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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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This was our first trip to the Mexican Caribbean. It was a charter flight out of Dallas/Ft. Worth , and as such we were not surprised when we got a phone call telling us our flight had been delayed due to a lightning strike on our plane up north somewhere. Since we lost the first day,( we were supposed to arrive in Cancun around 11:30am), they gave us a travel voucher on a future trip we might plan with Sun Country. They did extend our stay by about ˝ a day on the last day, we were to depart Cancun at 1:00pm and we were postponed until a 5:30 flight that evening. We arrived in Cancun about 4:30pm, and arrived at the resort (El Dorado Royale) around 6:00. Our bags caught up with us about an hour later. All was not lost, though, when we boarded the bus at the airport, we were greeted with cold towels, and were offered a cold beer or soft drink for purchase . I opted for the cold beer, Corona, I believe, promptly downed it, and we were on our way. We arrived at the resort and were shuttled to the end of the reception area where we waited for a golf cart transportation to our rooms. While we waited, we were given a rum punch to sip on. The ride to the room was uneventful, we were checked in, found the Champaign in our small fridge and sat on the deck and toasted the sunset and the fact we were finally, at last, on vacation! This also was our first experience with "all inclusive", and we were rather "all apprehensive". However, after a trip over to the main open air restaurant, La Isla, and an order for something to eat and drink, our fears were laid to rest. The service was friendly, not very prompt (we were after all, in Mexico) but the food was good and the drinks were cold. There is something to be said about all inclusive, for short (3 to 4 days) trips, they are preferred. Not having to worry about how much money to carry, or how much money you are spending is pretty relaxing itself. However, if the literature says, no tipping......ignore it. We tipped, and were treated very well indeed. The areas we did not tip, we were treated rather indifferently. We were sort of talked into exchanging our money for pesos at the airport. Do not do this. It is not necessary. Anywhere you go, you pay for what you want in U.S. dollars, and get change back in pesos, at a higher rate than they give you at the airport! That is what we were using for tipping, the pesos we got at the airport exchange. A 50 peso bill speaks loudly, my friends. There are three eating establishments on the property. La Isla is the one open all day and night (25 hours according to our guide) and serves drinks, snacks, and meals at any hour. There are two more formal restaurants, a Mexican and an Italian. You have to make reservations for the 6:30 or 8:30 seating. We ate twice at the Mexican restaurant, not because we especially wanted to, but the second night we were there, we made reservations, and the last night we were there, the radio station that was making the trip possible at a reduced rate gave us a "last night" evening meal there. I cannot comment on the food at the Italian restaurant, but the Mexican restaurant food was very good. Our second day found us vegging out on the beach, sitting under the thatched roof permanent umbrellas, ordering drinks from the bar maids who made the rounds every 20 minutes or so. They spent pretty much all of their day walking the beach and pool areas taking drink (and snack) orders. That is a nice touch. The only time you have to get up is when nature calls, and you have to find you way to your room, or to natures' vast emerald colored bathroom with waves. I must say, El Dorado Royale is the ideal place for vegging out and doing absolutely nothing! We wondered from beach to pool to beach again. There are three pools, each with a swim up bar, and a "relaxing" one and a half foot deep section. The bars at the two remote pools are not manned 24 hours as is the main pool at La Isla. It was at the last remote pool by the Cassitas rooms, that Julio introduced me to "THE SOMBRERO" drink. A rather fine concoction made of tequila, cream, sugar, ice and Kaluha. I highly recommend it. Since El Dorado is a Spa Resort, they offer a full line of spa amenities. Everything from full body messages to seaweed wrap (I can only imagine what that is like) to aerobics in the pool. At the main pool, where most of the activities take place, a tent was set up by the water's edge, and 10 minute gratis messages were given on a first come, first served basis. This, of course, was just enough to make you want the full 50 minute ($70.00) message given in the spa area. There were several optional trips (not included in the price) that were offered, so on the third