a private cistern or well. The detail.
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