Few friends and I are looking to book a trip to the Cayman Islands this year and I was looking for recommendations on where to go, where to stay, and any other recommendations you may have personal experience with.

How long are you staying? Just going to Grand, or also Little and Brac? What activities do y'all do? Scuba, golf, snorkel?

If interested in beach on Grand, stay on the west side. If you stay at the Holiday Inn Resort, all you have is a rocky coast with a view into the bay area. On the flip side, if you are golfers, then it has a golf course right there.

Flying out on a Thursday and coming back on a Tuesday so about 4.5 days total. We are in the preliminary stages of planning everything but looking to lock everything up quickly.

Currently split on visiting the other islands but open to it. also interested in doing a little golf, fishing, snorkeling, etc. Really want to make the most of our time there.

Literally just got back from GCM day before yesterday.

Stayed at the Kimpton Seafire - incredible hotel. Beach play is great there. They are great with accommodating beach chairs.

ISEN AG said:

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Flying out on a Thursday and coming back on a Tuesday so about 4.5 days total. We are in the preliminary stages of planning everything but looking to lock everything up quickly.

Currently split on visiting the other islands but open to it. also interested in doing a little golf, fishing, snorkeling, etc. Really want to make the most of our time there.

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Unless you are a diver or really want to get away from people, no reason for you to go to Brac or Little based on your interests. The snorkeling is better on Brac or Little, but it is good on Grand too and it is not worth the ~$160 RT to fly to Little or Brac just for the snorkeling. There is no golf course on either of the smaller islands and most of the reef area around both is a protected marine sanctuary. If you are a diver, Little Cayman is the best diving in the Caribbean IMO.

Redsail Sports been there forever. Good place to book outings. Calypso Grill is great been there forever. Casanova's downtown is decent food but great setting for sunsets.

Don't waste your time on the smaller islands unless you're completely into diving

Lake08 said:

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Don't waste your time on the smaller islands unless you're completely into diving

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This. We are avid divers so you know where we go.

Grand has so many options and price points to choose from.

We had planned to go to Cayman but it required full vaccination so we opted for Belize

Was it pretty quiet or is it full with tourists at this time? We were going to stay at The Anchorage

There are other threads on TexAgs that I used to help build my itinerary for a five day trip… If you do a search I'm sure you can find it because I have a great planned when I'm able to get there and I will see the entire island

Stingray City is cool, I would recommend. The boats take multiple stops to snorkel that have sea turtles and starfish as well.

Stay at Coral Stone Club. It is right next to the Ritz so you can walk over to their outdoor bar for drinks and food.

I saw that Caymans require medical and travel insurance with covid coverage to enter.

Is that really required ?

Snipes said:

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I saw that Caymans require medical and travel insurance with covid coverage to enter.

Is that really required ?

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No. They require you to sign a form that says you have adequate insurance or other means to cover your medical needs, including medevac, including covid coverage, but they are not checking insurance policies like the T&C used to.

Thanks for confirming. Looking into going back there but didn't want to deal with all this extra insurance BS.

Snipes said:

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Thanks for confirming. Looking into going back there but didn't want to deal with all this extra insurance BS.

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No problem. All that is needed now is a travel declaration that you do online and upload your vaccination proof. There were mixed messages about whether they accept the CDC cards or not, but lately, it is sounding like they are as long as you upload them as part of the declaration process. They will give you an approval that is good for 3 months.

The website with all their info is here: Cayman Islands Travel Restrictions: Guide to Reopening (visitcaymanislands.com) The link to do your declaration and upload your vaccine proof is in the upper right corner.

Confirming what I said earlier, their FAQ on what the insurance requirements are says (bold added by me):

All travellers will be required to attest to a statement which confirms that they have medical insurance which includes COVID-19 coverage, or that they understand the financial risks they are taking and that they have independent means to cover their medical costs, inclusive of extended accommodations. For more information, click here and scroll down to the "Travel/COVID-19 Insurance" section.