day, we opted for the all day snorkel trip to Puerto Morelas, a 20 minute bus ride from the resort. For $58.00 (US) dollars, we were to get a boat ride out to the reef for two snorkeling opportunities, lunch, open bar (only beer and rum punch was offered) and the chance to do some shopping in the town of Puerto Morelas. The snorkeling gear was provided (and you can even keep the snorkel), but we have our own equipment so we used ours. I highly recommend you get your own snorkel gear, if you need glasses, you can have corrective lenses inserted into your mask, and the goggles will be a better fit, and if you have your own snorkel vest, USE IT. We had to wear life vests (some sort of liability law), and the only ones they had were designed to keep you afloat on your back. Not good for snorkeling face down. I was very uncomfortable wearing that life vest, and the it almost choked me to death on several occasions. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but I became very nauseated at the most inopportune time, and had to swim back to the boat early to recover. I never fully recovered that day. We got back to the town at noon, had a buffet style lunch of chicken and/or fish, noodles, refried beans, guacamole, the usual Mexican fare. I only ate a few bites, as I was still not feeling well. Maybe it was a good thing, because, that is the only time we had a chance to contract Montezuma's Revenge. After lunch, we were told we had time to explore the town and do some shopping. Problem was, it was Sunday and there were only 2 stores open in the entire town. So, in effect, our $58.00 all day snorkeling trip turned out to be half a day of snorkeling, a buffet lunch, and a couple of hours sitting on the beach drinking cervesa, or playing beach volley ball, or sleeping. I didn't think this was a very good value. Then it was back to the resort for a shower, another Sombrero, and time to get cleaned up for our farewell dinner provided us by the radio station (KVIL) and the Sharon Carr travel agency. It was very nice, cocktails at the bar outside the restaurant, and then dinner complete with a three man Mariachi band traveling from table to table, taking requests. I requested a song, and was promptly asked to get up and join them. What could I do? Refuse...no, I got up and joined them. It was a hoot! The next day was our last, so we were determined to make it count. Do some serious vegging on the beach, drink some more Sombreros and Pina Coladas, swim, just do some serious nothing! We weren't quite so lucky. Remember back at the start of this report, I said we were delayed getting there, so we had a later check out time. Check out time is 1:00pm normally, and we were assured we would be given a late check out. Due to some communication problem, the resort staff did not get the word of our late departure, and we were asked to check out by 1:00pm. We did so reluctantly, and, as it turned out, needlessly. They finally got the word for our late check out, but only informed about half of us. The rest of us checked out early and sat around the pool, or the bar and waited for the 3 hours to go by, so we could leave. This was really the only black mark on the resort while we were there. I know, there is a language difference but I still feel things like that could be worked out with very little trouble. In summary, we had a very nice time, and will probably do it again when we are in need of some serious vegging out time on a beach!
Trip 7/2000 (See this report with pictures at www.geocities.com/jimhinsch) The Cayman Islands. We chose the Cayman Islands for several reasons. The movie "The Firm" of course, made the island famous, but it was also the thought of visiting an island known for fabulous dive sites, calm waters, and a high per-capita income. We knew it was going to be expensive, but little could have prepared us for the sticker-shock we were to receive. In summary, we found Grand Cayman to be a quiet island. It was very clean, safe, and expensive. You aren't bothered by beach vendors like on so many other Caribbean islands, the water is clean and clear, the service is excellent everywhere, and there is lots of fine dining available. Arrival. The airport at Grand Cayman is small but nice. We passed through immigration quickly. There was only a single baggage carousel and we exited customs without a search. Outside, taxi service is controlled by a dispatcher, who wrote down our destination and the cost of the ride on a ticket. The price was written in both Cayman and US Dollars, as both were equally accepted. Taxis. Our taxi ride was short, perhaps 3 miles. The price as US$15 or CI$12. Our taxi driver was very unfriendly and we were to find that this was more the norm on this island. Taxis are mostly driven by local Cayman residents and with a few exceptions, they consistently were nasty, cheated