I am struggling with this decision. I have reservations for early April, but am worried it may be too authentic for my mom. It seems like a good value, though. Since port time is so short we may just stay at the port pool and hit the beach in Grand Cayman instead although I don't know where.
I looked at Maya Chan and it looks wonderful. Just not as much of a value for us. I don't think I want to spend $145 for a beach break for two adults and two children.
Not exactly sure what you mean by "authentic", but I will try to address what I think your concerns might be....
On the very short cab ride you will see poverty. Not like children running naked in the streets poverty, but more like people living in poorly constructed shacks poverty. I used this as a teaching opportunity for my children. We never at any time felt threatened or scared.
Both cab drivers were very nice. It was $2 per person each way. Well, it was supposed to be anyway....one of the drivers kept trying to give DH $2 change back for his $10 bill. There were 5 of us....
The food at Tropicante is Americanized. DH & I shared nachos. The kids shared quesadillas and onion rings. We ordered a half dozen cans of soda. We were served our food right in our chairs on the beach. Our waiter spoke English, and Steve was always nearby, making the rounds. You can stay as long or short as you want. When you are ready to leave, the waiter will bring your bill and tell you exactly where to go to catch a cab back to the port.
The restrooms in the restaurant were not fancy or pristine, but they weren't smelly or disgusting by any means. They had flushing toilets, sinks with running water, toilet paper, paper towels. There are bins with lids in each stall that they ask you to put toilet paper into, rather than flushing it. The sinks didn't have pipes, but instead had corrugated hoses. One of them had a leak so that when you turned on the water, your feet got washed as well....we decided to laugh it off as part of the experience.
The beach itself was very nice for the kids. The water is shallow. There is a barrier reef a little ways out that makes the beach area virtually free of waves. We had to drag the kids out of the water to eat lunch.
Since you have kids, I do want to comment about the pool area at the port. We let the kids spend about 20 minutes there on the way back to the ship. The area closest to the shops is very shallow and has some small fountains. The deeper areas suitable for swimming are closer to all of the swim up bars that surround a good portion of the pool, so of course, that's where our kids kept gravitating. One of the bars had this thing going on where they mix drinks directly into the patron's mouth. The cocktail was "mixed" by the female bartender shaking and fondling the patron's chest (not sure a more accurate description would pass the board's filter). All of this was accompanied by the bartender blowing an obnoxious coach's whistle the whole time. I'm not sure how my children managed to not notice this, but I'm so glad they didn't. It certainly (that day anyway) seemed to be more of a party pool than a family pool, which is why we didn't stay there too long. There also aren't any lounge chairs to just hang out by the pool. There is a ledge surrounding the pool that you can sit on, but it wasn't comfortable for too long.
