Someone remind me re: Caymans please

[bubbles1209]

Would someone please remind me (it's been a while) where the ships dock in Grand Cayman? We want to possibly take a bus or taxi to West Bay to go and see the car museum on our own without going through the turtle farm, hell tour, etc. again. Also, if anyone knows where is the place you see the blue iguanas on Cayman, and which end of the island is it on.......approximate travel time from pier? Thanks:)

[cruise_pirate]

Dock in the ocean, tender to George Town

[bubbles1209]

I thought it was 1 you tender to land from the ship, it was 3 years ago, however, so I couldn't remember. Thank you so much! Hopefully someone that knows the answers to my other questions will see this and be able to help too. Thanks again! 18 more days! :D

[DMBPICKLE]

What kind of car museum is this?

[Sargent_Schultz]

The Blue Iguanas are in the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Park which is not particularly close to tender docks.

 

http://www.blueiguana.ky/

 

http://www.botanic-park.ky/

[spider211]

No docking, you take a tender.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Car Museum

 

http://www.caymanmotormuseum.com/new/

[joshloe]

Yeah when I went in 09 they anchored down in the ocean and took a tender. It was my first (and only till jan 30th) cruise and I thought it was awesome to ride the boat taxi into land. Grand Cayman was probably my favorite stop, the water there is amazing.

[bubbles1209]

The Blue Iguanas are in the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Park which is not particularly close to tender docks.

 

http://www.blueiguana.ky/

 

http://www.botanic-park.ky/

 

Wonder if I could take a bus here and get back in time before the ship sails.:confused:

[bubbles1209]

Thanks for the 2 links, they were most informative! Read through them and see the bus isn't such a great idea afterall, and that cabs are pricey to take you there. Did send an e-mail about a possible excursion to see the bue iguanas though, will see what kind of price they send me. If it's too high, we'll just probably shop and grab some food somewhere close while enjoying the beautiful scenery.........no worries, it's vacation!:D

[boingy300]

Tender is the only option-

We always book Sting Ray city with Capt. Marvins. On the way out there we saw an awful lot of iguanas- I certainly wouldn't pay to see them. The Sting Rays/snorkel is always a great stop. Cruising by Bill Gates summer home, and again lots of iguanas along the way, is also very cool.

I love Grand Cayman! Keep in mind it is the most freq. "missed" port in the Western Caribbean due to tendering/sea swells. Make sure you have that in your agreement no matter who you book with!

Karen

[aidansaunt2004]

This is our favorite port! We didn't book anything ahead of time. There was a lady offering tours and we took her up on her offer. It turned out great. She was a really nice, informative woman. She did take us to the turtle farm which was sad but it was also an opportunity to hold a turtle. She said she personally doesn't eat turtle because she worked with turtles for many years but a lot of the people do eat them :( It was a great experience though.

[misguidedangel]

My experience with the cabs in Grand Cayman isn't great. They seem to want to collect as many people on their bus as they can and for $20 give you a tour of the island. If you want to go to a specific place they might charge you more and will take you there, via other places and not give you much time to explore either. We did it once and wanted at least an hour at the turtle farm, well, we got a whole 20 minutes, and at least 10-15 of that was waiting or in the gift shop........

 

Tendering in Grand Cayman is easy, but those with excursions get off first. If you want to get off right away you have to line up in another lounge and get a tender ticket and you might be lucky to be off the ship between 8 and 9am if the tendering started at 7am.

 

Grand Cayman is one of my fave ports, too bad the Magic and two other ships missed it when we were supposed to be there on December 1st while on the Magic...

[Sargent_Schultz]

It is possible to take the bus to see the blue iguanas, but i don't think they would run often so you would have to be sure of the schedule.

 

Don't know if a tip to the driver would ensure they pick you up on schedule?

[yst347]

You can rent a car and make your own excursion. We did this and had a wonderful time exploring Grand Cayman. We rented a four-door Nissan Sentra from Cayman Auto Rentals. They are located about a half-mile from the tender pier. They offer a rate for cruise passengers that includes gas and insurance for around $100 for the day.

[larkz]

I planned on doing this on my Liberty cruise two weeks ago. I rented a car ahead online at the goofy local Cayman Avis website. After arriving at the port, I walked over to the storefront that Avis worked out of. They weren't expecting me, apparently. I had to talk to someone on the phone who said they would be right there. 40 minutes later no show and lots of screwing around with the rental company. Finally, I lost confidence in these people, swore at them, and left. I ended up going kayaking at the nearest beach.

 

I was hoping to visit botanic garden and Mystic Trail at the center of the island. Unfortunately they don't seem to understand the idea of the taxi cab, but instead subscribe to the view that a cab is a human sardine can on wheels, crammed full with passengers who are then delivered only to select destinations.

[yst347]

Just to be clear I didn't rent from Avis.

[larkz]

Just to be clear I didn't rent from Avis.

 

I'll take your advice and try Cayman Auto Rentals next time.

[nwo4life]

Public Buses will take you anywhere on the Island for $2.50 fare per trip. The bus depot is about 2 blocks from the dock. Anytime they see people walking they honk, just wave if you want a ride.

 

Map and Schedule

http://www.grandcayman4u.com/transport/buses.htm