us (no meters in the taxis), and were generally anti-tourism. Ongoing Scam. The minimum rate for a taxi is CI$4.50, or US$6, although many taxis told us it was CI$5 or US$7. That means to go 1 mile, the charge is US$7. Whenever we took a taxi out in the evening, we first asked our hotel how much we should expect the taxi to charge us. Most of the time, the taxi driver cheated us by over charging. Since there were no meters, we didn't have any information with which we could protest. It was easier to avoid being cheated on our return, because at least we knew what we had paid to arrive. Even on the return to the airport, the taxi told us it would be CI$15 or US$20. Since all I had was US$15 in small bills, I told the driver that this is what we had paid when we arrived and it was all I had left. He accepted. Westin Hotel - 7 mile beach. Check-in was speedy. The lobby has a small front desk that can accommodate perhaps 3 agents. We arrived just after noon and there wasn't any line. Price. We had reserved the lowest price room in the hotel, a garden-view. After they added a 13% hotel tax and 10% service charge, the room price was US$335 per night. They had wanted over US$400 per night for an ocean view room. Coupon. I was using a 50% off coupon for our stay that I had received when cashing in some frequent flyer miles about a year earlier. Having run into problems using this type of discount before, I made sure it was in the record when I made the reservation. To do this, I had been forced to call the hotel directly instead of using Westin's web site or 800 central reservations number. I don't know what that cost me yet, but I'm sure the phone call will be several dollars. When we arrived, they immediately asked for the discount coupon, which was accepted without a problem The coupon was good for only 6 of our 7 night stay, so we were informed we'd be paying full price for the last night, but they made a mistake in the end and gave us the discount for the entire stay. Upgrade. Additionally, I had just joined the Starwood Preferred Guest program (www.preferredguest.com), which costs nothing to join, and it entitled us to a space-available upgrade. We were upgraded to a partial-ocean-view room on the ground level facing the pool. Overall. Considering the high cost of the room, I was very unimpressed by the hotel. Overall, I rate it about 3 1/2 stars out of 5. I had expected 5 stars. After all, this was the reputed best hotel on the island. The hotel was decent, but it wasn't fancy at all. But, we did tour the 3 other main hotels on the 7-mile beach (Marriott, Hyatt, and Treasure Island), and the Westin was indeed the best on the beach and they also had the best piece of beach frontage. The hotel itself had a few gift shops, an exercise room with about 5 treadmills, 2 bikes, and free-weights up to 30 lbs., and 2 restaurants. It was really less than I would expect out of a suburban Marriott in the USA. We were treated to a fireworks display right in front of the hotel (street side) on July 3rd. Lobby Bar. The only bar in the hotel besides the pool bar was in the hotel lobby. It consisted of about 10 bar stools and a few low tables with lounge chairs and sofas. Drinks were about US$10 each. As was the norm around the island, a 15% gratuity was included. The bar, as with every bar and restaurant we visited on the island, was stocked with top shelf liquors. Cigars were also available for purchase and a snack mix was complimentary. Concierge. The concierge was helpful for planning our evening dining but we found that at least one of the maps they supplied had several of the restaurants marked in the complete wrong location. A local at the lobby bar was going over our options with us and he began to remark how they had several of the restaurant locations on the map, mixed up. The concierge also arranged golf for us one day. We told her we wanted to golf right now, so she called up, got us a tee time, and we walked right out the door and taxied to the course. Unfortunately, she didn't tell us about the dress code. We needed to have longer shorts and collars on our shirts so we had to call another taxi to get back to the hotel to change. When I complained to the concierge that she saw how we were dressed and should have warned us, she told us it was our fault, that we should have known, that all golf courses have dress codes. I informed her that ALL golf courses do not have dress codes. It cost us US$15 to taxi back the 1 mile each way to change our clothes. Room. Our room was very unimpressive. It was decent but still it was nothing more than a standard hotel room. It wasn't big and wasn't small. It had a king sized bed and a small table with a couple of chairs. That was about it. The back door opened out onto a small ground floor patio that had 2 wrought iron chairs and a small glass- top table. The