NCL Majesty Ship's Shore Excursion Review: Parasailing the 7 Mile Beach at Grand Cayman

We booked our shore excursion at the price of $69.00 per person based on a two person rate with visions of parasailing above the seven mile beach of Grand Cayman. NCL had described the excursion as an opportunity to view the whole island from the vantage point of up to 400 feet in the air over the clear, blue waters of Grand Cayman for a duration of one hour. We were excited and psyched. This would be a first!

Our excursion began with the meeting of fellow excursionists in the Palace Theatre at 9:15 a.m. on the ship. After an approximate thirty minute wait we were then shuttled by boat from the ship with instructions to meet our guide at the end of the pier. When arriving around 10:00 we quickly found our guide who told us we would have about thirty minutes to wait before leaving. We were informed we could shop for a bit if we so desired.

We did shop and returned thirty minutes later to then fill out the waiver which could have been filled out earlier. There were around twelve people booked for this excursion and after everyone took turns filling out the waiver (there was only one clipboard) we were then turned over to another guide who told us we would soon be leaving on our transport (a pontoon boat) out to our parasail boat. After waiting until 12:00 we were at last transported to our parasail boat.

After boarding the boat we were then told we would get to parasail approximately six to eight minutes apiece. We were all somewhat disgruntled and felt we had been misled by NCL.

However, we all were still looking forward to the parasail ride as many of us had never tried it before. The two person crew were very informative and helpful. My friend and I were the first to go and we declined our option to be dunked in the water as we wanted to take our cameras up to get some pictures. The ride took place quite a distance out from the beach and did not go down the whole length of the 7 miles. This was somewhat disappointing as well as the few minutes in air compared to the hour we thought we had paid for. The landing back on the boat was very gentle.

While the actual experience of parasailing was wonderful the waiting involved was not. We spent approximately four hours on this excursion in order to parasail six minutes. We did enjoy watching everyone else parasail but the wait combined with the duration of the actual event was a huge letdown.

On a plus side the guides were great and it was a new adventure. On the downside, NCL could have done much better.