Grand Cayman - what to see and do

[noahsmom]

NativeWay is amazing! We booked with them independently for our July cruise. They were terrific!!! It was the highlight of the entire cruise. We did the island tour and Stingray City. DS (8) loved the turtle farm so much he didn't want to leave. Once he got on the boat to stingray city he quickly forgot about the turtles. There were only 7 of us on the tour which was great. We had lots of time with the stingrays. The video is wonderful, we watch it all the time.

I highly recommend NativeWay.

 

[indimini]

My favorite activity was going to the Tortuga Rum Cake factory store. I had purchased a sampler pack as a gift for a friend but decided to break into one w/ DD while DW shopped for a watch.

One bite into that cake and I was in heaven. Going to the factory and sampling each of the different flavors was the definite highlight. (We did the Atlantis submarine as our excursion and while fun, it was a bit too tame.)

 

[edmartin]

Well, I promised in another thread to post our experience on the Pirate Encounter in Grand Cayman. We just got off the 1/13 Magic and did the Disney pirate excursion.

Overall, a lot of fun - great for kids (of all ages). I guess my only negative was that it was kind of short - a little over 2 hours.

We did the 10:30 tour. Started in Studio Sea and took the tender to shore. Another guide met us at the dock and we walked about a half a block to the pirate tender boat. The adventure started there with a pirate playing it up as we got on that tender that took us out to the Valhalla. We boarded and got a brief lay of the land from the pirate equivalent of a first officer. We sailed past the cruise ships and took a couple of shots of the mini-cannon at them. then the kids were put to work swabbing the deck with the other pirates handed out soft drinks (no rum punch until the post-swim trip back). A couple of the dad's got "picked" to be put on trial. I ended up being one of them courtesy of my daughter. Nothing like a cold bucket of ice water over the head on a hot, sunny day!

The swim break was the highlight. You can go off the plank (the "low board") or off the railing on the upper deck. All complete with pirates doing back flips.

A quick rip back with soft drinks and rum punch and we were done.

We did Grand Cayman last year and had already done the Stingray City tour with Captain Marvin. I guess if I hadn't done Captain Marvin last year, I might have opted to do that this time. But having done stingrays, the pirate excursion was a great pick this year. It's VERY kid friendly. The pirates are entertaining and ironically, very nice when they take a lull in the act.

The excursion is operated by Jolly Roger (http://www.jollyrogercayman.com) - they run the Jolly Roger & the Valhalla.

 

[Mom24Princesses]

bump

anyone else?

 

[eva]

For those of you that spent the day at the Westin, about how much did it cost? Did you have a room? Is it some type of day pass? I looked on the internet and this place looks pretty nice. I sure wouldn't mind spending a day there. How far is it from the port? Do you need to take a taxi? Oh, and if you are not given a room, is there somewhere to shower and clean up? Thanks!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I did the DCL tour that included Stigray city, a stop at ''hell'' and the turtle farm my family loved all of it.

 

[dbxazd]

DS7, DD5 and I just want to go to a beach - DH wants to snorkel. Thought about the Rum Point Beach Adventure because you can add on the stingray city & snorkel......but then there's also the Seven Mile Beach Break.

Which beach excursion is best? Any thoughts?

The Westin sounds good too - but am also curious as to how far away from the port it is too.

Thanks!!!

 

[becca_n_wa]

You can check out our Grand Cayman day.

Stingray city and Island Tour both booked through Captian Marvins.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1417114

 

[disneyfan551]

I also used Nativeways Watersports and can't say enough good things about them (we even have the video from the day that they made)

Which excursion did you do? We will have 3-6yo's in our group, and would like to find something they would enjoy too. How long were you at Rum Point beach? I've heard it's gorgeous, so we're thinking of doing it for the day if we can't find a decent excursion.

Any info. is greatly appreciated...we sail in September and need to book excursions asap!

Thanks!!