patio was perhaps 4 ft. by 8 ft. We couldn't pass from the patio into the pool area because there was a garden in the way, but by the end of the trip, we found ourselves just making our way through the garden anyway. There was a mini-bar, but it did not include any liquor, just beer, wine, soda, candy, and other assorted munchies. The room also included a coffee maker, but it didn't come with coffee. Coffee could be purchased from our room mini-bar for US$5 a pot. The room had an electronic safe in the closet. Even as outrageously as the room was priced, we were charged an additional US$4/day for the privilege of using it. The room also included a clock radio and a TV with cable. Breakfast could be ordered the night before, to be delivered to the room at a preset time between 7:30 and 9:30am, by filling out a card and hanging it on the outside of the door at night. Two eggs, toast, bacon, potatoes, and coffee cost US$18. The room air conditioner worked very well and it also had a ceiling fan. The bed had great feather pillows. We're somewhat pillow snobs, and we bring our own from home when we travel for more than a few days. Their pillows were as good as ours and the bed had 5 of them in addition to ours from home. Internet access was available for those who travel with their computers. Instructions for configuring a Windows computer to make the connection were included. The cost was US$2.50 to connect and US$22.50/hr billed in 1 minute increments. One complaint we had was there wasn't much room to put our clothes. The room had 3 small drawers, 2 half-drawers, and 2 night-stand drawers. Bathroom. The bathroom had a single sink and a separate room for the toilet to the side. It was nice, with two French doors, but unspectacular. Amenities included a wall-mounted blow dryer. Pool. The pool was on the small side as far as big resort pools go, and it varied from 3 to 4 1/2 ft. deep with a swim-up bar at one end. The only problem I had was that it was usually filled with too many children. It seems this is a popular family destination. Hot Tub (Westin). There was a hot tub at one end of the pool. I usually don't use hotel hot tubs for hygienic reasons but towards the end of the week one morning, I noticed them changing the water, so I gave it a try. Mid- day it was great but by evening, it had reached its peak temperature and it was too hot. Keep in mind that we are hot tub owners and we keep ours at 109F. Theirs must have been a degree or two hotter. Getting in was difficult and we weren't able to stay in very long. Others were complaining it was too hot. It was however deep and spacious. Pool Deck (Westin). The deck surrounding the pool area was spacious with ample shade from palm trees. The deck chairs were the metal kind with rubber strips as the support. Although were up by 7am every morning and picked our chair positions, there was never a shortage of chairs or spots. Towels were available free of charge, with no limit, and no signing required. A few times they asked for our room number. Waitresses in one-piece swim suits and sarongs took food and drink orders around the pool and along the beach in front of the hotel. Service was prompt. The lunch menu was very limited. There were about 5 types of sandwiches with chips or fruit available and not much else. Sandwiches varied US$10-18 and drinks were about US$10. Beach. The beach in front of the hotel was fine white powdery sand that sloped down to the water. All of the sand, from the hotel pool deck edge and including in the water all the way to the back side of the roped off swim area was nothing but smooth clean sand. No debris except for the area underneath the large pine trees, where there were lots of long soft pine needles mixed in. The water was calm with 6 inch to 1 foot waves breaking on the shore. The water got deep fairly quick, becoming more than 6 ft. deep after about 15 feet into the water. The beach in front of the hotel was good and deep, perhaps 200 ft from pool deck to sea. We walked the entire 7-mile beach, end-to-end, over the course of two days and about 4 hours. The 7-mile beach only has about 2 miles that is very nice. The rest of the beach leaves much to be desired. We found that as one approached either end, the beach narrowed to as little as no beach at all, and much of it was covered with rocks, gravel, and broken shells. The water in front was loaded up with enough small boulders and jagged rocks to make the area unsuitable for swimming. The beach was extremely poor for walking on. Aside from the fact that it was sloped enough to make any long walk difficult, the sand was so mushy that it was like walking a sand dune. The only hard sand we could find was right where the waves were breaking, but occasionally, even this area was a thick muck that was difficult to walk on. I actually sprained my foot at the arch