bookbabe

Bigger and better beach, IMO, and Public has facilities whereas Governors doesn't. Sometimes Governors has a portapotty, but there are no chair rentals, vendors, etc. Public also has a playground if you are traveling with kids. https://www.explorecayman.com/grand-cayman/things-to-do/beaches

Maybe they didn't actually cancel it? Ours could have booked immediately if we wanted a different cabin or different dates, but to keep the same cabin for the same date as the hold we had to wait for it to expire before he could book it.

As per my experience, even a rep at Viking cannot cancel the hold. Mine had to wait for it to expire before he could book that cabin for us.

I don't know if there's a way to cancel a hold (unpaid deposit) without just waiting the 72 hours for it to expire. Even my rep at Viking had to do that to get credit for the booking when I put in a hold on his days off and then wanted to pay the deposit with him when he was back at work. However, I really haven't noticed any sales in the last few years that would be worth the hassle of juggling bookings like that. Most of the sales are pretty similar, and often apply to a few undersold cruises in the near future. Check out the Promo Codes thread to see some of the recent sales. You'll likely get a better deal finding a good travel agent that offers onboard credit.

I'd try them all maybe, only takes two seconds as you're walking by to glance in. They'll either have a big display of the bottles or they won't. Tortuga and Jacques Scott at the airport had it, so at the very least I'd try those chains near the port. JS was the pics i posted, it was right in the doorway so very obvious. Besides, think of the fun you can have at each store, asking "Got any Big Black Dick?" 😉

You should look. I am sitting in the airport right now, and both duty free stores carry an assortment of BBD. I can’t see how the duty free stores at the port, which are run by the same companies, would not have it. I’ve also seen it in other stores around the island. It’s definitely still available.

In town? Turtles, dolphins, museum, art gallery, kittiwake snorkel Outside of town? Botanical gardens, scenic caves, parrot sanctuary, blow holes, Pedro St James historic site https://www.explorecayman.com/grand-cayman/things-to-do/attractions

Regular “calm” rain, probably not, but that’s a question better asked of your tour operator as to what their policy is. Cancellations would usually be for weather conditions that create safety issues, like high winds or a storm that causes rough waves.

My guess is that, if anything it’s likely going to be one or more of the excursions regularly offered there. It’s a pretty common cruise port, so lots of options there. Are there any current roll calls for your itinerary? Maybe a current cruiser could check with destination services onboard?

On our upcoming cruise, Athens and Barcelona are three day ports, but Rome is only a single day. There was another recent thread that posted the excursion list for Rome, so it’s definitely something that happens. What port are you looking for a list for?

Considering Regent is double the cost of Viking for a world cruise, and the inclusions aren’t that much different, at least not enough to justify double the cost, the Viking world cruise is a pretty good bargain. But you already have to be planning to spend a serious chunk of cash to be considering a world cruise anyway, so I guess YMMV.

Our upcoming cruise has empty days in Athens, Rome and Barcelona, since it’s a B2B of Iconic Med Treasures and Trade Routes. I will happily post the excursion lists for those days when we get them onboard, but that won’t be until March and April.

Viking is downright economical in comparison…

That’s weird. When I checked yesterday it was completely sold out. Maybe lots of cabins on an initial hold that people decided not to book? Either way, think we are sticking with the Regent one. While I don’t like the onboard experience as much, the itinerary is a bit better, and DH really likes the round-trip Miami part, that’s one of his must-dos, beginning and ending at the same port. Thanks for pointing it out, though, I feel better about my rep now.

That’s annoying. So much for my rep at Viking letting me know when it dropped, now the ES are all sold out. I guess we are sticking with our Regent WC for 2026. Ah, well, I think the Regent itinerary is a bit better anyway, even if I don’t like the onboard experience as much. DH likes the fact that our current choice is round-trip Miami, he’s not a fan of the way the Viking WC seems to always end in England instead of going completely around the world back to its starting point.

Don’t hold your breath. 😉 Few, if any, hotels offer day passes, so you are unlikely to get any reviews. Editing to add: Okay, a quick google shows the potential to buy passes through a couple of the usual day pass resellers, at the Holiday Inn and the Grand Caymanian, neither of which is on Seven Mile Beach. So I would look on the hotel review sites for recent reviews of those two hotels.

Public Beach is the commonly known name of the beach, technically I guess it’s Seven Mile Beach Public Beach, but no one calls it that. If you are coming in on a cruise ship and ask a shuttle driver to take you to Public Beach (not a public beach) that’s where you should end up. It’s by the Kimpton Seafire hotel if you are looking for it on google maps. https://www.explorecayman.com/things-to-do/best-beaches#seven-mile-beach-public-beach The only other place a shuttle might possibly try to take you if you say “a beach” is Coral Beach, which is next to where Royal Palms used to be, and is the only remaining beach club catering to cruisers. But if you confirm with the driver that you want to go to Public Beach by the Kimpton, you’ll get to the right place. Is it really confusing? Yes, but navigating here is kind of like that. No one tends to use street addresses, it’s all navigating by landmarks and place or plaza names, including ones that no longer exist. It takes some serious getting used to.

Yes, if there’s a cruise ship in port, there will be taxis and shuttles to take people to the beach. Prices vary. Private taxi will be more expensive, shared ride vans are usually about $4-6pp each way.

It said that in my booking too. But when i logged into MVJ on reservation day the system said 12 for each. Surprised me, but I’m not complaining

That’s not necessarily the case. We’ve got a B2B Iconic Med Treasures and Trade Routes cruise coming up in March/April in an ES2, and MVJ allotted me 12 advance reservations for each of Manfredi’s and CT. I didn’t book anywhere near that number, but I could. I can post screen shots of the calendar showing my bookings if you like. 😉 Assuming that Trade Routes is the standard three reservations since it isn’t made up of multiple segments, that’s nine for Iconic, so I’m assuming three segments?

There’s usually portapotties there. Generally no rentals or food. It’s a stretch of beach beside the governor’s residence. It’s not a beach club or anything even as developed as Public Beach.

lol, different strokes for different folks…it’s the local equivalent to Budweiser and such, it’s not a craft beer by any stretch of the imagination. For craft and specialty beers, there’s Craft - https://biteclubcayman.com/restaurant/craft-fb-co/ - but most of their beer is imported.

You may have to google and try calling companies. Maybe check TripAdvisor and see if any of the ones you are interested in have recent reviews. We have our own boat, so we don’t book any excursions and thus wouldn’t have a clue who to use, sorry. I do know Red Sail is still in operation, because I’ve been in their retail stores recently, and I noticed Captain Marvin’s had people going in and out of their store front when we ate at a restaurant in the same plaza, but that’s about the only ones I feel confident about commenting on. I can see Stingray City from the backyard, and there are always tons of boats out there on a cruise ship day, so there’s definitely lots of excursion companies still running tours.

If you are a confident driver and comfortable with roundabouts and driving on the left, sure. Lots to see and do outside of George Town and SMB.

If you haven’t visited Smith Cove, try there. Opposite direction from SMB from the cruise port.