 

[conny264]

I have a question for those who did Captain Marvins.How far in advance should I reserve a tour with them.
Thanks for any Info.
Greetings from Germany
Conny

 

[Tent Camping Mom]

We have booked on our own until we had a close call in Cozumel where a couple of dune buggies in our group kept having problems and we had to wait for a long time for them to bring a jeep. We didn't know if we were going to make it back to the ship in time, luckily we did with an hour to spare. So our last cruise we booked all Disney excursions just to be on the safe side and to keep our stress level low. One of them was Stingray City and Island Tour. It was excellent. They took us to the Turtle Farm, Hell, and the rum cake factory where you get free samples of rum cake (as many as you want )

 

[becca_n_wa]

I have a question for those who did Captain Marvins.How far in advance should I reserve a tour with them.
Thanks for any Info.
Greetings from Germany
Conny

I booked our res. with cap. marvins about a month out.

I had a bad experience with them on the island tour (long story - its in my TR) BUT
my DH, DD, and DS had a BLAST on the sting ray city tour!

 

[mommynt]

Which beach is the most family friendly, and would you go on your own or with disney? What are the costs on your own?

 

[YenSid1222]

In Grand Cayman I prefer to stay on the ship, enjoy the not crowded pools and then see the matinee of Twice Charmed. GC was just sooo expensive and the activities are so similar to that in Cozumel the next day. Nice to enjoy the quiet ship after 2 days.

 

[conny264]

Thanks Becca,I´ve read your trip report.
Great work.
Greetings from germany
Conny

 

[cntkg1]

For those of you that spent the day at the Westin, about how much did it cost? Did you have a room? Is it some type of day pass? I looked on the internet and this place looks pretty nice. I sure wouldn't mind spending a day there. How far is it from the port? Do you need to take a taxi? Oh, and if you are not given a room, is there somewhere to shower and clean up? Thanks!

I'd like to know the answer too. Anyone??

 

[brandysmommy]

We were in GC in March. We rented a convertible from Avis. They pick up you in town a block from the pier and take you to the rental office at the airport (10 minute drive in the AM much longer in PM). It was very smooth. We then took our time exploring the eastern part of the island (didn't do 7 mile beach area and attractions). Stopped here and there and ended up at Rum Point Beach. The beach is beautiful, shaded in many spots by trees, and is shallow for probablly 50+ yards. Chairs are abundant and complimentary. Facilities are clean. They do sell food and drink which was priced fairly for GC. Our car rental was just under $100 and our food $30, so for a family of four our total excursion cost was $130. Our DDs are 5 and 7 and loved it. It was probablly the hilight of the cruise for them.

The only other recommendation I would make is to get there before 11 or 11:30. it is a popular stop for lunch for full day stingray city and other snorkle tours. There were many groups coming in for lunch around then, but they came and went rather quickly.

 

[disneyfan551]

We were in GC in March. We rented a convertible from Avis. They pick up you in town a block from the pier and take you to the rental office at the airport (10 minute drive in the AM much longer in PM). It was very smooth. We then took our time exploring the eastern part of the island (didn't do 7 mile beach area and attractions). Stopped here and there and ended up at Rum Point Beach. The beach is beautiful, shaded in many spots by trees, and is shallow for probablly 50+ yards. Chairs are abundant and complimentary. Facilities are clean. They do sell food and drink which was priced fairly for GC. Our car rental was just under $100 and our food $30, so for a family of four our total excursion cost was $130. Our DDs are 5 and 7 and loved it. It was probablly the hilight of the cruise for them.

The only other recommendation I would make is to get there before 11 or 11:30. it is a popular stop for lunch for full day stingray city and other snorkle tours. There were many groups coming in for lunch around then, but they came and went rather quickly.

I've been thinking about doing the same thing at GC...renting a car, and going to Rum Point beach. We don't want anything too crowded, and it sounds nice there! Thanks for posting!!

 

[hjensen]

For those of you that spent the day at the Westin, about how much did it cost? Did you have a room? Is it some type of day pass? I looked on the internet and this place looks pretty nice. I sure wouldn't mind spending a day there. How far is it from the port? Do you need to take a taxi? Oh, and if you are not given a room, is there somewhere to shower and clean up? Thanks!

I would also like to know the answers to these questions!!! TIA!!

 

[Mom2grlys]

Has anyone every seen any dolphin swims in Grand Cayman? I would love to do that there with my daughters. I know they have it in Cozumel, but we are planning on doing the jeep tour there.