after the second day's 2-hour walk. One thing I found peculiar about the famous 7-mile beach was that there were very few hotels. There were many condominiums, houses, and lots of undeveloped lots as well. Most were located on parts of the beach where I would not want to hang out because of the rocks, gravel, debris, etc. A Ritz Carlton hotel and condominium complex is being built with a planned opening of mid-2001 on the best part of the beach next to the Westin. Mosquitoes and Sand Fleas. I didn't get bit or bothered the entire trip until I went out to the beach in my swim shorts to take a picture of the sunset. I spent about 5 minutes on my knees setting up my camera on a small plastic table and taking pictures. I never felt anything bite me. That night, I had bites, some of which were welts in many places. I had 3 under each armpit, several behind my knees, and a whole bunch on my back, chest, arms, and legs. They itched like mad. By they way the marks turned real red, I don't think they were mosquito bites. Water Skiing. As an avid water skier, I had taken specific notice that everywhere I read about the Cayman Islands, water skiing was advertised. I brought my own ski, jacket, rope, handle, and gloves and was ready for some great skiing. I had read that the water was glass calm and that they had good boats to pull skiers. How wrong I was. The first problem was that the water is not all that calm. Perhaps you might get lucky and find an occasional calm morning, but there are still swells. Swells are a no-no for water skiing. I supposed for the occasional skier that uses a set of 2 combo skis, it would be fine, but for an accomplished slalom skier, it was terrible. I went anyway. The next problem was the boat. There wasn't a lot of selection available. In fact, I scoured the beach looking for somebody that would charge me less than the US$180/hr. that Red Sail Sports was charging and even saw a nice privately owned ski boat and begged that they hire out to give me a pull. No go, so I signed up at Red Sail Sports, who by the way has a near monopoly on the dive, snorkel, boating, and water sports all around the island. The boat that pulled me was a Boston Whaler with a 200hp outboard. Unfortunately, its top speed was only about 30mph, whereas, the slalom skier that I am, I require 34 mph. I signaled to the driver for more speed, but he was already at full throttle. Anyway, even at that slower speed, I began to do my slalom cuts from side to side. The boat wake was annoyingly large and after an unexpected swell threw me and I got the wind knocked out of me, I skied in and gave it up for the rest of the trip. Just as luck has it, when I returned back home, a book I had ordered called "Ski in Paradise" arrived. I looked up to see what they had to say about skiing in Grand Cayman and they talked about a great ski lake over on the other side of the island by Rum Point, complete with a professional slalom course for practicing. Maybe next time. Snorkeling. During the course of the trip, we went to several snorkel sites. Equipment rental at Red Sail Sports was US$15/day. The first place we went was just a hundred yards off shore in front of the property next to the Westin, which happened to be the Governor's house. The reef was about 10-15 feet below us and fish were everywhere. In fact, the fish were bothersome. Apparently, they get fed by a lot of tourists and they swarmed around us and one even nipped at my empty hand. I kept trying to swat them away but they continued to swarm around us and followed us around the whole time. There were probably 200-300 fish in the 8-15 inch range. Snorkeling here was almost as good as we would find during the course of our trip. The largest fish we saw were in the 2-3 ft. range. Another site we went to was called Eden Rock. It was also a popular dive site. Again, the reef was about 10 feet down and we had arrived by Jet Ski on what they called the Jet Ski Safari. We snorkeled for about 20 minutes and then spent another 20 minutes free cruising on the jet skis. We moved around the anchored cruise ships and also spent a few minutes, about a mile out from shore, where the swells were over 10 ft. Individuals could ride their own jet ski, or they could share them two on a ski, but the price was still the same so we opted to ride separately. The best snorkeling of the trip, only marginally better than that we found right in front of the hotel, was at Sting Ray City. I'll cover that as a separate subject. Scuba Diving. I'm not a certified diver but I took a resort course and went on a 30 ft dive once in Jamaica. I signed up for the same and after a couple hours in the pool, we were off to a 40 ft. dive. We were diving right along side the certified divers, the only difference was that we were broken into groups of 4 and had to dive with an instructor. The reef was