TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Cayman Islands Vacation Booked

Well we just booked our trip for February 2019 on Grand Cayman. This will be our first trip to this island (not on a cruise). We opted to get away from the crowds and booked what appears to be a really nice condo on the North Shore. We are about a 5 minute drive to Rum Point. This is more our style (less crowds).

We are all very excited and are looking forward to a new adventure. I have the condo booked ($3600 for 2 bedrooms for 12 nights). I booked the flights on Delta (49,000 pts each for Comfort +). I still have to book a car for our trip. Does anyone have any recommendations on who to use or not to use?

Any other info on "must see" or "must do" items would be great. Thanks in advance.

You can pretty much book with the company offering the best deal for your needs. Check Expedia Kayak or Orbitz. Based on fluctuations in availability and fleet refresh, its difficult to say you has the nicer condition cars at any given moment. We generally use Thrifty, they've done us many solids over the years, but have also used Andy's, Firefly, Budget and Marshall's.

Keep in mind if you don't obtain an International Driver's Permit (you can use AAA to obtain), you'll need to spend $20 USD on top of the quoted price to get a local visitor's driving permit. All insurance is optional, hopefully you have a no foreign transaction fee credit card that will cover the Collision and Damage waiver. If so, it would just be up to you if you want to purchase 3rd party liability.

The drive to Rum Point is about 45 minutes from the airport. Cayman follows the British rules of the road with driving on the left, but speeds posted in MPH. Rental cars may have metric displays only, make on the fly speed conversion a fun task.

Once you leave the George Town environs, it is pretty much one road and little traffic, but some folks get flummoxed at the round-a-bouts. If you do get lost or think you are lost, by all means stop and ask for directions. Most folks will be all to happy to assist. Just plan on getting lost, so you don't get too frustrated if you actually do.

Google Maps is available for off-line, no data service needed, turn-by-turn navigation to just about any address or location on the island. Keep your phone in airplane mode or turn data services off and you can still get directions. Just search for "Grand Cayman" on the Google Map App and crop so that the entire island is selected for download. Here's the how-to:

Andriod Phones
Iphones

We recommend buying groceries on your way to the condo at one of the bigger stores on the other side of the island. Please be advised, if arriving on a Sunday when the grocery stores are closed (all, except gas station mini-marts and Chisholm's mini-mart ), you may want to consider a shopping service who will stock the unit with items from the shopping list you provide. There are two smaller local grocery/convenience stores which are best for items you may have forgotten to purchase at one of the bigger stores or if you have run out of something.

Some sights along North Side to check out are: Crystal Caves, Starfish Point, A Bio-luminescent bay tour, Sting Ray City.

Thanks for the advice. We did book a car thru Alamo already. We will be arriving on a Thursday so everything should be open.

Bob (our condo owner) is sending us a bunch of info on the sites and grocery service. We have been using Shop n Drop in St Martin for years in St Martin and we do enjoy this service.

As far as the round a bouts go, No worries I have been driving on them for years on other islands. The only difference here is going to be getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road.

Thanks again for the advice. We are excited to check out a new location.

Driving on the left side of the road but in the right (passenger) seat took some getting used to...
Love RP and the North Shore, we also like going to the Reef to listen to the barefoot man - enjoy!

And the grouper BLT at the Wreck is great...

OK. What is the Reef and who is the Barefoot Man?

Sorry - the Reef Resort (now a Wyndham property) is located on the East End -
https://wyndhamcayman.com/

Barefoot Man is just a solo musician /songwriter we enjoy. He plays at the Reef on Thursdays, and also at the Wharf and Hemingway’s on SMB -
http://www.barefootman.com/whassup.html

And regarding the driving, whenever I wanted to turn on the turn signal the windshield wiper came on...
Have fun!

Public FYI. Most "Grouper" in fish & chips and other sandwiches or fried preparations is really imported, farm raised Swai. The Wreck Bar's certainly is and Kaibo's may or may not be depending on the purveyor - they claim to have switched back to real Grouper after complaints, but I'd still question if that's true. Most waitstaff will tell you its Grouper, even when its not.

All good info. We are very much looking forward to a new adventure. I am glad to learn about Barefoot Man. One of the things we enjoy most on vacation is listening to live music being played at a beach bar or something similar. If anyone knows of any places like that on GC, please feel free to share that info. Thanks in advance

Kaibo Beach bar has a Tuesday night BBQ featuring a band (usually Bonafide). While we like both Kaibo's beach bar and more formal Upstairs, the food at the BBQ is not a favorite. We usually plan on an early or late dinner back at our place and head to Kaibo's bar to enjoy the band.

