Coral Beach

[wardwhitty]

I was wondering if anyone has been to Coral Beach recently.  I thought I read somewhere that you could rent a cabana.  Do they have them?  Ae they worth it?  Do you need to or just chance it with the loungers and an umbrella?  The reviews for here have been pretty great I'm just wondering if it is the place to go on 7 Mile Beach.

[ZoeyVictoria]

I was at Coral Beach (briefly) on Monday.  We had planned to go to Calico Jack’s by taxi.  I have had prior experience with Grand Cayman taxi drivers strongly encouraging passengers to go to a different resort than requested, stating how much better their choice is and how they want you to have a great time in their country.  The truth is that they want to take you to the place that pays a commission to the driver.

 

We were the last two people to board a 14-passenger van, so I have no idea how or why the other passengers had chosen Coral Beach.  The driver agreed to take us to Calico Jack’s for $6 pp (rides to Coral Beach and Royal Palms are $5).  He stopped at Coral Beach and everybody got out of the van while he told them it was a beautiful beach with good food, free WiFi, and free loungers.  He was very charming and sincere, and my SO and I fell for it and stayed there with the others.  There were a lot of new-looking loungers in rows (at least six rows deep) on the beach.  The fourteen new arrivals were told that all of those loungers were reserved for a ship’s excursion and directed towards one tiny, not so nice section behind and off to one side of the main area.  And those loungers were $10 each.  We did not stay, in part because we were upset at falling for the taxi driver’s spiel and in part because we didn’t want to sit in the back corner far away from the water and make our way through throngs of cruisers to get to the water.  We left and one of the other taxi drivers dropping off more passengers graciously volunteered to take us to Calico Jack’s (probably less than 1/2 mile away) for an additional $5 each.  The beach looked nice and would probably be enjoyable on a day when there were no ship’s excursions taking priority.  I looked up the excursion when we got back to the ship and saw that it was $69.99 pp for transportation and 2.5 hours at the beach.  Lunch was not included.  I’m not sure there will ever be a day that Coral Beach will welcome walk-in customers in favor of splitting $69.99 pp with the cruise line for the ship’s excursion.  We are not willing to take that chance.

[wardwhitty]

Thank you so much for letting us know.  I had read somewhere that they said cruise excursions go there but I did not know that's how they handled it.  Did you like Calico Jack's?

[ZoeyVictoria]

We have been to Calico Jack’s and Royal Palms several times each.  They are totally different experiences, but we enjoy both so our other activities in other ports determine which one we choose.

 

Calico Jack’s is a fun, beach bar experience.  I find it similar to Jack’s Shack in Grand Turk.  Brightly colored, a fun “flip flop tree” with a huge collection of shoes nailed to every branch, loud music, lively.  There was very little room between the water and the first row of chairs, making it hard to take walks along the shore, and the water was rocky.  Loungers are $5, a set of 2 loungers and an umbrella are $20.  There is another area of loungers (yellow) immediately next to Calico Jack’s blue ones, with the yellow lounger vendor repeatedly walking to Calico’s area and trying to lure customers there.  I don’t know what they charge.

 

Royal Palms is a more relaxing, “classy” experience.  There is a $2 entrance fee.  They have a very nice pool with a swim-up bar.  The pool is restricted to 18+, which discourages families with small children from choosing Royal.  There are beach beds all around the pool area - not sure of the price, I believe around $199.  The loungers on the beach seem to be more widely spaced than some.  I don’t remember what the charge is for loungers/umbrellas, I think a little more than Calico Jack’s.   I found the info easily before we left, just don’t remember now.  There is a bit of a walk from the pool area to the beach.