called Governor's Reef, and was about 1/2 mile off shore from the same reef we had swam to from the beach. After completing the course, I was free to join the divers on any subsequent dives in the afternoon, also with an instructor. On my second day, we did a 50 ft. dive at a reef called Killer Puffer. There weren't many fish but there was lots of coral and passages to navigate. Our dives lasted about 40 minutes and to be honest, I didn't see anything better or worse than I experienced while snorkeling with the exception of a lobster that was deep inside a hole in a rock at the bottom. Sting Ray City Catamaran Tour. This excursion was the highlight of our trip. The trip we signed up for was the longer of two versions available. Ours started out in the morning. We got on a bus in front of the hotel at 8:30am, went about 1 mile to the lagoon on the other side of the island, loaded up onto a giant catamaran that held perhaps 100 people, and took a 30 minute cruise to Sting Ray City. On board, refreshments were available for purchase and for the return, alcoholic beverages were added to the available drinks. Location. Sting Ray City is the name they give to an area out in the open water along side a barrier reef. A barrier reef is a long wall of rock that extends from the shore out into the water, forming a sort of barrier. Sometimes it breaks the surface, but more often than not it is hidden just below the surface. On one side of the reef, the side facing the open sea, we were told the water us 5000-6000 ft. deep, while on the inside of the reef, the depth varies from a few feet to a few inches. First Stop -Swim with the Sting Rays. The water where we stopped was about 8-10 ft. deep and there were about 6- 8 sting rays swimming there, a few with wing spans of about 4 ft. After anchoring, we all went in the water. Snorkel equipment was provided as part of the tour. A lone scuba diver feeds the sting rays squid and they continually circle around. Apparently these sting rays have been doing this for a long time and are very used to tourists and quite tame. We were able to touch the sting rays, pet them, and even carry them to the surface and hold them. There were staff members on hand to float them to the surface and gently hand them to us. I dove down, hovered over one of the big ones, grabbed on, and was having myself a little ride. Of course, I could only hold my breath down there for about 10 seconds, what with all the excitement and swimming. The scuba diver surfaced immediately and yelled at me not to ride the sting rays. The only complaint I have is that there were way too many people in the water at once trying to get near and touch the sting rays. Second Stop - Snorkel. We loaded back onto the catamaran and sailed to another spot about 10 minutes away. There, we were free to snorkel for about 45 minutes. Here is where I found the best coral. It was a diving place to snorkel because the ground sloped gradually. You could snorkel over the reef at whatever distance was comfortable to you. The closer you went to the barrier reef, the shallower the water and the closer you would be to the coral and such. The area here was a literal carpet of coral and sea life. I spent most of my time floating in 2-6 feet of water. Lunch. After the snorkel, we were served a lunch of cold fried chicken, bow- tie pasta, rolls, and tuna salad. Guest sat wherever and we at our spot out on towels laid over the straps that formed a huge net between the center of the boat and each pontoon. Liquor Store. In order to save some money and to have some supplies in the room, we walked across the street from the hotel to a liquor store. There, we bought a pint of baileys, a few assorted mini-bottles and sodas, a couple bags of chips, a can of peanuts, and a large and small rum cake. The bill came to US$120! Hell. This was described to us an interesting formation of black rocks and a post office. Well that's about all it is and I wouldn't really call the rock formation too interesting. We hired a taxi and asked if she would wait for us about 10 minutes, and then bring us back. Our stay lasted perhaps 2 minutes. The formation area is about 50 ft x 75 ft. You walk around the back of a tiny souvenir shop, out onto a small deck and you look at the rocks. There is trash all over the area and it demands about 20 seconds of your attention. We spent about another 60 seconds inside the souvenir shop. If they had had a small piece of black rock for sale, I would have bought it. We took a few pictures and left. The cost came to about US$30 for the round trip taxi ride. If you decide to go so that you can mail postcards from Hell, don't forget to bring your address book so you don't have to make another trip to mail them. Golf. Across from the Westin and about a mile up a service road is the Links at Safehaven, the best golf course on