Kimpton Seafire Is awesome and we had a very good experience at the Ritz there as well. Love the Cayman's but won't be back until their policies change unfortunately.

The lobster pot, ristorante pappagallo and the cracked conch are good choices for food that I've been too.

Stingray City is very fun, but check the cruise schedules and go early so you can avoid crowds. We did a bioluminescence kayak tour one night over by Rum Point and it was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Fyi, Caymans are lifting travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals beginning August 24th.

https://www.caymancompass.com/2022/08/19/cayman-lifts-more-covid-travel-restrictions/

We've stayed at the Marriott 7 mile beach a few times and always liked it, middle of the road price wise. Stingray City and Turtle Centre are a must IMHO

Good recs here - planning to go around NY. Any other excursions , charters, beach bars?

We have stayed at a condo 4plex called Windsong on 7 Mile beach a few times and it was fantastic. It's technically one house off 7 mile beach, but the access is right there at the condo, private pool was great, and paddleboards provided. Tons of turtles right off the beach ther and babies hatching when we were there each time (July). it was absolutely terrific. Ran into a Scottish family there once who'd stayed there annually. It's toward the northern end of 7 Mile.

Bob Simpson (XTO Energy CEO, Rangers owner) has a house on the beach right by it. High end, low key portion of 7 Mile beach if that is your thing

The cruise ships are heaviest mid-week, so planning excursions on each end helps avoid cruisers. You can check the Cayman ship site to see what ships and potential passenger count well ahead of time

We used Captain Marvin's for stingrays, starfish, and snorkeling and would recommend

We stayed in Windsong 2 (ground floor) and Windsong 4 (2nd floor). You can find it on VRBO too

https://starfishvillas.ky/windsong-4/

That said, we haven't been since covid so I can't give a recent review. Our trips were in 17 and 19. But the summer 2023 reviews of Windsong are all great. There are other Windsongs out there, but this one is Windsong Luxury on Boggy Sand Road

Big Al 1992 said:

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Good recs here - planning to go around NY. Any other excursions , charters, beach bars?

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we liked Coconut Joes, Lobster Pot, Rackam's, and Calypso.





Cayman is one of our fave's

Looks great but booked when we'll be there over new years.

JustPanda said:

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Lone Star grill was started by an Aggie. Great little spot.

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and pretty much the ONLY place to see CFB on Saturdays on the island

Mike Flowers was a fish when my dad was a junior. He was such a nice man. Every time we'd go in, he'd come over and talk Aggie football and do his best to try and convince my dad to let him comp the meal. Really a great embodiment of the Aggie spirit.

Go play some golf w the Cayman ball. It's a wild ass experience… Bring rum because your game will feel it.

You can also go to Hell.

Hell's just weird and the guy that is there at the gift shop is nice as hell but comes off Buffalo Bill type of weirdo creeper

EliteElectric said:

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JustPanda said:

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Lone Star grill was started by an Aggie. Great little spot.

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and pretty much the ONLY place to see CFB on Saturdays on the island

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I watched one of the A&M games a few years ago sitting at the bar at Georgetown Yacht Club during a long layover coming back from the sister islands. Good food and a comfortable place to hang out while waiting for our flight during the airport construction.

Joan Wilder said:

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Stingray City is very fun, but check the cruise schedules and go early so you can avoid crowds. We did a bioluminescence kayak tour one night over by Rum Point and it was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

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Do you remember which tour this was? There are about 100 choices for stingrays/bioluminescent/ kayak and we certainly want to beat any cruise ships. Anyone have recs on which tour to take?

It's been quite a few years since we went but we used Captain Marvin's for stingray city and Cayman Kayaks for the bioluminescent tour. Check TripAdvisor for current reviews.

We used Captain Marvin's for stingrays as well pre-covid, and I would have definitely recommended then.

Go to caymanport.com and look at the cruise ships. Schedule around the cruise ships. We used Captain Marvin's in July for two snorkel / Stingray at 2:30 and there were like 3 boats there. Our boat had like ten people and the crew was very chill cause nobody was rushed to get back to their ship.