Beach/Shops at Grand Cayman Port

[britinva]

So far myself and wife have not found a DCL excursion we want to do...... hopefully more gets added as get closer.

If not and we decide to go to beach or shops on our own...... do you get harassed? Is it safe?

 

[HeatherLassell]

Its literally my fav port I've visited so far. It's beautiful and I never felt unsafe. We walked all around and took photos, went shopping, had a great lunch. I've been there only twice.

 

[goofystitch]

I can't speak for the beaches but the shopping at the port is very nice. You will not get harassed and it is a short walk from the pier.

 

[britinva]

Thank you both

 

[bbn1122]

Grand Cayman is a British Overseas Territory. I first visited GC in 1988. Between, the banking and tourism (diving and sport fishing is huge), GC has plenty of commerce and jobs for their residence. It’s not an impoverished island, so you will not find people pushing their wares etc.

Their is plenty of shopping in the port, but you will need to shuttle to a beach.
Check out Hell or Turtle center.

It’s a flat island no mountains, but the water is spectacular. A stroll down 7 mile beach is worth the cab ride. Good Luck and have fun.

 

[fly girl]

OP, not trying to hijack thread but came on here to find any info on Grand Cayman as well as are headed there next month on Celebrity. Just like DCL, I am not in love with any of the excursions Celebrity has offered.

I originally thought about a horseback ride on the beach with sea swim, but we were late to booking this cruise and by the time I enquired with Spirit of the West, they were fully booked. He was kind enough to pass on email for another tour operator but she failed to respond to my email. (and after reading her reviews on TripAdvisor, it was a blessing)

I have read some very popular spots have not reopened after covid, Margaritaville and Calico Jack's are the first that come to mind. Just a heads up if you have read about those places to grab a bite to eat while you're in town.

Anyone have insight on getting cab or bus to West Bay? Looking at Turtle Center and then over to Macabuca for snorkeling and lunch. Would like to get an early start as 3 ships are tendered that day, and we want to hit TC before the masses.

OP, I hope whatever you decide you have a good time in Grand Cayman. That by far has been the hardest port to decide upon an excursion.

 

[mndisfam]

So, not to be a downer, but we’ve been to the Caymans 5-6? times and it’s our least favorite port. We’re a party of 6, and we’ve decided for the 2nd time to stay on board. Here’s our thoughts:
1) Sting Ray City is so cool. But it’s kind of a one and done. It gets REALLY crowded. The water is deeper than standing on a sandbar, and it can get kind of hard for little ones to not float around. In no way am I saying it’s unsafe or they’d float away, but parents basically have to hold onto little ones the whole time. The water can be about 4’ deep, with a mild current and small waves.

2) Rum Point is not a very nice beach, and has sub par food and pretty snarky workers. You’re not given a beach chair, and its all first come first serve. It’s clear from the people visiting the resort and those working there that cruisers are not too welcome. There’s not really enough chairs to go around. The beach is kind of dark dirty sand, and not particularly pretty. Worse of all, they’ve got a kind of $ scam going. If you want to buy a drink, they accept $ but make change in cayman currency. It may be the law, but unless you’re going to buy something with cayman currency you’re stuck with the useless cayman money. So, you think, no,problem…I’ll just buy another drink. Except, drinks cost more at Rum Point if you use Cayman money. It’s been 10 years and we’re still salty over that.

3) the turtle farm is cute and all, until you realize it’s a turtle meat factory. All the little turtles you pet are going to be slaughtered across the road for turtle meat. You can buy canned turtle meat at the gift shop tho, if that seems appetizing…it was odd, to say the least. We went there on an island tour. The tour mostly consists of the guide pointing out all the banks, talking about financial ploys and pointing out the back of resorts. He did talk about island politics which was sad and interestin.

4) Hell is just a tiny souvenir shop with a post office and a field of somewhat interesting volcanic rocks out back. If you look at the pictures you’ve experienced it.

5) the port itself has the exact same shops you can visit everywhere on every island. Tortola (?)
rumcakes, del sol, diamonds international…

6) 7 mile beach was nice years ago, but the erosion from a bad storm is pretty severe, and from what we’ve seen, the places we used to go aren’t the same. The beach is really narrow or completely gone in the areas we used to like. There’s YouTube videos showing it.

So - that’s my Ted talk about why Cayman isn’t our fave…

 

[Bonnie1222]

Grand Cayman is a great port. My husband and I are not beach people, we like to explore and shop. We also love craft beer. Every trip we get off the ship as early as possible and get a cab to Cayman Island Brewing/brewery (caybrew). Tell the driver to go past the airport to get there otherwise you might end up on an island tour which is fine but might cost you a few bucks more (in 2019 cost us 25 to get there) or you can hope a bus for less than $10 (again last time I check in 2019). The brewery does a tour and has a great tap room and really great beers. When you are done, they will call you a cab to get back to the port area. We usually have them drop us off near Kirk Freeport so we can go shopping. There is also a newer brewery downtown but I have never been there yet and also I believe a distillery (possibly Tortuga) that offers tours but Disney does not offer them as excursion like other cruiselines do. There are shops you can visit and I personally feel saf walking around the island. We usually limit ourselves to Caybrew then go shopping because we like to spend a couple hours there and we also bring back our favorite 6 packs so we have some when we return home.

Also, if you are looking for duty free items there is a shop you can hit right in the port area - and last time we were there we grabbed what we wanted and they held it all day for pick up just before we got on the ship.

 

[iGo2DisneyForFood]

We are heading there in June so I did a bit of research. We are planning on doing the Turtle Center. I think the kids will love it. We will just omit the ending for the turtles

Check out Camana Bay as well. That area looked really nice!