the island. The other available course is a short Jack Nicklaus designed course which is part of the Hyatt, about 1 mile down the road. The Play. Golf at the Links cost US$57 for 9 holes, US$20 cart fee, and US$25 club rental, with a wide array of high-end clubs available for rent at higher prices. Shirts must have a collar and shorts must come to the knees. The course was in fair condition and I found it to be a rather easy course, with few sand, tree, or water hazards. Each tee had 5 positions to play from. Getting Home. On our taxi ride home, there was a noise coming from the front so we stopped to look at the tires. Everything looked good so we continued. The noise got louder and we stopped again. I told the driver that for sure, something was wrong. Again, we couldn't see anything so we continued along at about 2 mph. Since we had less than a mile to go, I wasn't too annoyed but just then, the wheel fell off. The missing lug nuts had been hidden behind the wheel cover. A passing local in a van stopped to see what had happened and gave us a free lift to the end of the road where our hotel was. At least we saved our return taxi fare. Cell Phones. I brought my new digital Motorola Startac but it couldn't get a signal. But, I had my phone programmed special with a bogus second number that allowed be to select analog A or analog B for use in foreign countries that sell calling cards for use with cellular phones that support analog A/B such as the Dominican Republic. Analog A and analog B is the system that was originally most popular in the USA before all the digital options came out. On analog B, I was able to get a signal and I could make a call if I was willing to use a USA based credit card. Other told me that AT&T and Sprint PCS phones were able to actually roam on Grand Cayman. The telephone company of the island is Cable and Wireless. Night Life. Night life is one thing this island doesn't have much of. What few bars there are, close at 1am, 12 midnight on Sundays. We did find one bar that was kind of hopping called Sharkey's, and it was conveniently located across the street from our hotel. We paid US$7 cover charge. It was Saturday night and the bar had a mix of tourists and locals. Most of the locals looked like shady punks from Brooklyn, complete with baggy pants. The bar had a good dance floor, great air conditioning, and beers were US$4. Next door at Legends, we found a pub with a lighter atmosphere and no cover charge. We also went to the Royal Palms, which has live music outside on a deck at the beach on W-Sat. We went on a Thursday at about 10pm. There were only a handful of guests. We didn't care for the band, their music, or the setting so we left after just a couple drinks. We asked around, but overall, there was very little night life to be found anywhere on the island. As we were told, most of the tourists come to dive, and that means early to bed and early to rise. Dining. Overall, dining in Grand Cayman is excellent but expensive. One point is that amongst the hotels, restaurants, and bars, there are virtually no local Cayman people. We inquired several times and always got the same story. Apparently, the Cayman people don't like to serve, and most have good jobs in the banking industry. It seemed to us that most of the waiters and bar staff were young people from Canada. This was how it was all across the island. For the most part, the only local Cayman people we saw were either driving taxis or working at the airport. We lucked out and with the help from other guests, the hotel staff, cab drivers, bar tenders, and the waiters from other restaurants, we picked some great places to eat. Unfortunately, our cheapest dinner came to US$75 per person including drinks so it wasn't cheap. Breakfast - Crocodile Rock's Eats Café. One morning we got up about 10:30am. There wasn't anyplace in the hotel to eat, so we walked across the street. There was a line out the door and a 45 minute wait. We put our name in but didn't wait. We returned to the hotel, where the buffet line was supposed to open for Sunday Brunch at 11am. After about 1/2 hour, the long line for the brunch had hardly moved so we walked back to Eats café. Our name was called shortly after. Our breakfast was terrible. Everything was cold and the eggs were runny. We reported this when we paid but didn't feel like waiting to talk to the manager since we didn't want compensation and didn't ever plan on coming back. Cost was about US$30 for two. Breakfast - Hotel Buffet. The buffet was decent, but nothing like I'd expect. Juice was from a mix and selections were limited. Aside from being small, it was pretty much your standard breakfast buffet with cooked-to-order eggs available. Cost was US$60 for two. Lunch - Poolside. Poolside sandwiches were US$12 each and very tasty. They weren't very big though are rarely satisfied