Ten hours No stingrays or turtles?

[natish3000]

We are in port the first week of May and we have ten hours.

We are not interested in Stingray City or Turtle Farm.

1) Realistically, do we have time for Rum Point?

2) No one seems to mention the east side of Grand Cayman. What is worth seeing there?

3)Other than Hell is there anything worthwhile (besides the people who live there of course) in western area?

4)Are there any off the beaten path places of note that you know about?

Thanks so much for your time. You all are the greatest!

[Nanatravel]

Your schedule may say 10 hrs. but this is a tender port and ship tours get first priority off of the ship! Your time on shore will be much less. Yes, you have time for Rum Point but not Hell or any other 7 Mile Beach area as they are in the opposite direction.

Bon Voyage

[Nliedel]

GC is a realtivly flat and featureless island except for Seven Mile Beach. Hell is interesting but not worth your time. I would go to ether Rum Point or Seven Mile beach.

[natish3000]

YOur answers are appreciated.

Any others are welcome.

Please keep 'em coming!!!

[sdwrdt]

Your schedule may say 10 hrs. but this is a tender port and ship tours get first priority off of the ship! Your time on shore will be much less. Yes, you have time for Rum Point but not Hell or any other 7 Mile Beach area as they are in the opposite direction.

Bon Voyage

 

We were in port from 7 am until 4 pm and toured all over the western part of Grand Cayman and we didn't even begin our tour until about 10:30 am. We could got off the ship some time between 8:30 and 9 and looked through some of the shops around the area. Didn't want to get too far away from where our tour would be.

 

Nativeway offers the Rays, Reef & Rum tour which starts on the Northwest part of the island and takes you to the Eastern shore for Rum Point, so you could hit more areas than just Rum Point - if you wanted.

 

Hell would basically be a waste of your time, though. Not a whole lot there. I definitely wouldn't go out of my way to experience it.

 

The Rum Cakes and Rum are great to sample. I'm sure you can taste them other than the Tortuga Rum Factory, but we did enjoy the tastings of every kind of rum we wanted to try (banana & rum cream were my absolute favorites of rum and chocolate, banana & coconut were my favorite rum cakes)

[twinkletoes4445]

I'd rent a car and tour the island. You have plenty of time to drive to Rum Point. You will be going to the part of the island where not many of the cruise ship passengers will be. We recently spent a week there, and on heavy cruise ship days, we headed off in that direction.

 

The Lighthouse Restaurant is on your way to Rum Point. Although we didn't stop there, I've read many good things about it. The blow holes are also near that area. The botanic park is also on your way to Rum Point. We ate at the restaurant at Rum Point (I can't remember the name), and the food was really good. The only problem we encountered was that Rum Point was packed. So we looked around a bit and then off we went to tour more of the island.

 

Instead of turing back toward the way you came in, keep going and you will come upon this really neat housing area. It's not very big, and only took a couple of minutes to drive through the whole area, but it was so pretty. Lovely homes....

 

We loved the Bodden Town/Savannah area. We also enjoyed our drive all over the East End. It's a part of Cayman that is so natural. Not much touristy stuff...which we loved. We stopped along the road at so many different places and just got out and walked along the beach.

 

There's a gift shop that we found that was so neat. It's called Pure Art, and is about a mile out of the port area (as you head to the right, away from 7MB). It's on the left side of the road (in an old house). The front door of the place faces the side street, not South Church Street (which we were on). They had so many different pieces of local art...from Xmas ornaments, to cross-stitched Cayman t-towels, to beautiful paintings...all done by local artists.

 

You really can't get lost...there's only so many roads on the island...and we probably were on all of them at one time or another during our week there. Another thing, we never felt unsafe anywhere. Sure, you need to be careful, like you would anywhere, but how many islands in the Caribbean can you get out and explore like this...not many.

 

We went to Hell (again) and the turtle farm (again) only because we were there for a week. I'd probably do the Rum Point/East End area, and then if I had a little extra time, maybe cruise down the 7MB area, but you may not have the time. Traffic tends to get backed up, especially around the Ritz (which is way down at the end of 7MB area). There is a by-pass, so if you get down there, you can eventually cut back around the back side of town. Just be sure an allow plenty of time to get the car back and get back for the tender.

 

If you do have time, we ate at Coconut Joe's a lot and reallly enjoyed it. It's located almost across from the Marriott, and Comfort Suites (I believe). We were at the Regal Beach Club and it was just a short walk.

 

We rented from Andy's (which has a location at the airport and next to Coconut Joe's) and got a great deal. We used our coupon from the Cayman Activity Guide and saved an additional 10%. Our SUV had the steering set up like at home (on the left) and it seemed to make things easier for us. I navigated the round-abouts (you yield to those inside) and kept telling hubby to "stay left" on the roads. But driving was easy because the Cayman's are very MELLOW when they drive (no one seems to be in a rush-which we liked). Someone will always let you in (if the traffic is stopped), in fact, they must do this so much, that there are signs that tell them not to let people in when the light is green. They also honk when they are saying "thanks." Where I come from a honk doesn't mean thanks...and instead of a wave, we get another gesture. :)

 

I have read where there is some car rental place that will meet you at the Blue Iguana which is right to the right of the port area (I believe). I don't know what company, but to pick up and drop off there would make things so easy.

 

Have a great time!

[ck1234]

The Rum Cakes and Rum are great to sample. I'm sure you can taste them other than the Tortuga Rum Factory, but we did enjoy the tastings of every kind of rum we wanted to try (banana & rum cream were my absolute favorites of rum and chocolate, banana & coconut were my favorite rum cakes)

 

I am thinking these will be what I buy as souveniers for everyone. Can anyone tell me what the prices are for these and where the best place to buy them is? I guess they're all over, incase we don't make it to the Totuga Rum Factory? Thanks!

[twinkletoes4445]

I bought the little ones as gifts. I think they run about $5 each (or so). It seems like the next size was around $10 and there was a bigger one. There is a Tortuga Rum store right as you get off the ship (it's to the right of the port near the Hard Rock Cafe). Breezes restaurant (which is in the Landmark building) which is right across from the port also sells Tortuga Rum Cakes. I don't know what sizes they have, or flavors, but I did see the smaller ones there. We bought rum cakes from the gift shop on the ship (the first time we were there). They were a little more expensive, but we had so many other things planned that I didn't know if we'd have time to find a store on the island.

 

Last time we were there, we bought Hook Rum Cakes, and they have a "hurricane" flavor. It's chocolate and vanilla. It was quite good. I found those at the turtle farm and the airport.

 

Chocolate, Banana, and coconut were also our favorite Tortuga Rum Cakes.

 

All this talk about rum cakes makes me hungry. I may have to pull one out of the freezer!

[sdwrdt]

I am thinking these will be what I buy as souveniers for everyone. Can anyone tell me what the prices are for these and where the best place to buy them is? I guess they're all over, incase we don't make it to the Totuga Rum Factory? Thanks!

 

We paid $29.95 for 6 different flavors of the small ones and 2 airline-sized bottles each of 2 different rums (I can't remember the rum types and hubby is asleep in the room where they are). This way, they delivered the rum cakes to the ship for us.

[ck1234]

Thanks sdwrdt & twinkletoes4445. Even I want to try these cakes and I don't "do" sweets! Appreciate your help! :)