bookbabe

Look for something that includes the Kittiwake, that's on the other side of the island from Stingray City, so would give you a different experience. Or anything that goes out from East End maybe.

I've always wished that they did at least portions of the muster drill in the waiting area while we are already all captive waiting to board anyway. They could easily combine things, maybe still have the video to watch pre-cruise, then an overview of the process and life jacket instruction in the waiting area, with your key card not working for your cabin or the beverage package until it's been "activated" by swiping it at your actual muster station. You could do the info session by boarding groups, which might even help with the queue jumpers as well as killing some time while waiting for the ship to clear for boarding. Even if they just stayed with the pre-cruise video to watch, having key cards not work until swiped at the muster station would help to solve the continuous "please go check in at your muster station" announcements. Or if their IT isn't up to that, then even a sticker on your card that indicates you've checked in, and no drinks until you do. Bet a lot more people would make the muster station their first stop once on board... 😉

The recent Pearson issues were caused by the outdoor use baggage conveyor belts freezing, I believe, rather than an issue with the handlers themselves.

I just got ours in the mail today for our February cruise, and they have that same “genuine leather” sticker on the packaging. Did we maybe get old stock and the newer ones aren’t leather anymore? Or is it that our February cruise is an ocean one, and those are still leather but the river cruise ones aren’t?

About $47 US each way for a party of four, at least according to the app. https://www.caymantransport.ky/transportation-services/taxi Unless things have changed, you do catch buses at the terminal by the library, unless you walk far enough along West Bay Rd to be on the bus route (but I think the terminal is closer). https://www.caymantransport.ky/transportation-services/bus-depot

Reports from last week’s Prima roll call say that Vibe was open for sure, as that’s where he spent the day, and his memory suggests that all the other bars were open too. He hadn’t heard or seen anything about bar closures on the ship while in port. Although, IMO you’re missing out if you don’t visit Cayman. It’s a great place, my favourite island.

I’ve asked on a couple of the NCL Prima roll calls, and in the NCL forum. One report already of open bars last week, so I think Celebrity is misleading people when they say it’s a local law closing the bars. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2909605-no-booze/#comment-64693579

Now that I’ve got your attention…. 😉 Quick question for people who were on NCL cruises stopping in Grand Cayman since January 1st…were the ship bars open while you were anchored in Grand Cayman? Reports from Celebrity are claiming a new law there is forcing ships to close all the bars while in port, but I can only find mention of it in relation to Celebrity ships. Anyone stay on board in Cayman or keep the dailies with the bar hours for that day? Thanks!

I really think this is just a Celebrity thing. I haven’t seen it mentioned in the NCL forum at all, or heard anything about it in the Cayman news. You might try looking up some of the non-Celebrity ships that have visited this month, and post in those roll calls to confirm.

I vaguely remember seeing an article about them wanting to use their boats for ferry service to Cayman Brac, or at least I think it was them. If they haven’t replied, they are likely out of business. Maybe you could try calling them instead of emailing, just to be sure?

Coral Beach is the only one left, unless you can luck into a hotel day pass. https://coralbeach.ky Your other option is to DIY somewhere, Public Beach and Smith Cove being the two most common options.

You know Camana Bay is a very small, fairly pricey outdoor shopping mall, right? https://www.camanabay.com/grand-cayman-shops-restaurants/ It's got a couple of nice shops, and a good grocery store and movie theatre, but I don't know that I'd spend money to take a cruise ship excursion there. That being said, it's an easy walk along the raised footpath and bridge to Seven Mile Beach, maybe a 10 min walk or so. The footpath goes from the main part of Camana Bay to the section of SMB where Royal Palms used to be and where Coral Beach is now.

West Indies Explorer maybe?

Sorry, that's what was in my mind and I got them backwards. What I meant to say was that maybe Carnival bumped NCL out of Amber Cove, and that's why NCL has been skipping DR last minute.

I wonder if the last minute DR cancellations are because NCL was scheduled to dock at Taino Bay and then Carnival changed one of their schedules and that dock was now no longer available? It is Carnival's port, so I'm sure they get dibs, even if it's for a last minute change.

I'll post in this thread too, because I wonder if this is a new Celebrity thing. It's not a Cayman thing that I've heard of, and I read their two newspapers daily. If they had implemented a new regulation of this type, it would have hit the newspapers I'm sure. I'm interested to see if any ships other than the ones mentioned have closed their bars, or if it's just those ships and/or just that weekend. It's very weird. Maybe post in a few roll calls? Or in some of the cruise line forums?

Usually, excursion companies have delay/cancellation policies outlined in the booking documents. What did the ones you agreed to say would happen? Did they not follow those policies? If not, they really need to. That's unacceptable if they didn't. For future trips, if your ship has been delayed or ports cancelled, it's perhaps a good idea to make an exception to your usual plans and buy the internet for at least one day so you can contact excursion companies and make advance arrangements for refunds or rescheduling.

If I'm counting correctly, 119 cabins were eligible to book excursions before you, so about 25% of passengers. Unfortunately, depending on the interests of those passengers and the excursion sizes, that does mean some times/excursions are going to be fully booked, especially in the current post-lockdown world where many tour companies have gone under or are struggling to find staff. And, even that hefty price tag is still significantly less than some of those higher category cabins cost...Price out the ES and OS cabins for your cruise if you want some scary sticker shock.

That seems to be a common problem lately, and has been mentioned frequently here on CC. However, Viking does list the excursion booking window in the amenities for each cabin type. When you get to book much later than others, some sold out excursions are to be expected, or at least we expected that would be the case and booked a cabin type we felt would give us the amenities we wanted. Then again, you paid half (or less) what some of the larger cabin types did, so your savings could maybe pay for an optional or private excursion or two?

That's really weird. I know they have some laws around selling alcohol on election days and some other times like that, but I can't think of anything going on in Cayman this weekend other than Cayman Cookout, a food festival, so I doubt it was that. https://www.explorecayman.com/events/cayman-cookout-grand-cayman EDIT...unless they had crew bartenders competing or participating in some of the cookout events and were short staffed as a result? @TravellingBritNY @Capt_BJ Any thoughts?

https://www.marinelandtours.com Not sure if they're still in business, but you can check with them and see.

Most car rentals are near the airport, I'm not sure if the one or two locations near the port survived. Check with your favorite chain re a port shuttle, otherwise it would be a taxi to the airport. There is a post office at Hell. I think you have to mail your postcards there in order to get the Hell postmark. There were a couple of gift shops there where you could buy postcards and other souvenirs. I always suggest doing up address labels in advance, then it's pretty quick to stick on labels and a stamp and scribble "wish you were here" a bunch of times.

Old thread. Calico Jacks is no longer there. Only beach club left is Coral Beach - https://coralbeach.ky - or you can DIY at Public Beach, which is next to where CJ’s used to be.

NCL must have a shareholders list or notes on people’s files or something. When booking a cruise a few weeks ago, my PCC asked me if I needed a shareholder benefit form, and I don’t remember ever mentioning to him that we owned shares.

For our February West Indies Explorer, the availability of tables just opened back up when a couple of weeks ago it showed the “book on board” notation. You might want to keep checking every so often. Our cruise is now a month out, so maybe tables will open for yours at about that point too?