my appetite. Drinks were about US$7 each. Lunch - Crocodile Rock's Eats Café. Even though we had such a bad experience here for breakfast, we had spoken to several other guests that had eaten lunch or dinner here and they all spoke highly of the place. So, we decided to give it another try. I just had a simple cheeseburger and fries and Veronica ordered a Greek pizza. I must say, the food was excellent, the service was great, and the price was OK. The bill came to US$35 with tip and drinks for two. Room Service. One night Veronica wasn't feeling well, so we stayed in. I ordered a certified angus beef strip steak for dinner, along with a quesadilla appetizer, a slice of key lime cheese cake, and coffee. The meal was excellent. It took 35 minutes to arrive and cost US$100 for one. Casa Havana. http://www.inx.net/punchin/travel/CAY-HTML.HTM This is supposed to be the only AAA top rated restaurant on the island. Located inside the Westin Hotel, food and service were excellent. Portions were over- sized. This was white-tablecloth dining at it's finest. Music was provided by a live harpist. We chose to eat inside because it was so hot out. The air conditioning inside was weak. Cost was US$250 for two. Smuggler's Cove. http://www.scubadiving.com/wwwboard/messages/15479.html http://www.majestic-tours.com/restaurant.htm Located right on the water, this was a rustic wooden place with really good food. Of course, service was excellent. Taxi from the Westin was US$11 each way. The meal cost us US$130 for two. The Brasserie. http://www.groupweb.com/travel/destinations/cayman_sept041999.htm This out of the way restaurant located in Cricket Square in Georgetown was a real find. We loved the food, the service, the décor (Indian/Cuban/Thai/Antique), and we especially loved the bar lounge area. Portions were over-sized and the bill, including drinks and specialty coffees, came to US$150 for two. We paid US$15 for taxi each way. Pappagallo. http://www.pappagallo.ky http://www.majestic-tours.com/restaurant.htm If one meal stuck out in our minds, this would be the one. Located on the northern tip of the island's west end, this Italian restaurant was fabulous. Set inside a bamboo hut, everything about the place was top shelf. The bartender and waiter were charming, the food was incredible, and service was great. I generally don't like Italian food, but the menu had an impressive selection of creations that I would not call Italian. I had the pork roast and it was the best. The cost was US$176 for two and taxi was US$20 each way. Reef Grill. http://www.fisheye.com/reefgrill.htm Located at the Royal Palms hotel, the place had a casual atmosphere, slightly load, with heavy wooden tables and a fisherman's setting. Food was very good, but not fabulous. Considering how much this place was talked up, we didn't think it was that great, but we would still come back and would recommend it to our friends. Indoor our outdoor seating was available. We chose indoor. One of the reasons we chose this was because we planned on enjoying the live outdoor music on the deck next to the restaurant. It turned out to be a handful of drunken barefoot and T-shirt crowd and since we didn't care much for the band or the music, we didn't stay long. The bill came to US$160 for two and taxi was US$7 for the 1 mile ride each way. Bamboo. A sushi bar located inside the Hyatt Hotel. We decided to eat hear on a Friday night and we arrived without reservations. At about 8pm, we were told it would be 1 1/2 hour wait. The bar inside was very lively so we decided to wait. Apparently, this was the real popular night for this bar and it got very crowded. It was wall-to-wall standing- room-only and there was also a bachelorette party. The place was 90% young women, purportedly because of these blue martinis that are served in thick martini glasses that have become very popular with the local females. We didn't mind the crowd because we had our seat up at the bar. After an hour, a table became available. The entire restaurant only had about 5 small and 1 large table. We dined on miso soup and more sushi than we could finish. Our bill for two, including drinks over the hour wait came to about US$150. Taxi was US$7 each way, less than 1 mile. Summary. Overall, we found Grand Cayman to be clean with a pretty good beach and plenty of clear calm water. It is a great place for diving and snorkel, fine dining, and quiet evenings. The island lacks a lot of activities, night life, and everything is very expensive. The hotels are not as grand as on some of the other Caribbean islands or Mexico. Quality and service everywhere we went were as good as it gets. English is the language for this British island and getting around was easy but expensive. I thought it was very nice but a poor value and a bit boring.
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