Question for those just off the Solstice Western Caribbean Sailing...

[tiffnco]

Hi there!

 

I'm heading on the W. Caribbean sailing June 20th and I hope someone has the answer to this question.

 

Do you recall what time you pulled into port in Grand Cayman? We have booked a private excursion and am having a difficult time (and getting conflicting answers) trying to figure out what local time will be upon our arrival.

 

The schedule is posted as 7am...but I've also heard that it will actually be 6am island time.

 

Any clarification would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

Thanks - and welcome back!

[kitty9]

Grand Cayman is a tender port so a lot of things make a difference in when you arrive. The time you'll be off the ship will vary depending on when they can drop anchor and the weather. If it's windy or rough, you can bet you'll be late. But, on our cruise, they didn't begin tendering until close to 8am, local time and those with ship's tours were off first, followed by those with priority tender tickets and then everyone else, which includes those with private tours.

[tiffnco]

Thanks Darcie,

 

I have the later tour time booked and I guess I'll keep it that way. And "later" isn't too bad...as it's really only 10:30am.

[Aquahound]

Tiffnco - I just went back and looked at my itinerary. On the print-out I have, it says 7am arrival. However, the daily info sheet we received the prior night in our room stated an arrival time of 8 am. We actually dropped anchor at 7:30 and the first people were off around 7:50.

 

This was all ship's time. Cayman Islands is currently one hour behind ship's time, so anchoring was at 6:30 their time.

 

Sorry I didn't answer completely in my review thread. They are in the same time zone, but I forgot they don't do daylight savings. Ship time was not changed until we went to Mexico.

 

The 7 am on the itinerary must be local time.

[Perki]

can you please scan in and share the dailies :D I have asked this elsewhere too in hopes of someone sharing thiers with those of us about to depart...since this was the first Solstice western carib itinierary...thank you!

[JP1947]

We were told to keep watches set at ship time not local time.

Ship time didn't change the entire cruise

[Aquahound]

We were told to keep watches set at ship time not local time.

Ship time didn't change the entire cruise

 

Leaving Grand Cayman, clocks were set back one hour that night (Tues night). The clocks were set forward an hour on Friday night after leaving Roatan.

[teajak]

If you are taking a private tour make sure to check their time and tell them what your ship time is. We almost missed the last tender because of this. They had people from Celebrity and Carnival, the Carnival ship changed time Celebrity didn't so we were an hour faster.They wouldn't listen to the Celebrity people and cut the time very short, I was terrified. There were six peope from Celebrity on this sting-ray city tour and we all kept showing them our watches. The last tender was to leave at 3:30, we didn't get back to the dock until 3:00 with all that traffic to deal with. By some miracle we got back to the dock at 3:25,had to run from the parking lot to the tender. Make sure your tour operator is aware of your schedule and leave plenty of time.

[tiffnco]

If you are taking a private tour make sure to check their time and tell them what your ship time is. We almost missed the last tender because of this. They had people from Celebrity and Carnival, the Carnival ship changed time Celebrity didn't so we were an hour faster.They wouldn't listen to the Celebrity people and cut the time very short, I was terrified. There were six peope from Celebrity on this sting-ray city tour and we all kept showing them our watches. The last tender was to leave at 3:30, we didn't get back to the dock until 3:00 with all that traffic to deal with. By some miracle we got back to the dock at 3:25,had to run from the parking lot to the tender. Make sure your tour operator is aware of your schedule and leave plenty of time.

 

 

Teajak: What time was your tour starting? What company did you use? This news freaks me out a bit.

 

We are booked with Fatfish Adventures for the waverunner tour. It's scheduled for a 10:30am start (which sounds like this would really be 11:30 ship time?) It's a 2.5 hour tour (ending at 1pm island time / 2pm ship time)...so I SHOULD be okay...but one can never be too sure!

[blubionda]

Teajak: What time was your tour starting? What company did you use? This news freaks me out a bit.

 

We are booked with Fatfish Adventures for the waverunner tour. It's scheduled for a 10:30am start (which sounds like this would really be 11:30 ship time?) It's a 2.5 hour tour (ending at 1pm island time / 2pm ship time)...so I SHOULD be okay...but one can never be too sure!

 

 

I'm on FatFish next week - I didn't take the 8am tour because I thought it was too close a call with tender/7am "arrival" time since they give priority tender to folks with ship tours = I didn't realize the ship would be an hour ahead and it would really only be 6am local time when we arrived (scheduled to arrive anyway). I might see about getting the earlier time slot . . .

 

Carolyn seemed to think we had plenty of time to walk around town after the 10:30 trip (waverunner tour) so I think you'd be okay with that option, too!

[Aquahound]

I'm on FatFish next week - I didn't take the 8am tour because I thought it was too close a call with tender/7am "arrival" time since they give priority tender to folks with ship tours.

