hello, in response to the person who said that most likely many of the posts/reviews wer e"unsolicited" or advertisements by personnel or owners of various tourist operations.....I hope that is not true. You will see I am an active member on this site and I have posted reviews, both good and bad, of my experiences with independent, non carnival excursion companies/ tour guides. Some were great, others were not horrible, but I wouldn't do them again.
I agree that sometimes it is obvious that posts are "Fakes"----but don't discredit every post! I take time to write posts for other cruisers about my experiences and hope they won't be disregarded just because a few people are not doing the right thing.
Anyway, I guess all we can all do is, do our homework. I hear that cruise critic is a good website, but the best bet, in my opinion, is to check with your travel agent. Ours said www.shoretrips.com was a good website, and we did find some good independent tours at Grand Cayman through the site.