The Rum Point Club has a beach BBQ Mondays featuring a one man band. While the BBQ food there is arguably a little better, the entertainment is certainly not.

If your visit should coincide with Kaibo's full moon Friday Luna Del Mar dinning on the beach, I would highly recommend you make reservations.

Besides Kaibo's dinning options, the Rum Point Club dinner restaurant is good, as are Tukka (frigate feeding for earlier dinniners) and the Lighthouse.

Over the Edge, Eagle Ray's, Kaboose, the Czech Inn and South Coast bar & grill are all good casual places. Depending on the day, some better than others.

Water taxi/ferry service is available to Camana Ba ly fro Kaibo, opening up the multiple restaurant options there, if you dinner early enough to make the last ferry back to Kaibo/Rum Point.

Local jerk and fish fry stands are good and the view from deck at the White House in Bodden Town is worth stopping by for drinks or lunch.

Thanks for the info. We usually eat dinner out every night and just do breakfast/lunch at our condo, so we are always looking for some good "inside info" on the local restaurants. We will mark these places down to give a try. Thanks again

I can’t comment on that but it was great - fried fish on a BLT!
We’ve had a variety of fish as “replacements” for grouper in different destinations, with it served this way, as long as it is a mild white fish it’s all good...

So many great restaurants in town and along SMB, we liked Casanova’s for the lobster ravioli, and I like their limoncello which is free after dinner...

Sorry, certainly not trying to infer it was not a tasty sandwich. I just hate when I get a substitute fish and it is repeatedly falsely marketed.

We may go to the SMB area once or twice but we have a tendency to stay away from the big crowds as much as possible. In fact I always keep an eye on the cruise port schedule so I can plan my trips to areas like SMB on days when there are minimal cruise ships in port. I enjoy those types of area but I try to maximize my enjoyment by limiting the crowd size.

[/quote]

Sorry, certainly not trying to infer it was not a tasty sandwich. I just hate when I get a substitute fish and it is repeatedly falsely marketed.[/quote]

Sure, no worries
The mudslide is pretty tasty as well!

Cruising also introduced us to many beautiful destinations before we started enjoying land-based vacations. We’ve enjoyed staying on GCM, and even considered a retirement home on the east or north end but we opted for another destination. But enjoy your first land-based visit, GCM does offer the busy and not so busy experiences...

Only 117 days until we leave. Wish it was tomorrow. The wife and I are both ready to get away on a new adventure.

Yes the planning and anticipation are a big part of the overall experience, especially on a first visit and it’s hard to be patient! Great time of year to go.

Not sure if this was brought up earlier, do you buy trip insurance? I always get it for the medical and medivac coverages, we’ve never needed that which is good. But we have missed connecting flights with no airline reimbursements, and our claims far exceed what we paid for the coverage...

Happy Planning!

We have never purchased any trip insurance. Usually in the winter when we go there aren't to many problems. We have traveled for many years to the Caribbean with no issues. I'm sure one day we will get burnt but we will just deal with it at that point. Anyways in the "what is it worth department" we don't ever buy any extended warranties either.

On a side note I have now figured out that one trip in February is not going to be enough for us anymore. I need to find another spot to get away for at least a week or so. I was thinking in January but that letter I just received from the "Clerk of the US District Court Jury Department" has notified me that January is out. So I might have to figure something out for March. Anyways we are always looking for some good information on Caribbean destinations if anyone has any advice.

So you already have primary medical and medivac coverages when outside the US? Or you rely on your US health insurance? Our US insurance covers us for some emergencies (in most areas, not all) when outside the US and her territories, but we are basically on our own without travel insurance if something happens. For < $100/couple I feel much better with $150k med coverage and $1 million medivac, but that’s us. We also do not purchase extended warranties in the US, esp. when using a cc, but in other areas it is very important to accept it. Just depends on where you are...

So many gorgeous and friendly Carib islands and countries to choose from. We have our favorites, are your interests similar? Gorgeous, uncrowded beaches, great cuisine and entertainment, friendly residents?

A few places we have been to, the BVI's, Bahama out islands, Anguilla, Grenada, Grenadines, Culebra, Isla Murejes (sp), St. John and Curacao. These islands have the peace and tranquility we enjoy. Uncrowded, not many cruise ships, perfect vacation spots.

And the grouper BLT at the Wreck is great...