 

This is a very good point. Solstice does tender tickets in Grand Cayman. If you are doing an early private tour, make sure you get in line for those tickets asap. They were not calling the higher numbers until around 10.

[teajak]

Teajak: What time was your tour starting? What company did you use? This news freaks me out a bit.

 

We are booked with Fatfish Adventures for the waverunner tour. It's scheduled for a 10:30am start (which sounds like this would really be 11:30 ship time?) It's a 2.5 hour tour (ending at 1pm island time / 2pm ship time)...so I SHOULD be okay...but one can never be too sure!

It should be ok. Make sure the tour ends back at the docks and not somewhere else.We had to take a van from where you get off the Sting Ray City boat back to the docks.Double check your time with the tour guide before you leave.It was Nativeway. Hate to scare you but it is better to know what to check. I was reaally scared we were not going to make it,coming back to dock they went the long way around to show the big houses. I kept asking them to please hurry and not go sight seeing.Best martini I ever had when I got back on the ship.LOL

[tiffnco]

I'm on FatFish next week - I didn't take the 8am tour because I thought it was too close a call with tender/7am "arrival" time since they give priority tender to folks with ship tours = I didn't realize the ship would be an hour ahead and it would really only be 6am local time when we arrived (scheduled to arrive anyway). I might see about getting the earlier time slot . . .

 

Carolyn seemed to think we had plenty of time to walk around town after the 10:30 trip (waverunner tour) so I think you'd be okay with that option, too!

 

Oh man...can you do me a HUGE favor and let me know what happens when you get back?

[blubionda]

This is a very good point. Solstice does tender tickets in Grand Cayman. If you are doing an early private tour, make sure you get in line for those tickets asap. They were not calling the higher numbers until around 10.

 

Paul - thanks for that info - VERY much appreciated!! Now I'll stay on 10:30 slot! :)

 

Do you know - as Concierge Cabin, do we get any priority tender benefit (as we technically do for restaurant/shore excursion reservations)?

 

Tiffnco - YES, I will be happy to!

[dkjretired]

Remember also that Grand Cayman is perhaps the most missed port of all due to weather conditions and the fact it is a tender port.....

[blubionda]

Remember also that Grand Cayman is perhaps the most missed port of all due to weather conditions and the fact it is a tender port.....

 

It's a full refund if ship can't get in that day . . .

[blueboro]

We too had a waverunner trip to StingRay City and Rum Point Beach. WE almost did not go because we were not aware they ship time would be one hour ahead of local time. So our 11:00AM (local time) tour time, 12:00 ship time, did not leave much room for error. Got back to port around 2:50 which was only a little over one-half hour prior to last tender. Since the ship time changes and you "go back" one hour the evening of Grand Cayman, it would sure make sense to us for the ship to change time BEFORE the Cayman stop so ship time and local time are the same. Would not be surprised if some missed the ship.

[PSL Ag]

We were on the Captain Marvin tour that left at 10 am shore time. We had no trouble getting off the ship immediately--had not wait to get a tender ticket and board immediately. We left the ship about 8:30, which meant 7:30 shor time, so had a lot of time to kill before the tour began. The tour uses a dock for Capt. Marvin that is closer than some others, so when the tour boat docked at 1 pm, it took less than 30 minutes to get back to our dock at 1:30/2:30 ship time, so we had an hour of leaway before last tender.

 

I'd check on the capt. Marvin tour, as it's departure/return time fit the ships schedule well. Crew was very helpful and friendly.

 

Dan Z

[JP1947]

Thanks for the correction-------i didn't miss anything!

[RichardE954]

These threads seem to have a lot more information about the Eastern as opposed to the Western.

[blubionda]

Oh man...can you do me a HUGE favor and let me know what happens when you get back?

 

I'm sorry to say that I can't tell you how the 10:30 waverunner tour went - rough seas at Cayman on our arrival day = authorities closed Stingray City. Luckily, I heard about ship Stingray City excursions being cancelled while in line for the tender tickets and called Fat Fish. I was SO DISAPPOINTED since this is the 3rd time I've missed the Stingrays! Anyway, good service from Fat Fish = they refunded my deposit within 24 hours.

 

While I can't help you with the tour time, I can tell you that the tender tickets are a crap shoot - when we went down the first time our number was called within 10 minutes. When we delayed our departure after knowing tour was cancelled we went back to get tickets again (can't use earlier ones - once you miss your number, you have to start over) and the 2nd time we waited almost an hour to get off the ship. So, if you do take the Fat Fish tour I would plan for the worst tender wait and wander around on shore if necessary until 10:30 . . . Also, if you can help it, avoid the very last tender of the day - we were on it and waited over 30 additional minutes while they loaded everything from shore up - ugh!

 

Let me know if there is anything else I might be able to help with!