We did end up going with Captain Chip. Yep, it was amazing, and the highlight of the entire cruise for all 4 of us. I was a little nervous about going with a non-
DCL excursion given the short port time and the tendering, but there were absolutely no issues at all. We were in one of the earliest tender boats ... we just went to the theater 20 minutes early, and were in one of the first groups to go. So we were at the meeting place a little early. We did look around a bit, and found Michelle on a bench under a tent with the Stingray Sailing sign. Since we were early, she recommended we walk around a bit. We got snowcones for the kids. After our group was all there, we walked over to a van, and Michelle drove us to the marina (10-15 minutes), we headed down the dock and climbed aboard. It was about a 45 minute motor out to Stingray City (wind was straight against us), we anchored, and hopped out. It's just like they said ... the stingrays flock to Captain Chip's boat. There were at least 3 dozen around us. It was really amazing. Then we did a snorkel at a nearby reef ... it was nice because the reef is fairly shallow so you can see things pretty close (In Mexico we were a good 15-20' above the reef, so it wasn't a nice close-up view like we had with Captain Chip). My youngest one was a little worn out and opted not to get in for the snorkel, which was fine, he just hung out on the boat. They put up a sail headed back, and had some apples and oranges for us to snack on. It was really relaxing, did not feel rushed at all. Captain Chip drove us back to the port area, and we were back with plenty of time for my comfort level (I feel like it was around 3:45-4pm or so that we were back at the port, and walked straight onto a tender boat). Can not recommend this tour enough. If we go back we would do the exact same thing.