Royal Palms Beach Club at Grand Cayman?

I'm looking to reviews regarding your experiences with the Royal Palms Beach Club in Grand Cayman. Has anyone reserved a private cabana?

There are a good number of reviews over on Trip Advisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147367-d149186-Reviews-Royal_Palms_Beach_Club-Seven_Mile_Beach_Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

There are a good number of reviews over on Trip Advisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147367-d149186-Reviews-Royal_Palms_Beach_Club-Seven_Mile_Beach_Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

LOL! Those reviews are why I tend to value info found here more than on sites like that.

Barefoot Man plays on the absolute other end of the island, not at Royal Palms. And, if the reason you don't like the place is, as one reviewer complained, that they add in tip and exchange, you're not going to like anywhere on the island. :D Pretty much all of the tourist-popular spots in Cayman do the same. Also, they're all going to have the same rules about no outside food and drinks, since they provide those excellent free facilities in hopes of luring you into spending money there.

The cabanas at RP look nice. Any time we've been there they've been fairly empty, but we're usually there for a late lunch (and swim) so most of the cruisers have headed back to the ship already. I do remember one review here where they talked about getting one, however...the search feature might turn that review up...

Any review on the internet needs to be taken with a grain of salt I guess.

This thread has a few comments:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1454578

I emailed them for a price quote and they never responded.

I emailed them for a price quote and they never responded.

I don't think there is any set price....or that's how I interpreted what I've been reading. They charge for chairs, umbrellas, food and drinks, it looks like to me. They have a nice website, but not too forthcoming with pricing etc.

The prices for everything are on the website - http://www.reefgrill.com/first.html - and they state that there is no charge for the cabanas other than a minimum expenditure (ie. buy lunch).

We were there in Feb. The beach was nice but the lounge chairs were awful :mad: They were so uncomfortable that I would not go back there for that reason alone :eek: We ate lunch at the grill there - food was fine but be aware that the menu prices are in cayman $$ so your bill will be higher than what you're expecting if you pay with US $$. :rolleyes:

Sorry I don't have a better opinion for you but I wouldn't recommend it at all.

The prices for everything are on the website - http://www.reefgrill.com/first.html - and they state that there is no charge for the cabanas other than a minimum expenditure (ie. buy lunch).

Just an FYI - These prices are in cayman $$ :eek:

Just an FYI - These prices are in cayman $$ :eek:

Most prices in the Cayman Islands are in Cayman dollars, except for a few stores in the tourist areas which will have signs posted that prices are in US. A good rule of thumb is that if it doesn't say otherwise, prices will be in the currency of the country you are actually in at that moment in time. ;)

We were there in Feb. The beach was nice but the lounge chairs were awful :mad: They were so uncomfortable that I would not go back there for that reason alone :eek: We ate lunch at the grill there - food was fine but be aware that the menu prices are in cayman $$ so your bill will be higher than what you're expecting if you pay with US $$. :rolleyes:

 

Sorry I don't have a better opinion for you but I wouldn't recommend it at all.

Ok, so where should we go then? We've been shopping, done the Hell thing, the rum cake factory, the turtle farm and don't want to do the sting rays. Need a suggestion for something new to do:)

The lounge chairs aren't that bad, IMO, although we usually don't bother renting them since we're only there for lunch and a quick swim. And, FWIW, the lounge chairs pretty much everywhere are the same type, the solid white plastic ones, usually arranged in rows and chained together or staked down so that people can't wander off with them. :D

The other two usual spots for day visitors are Tiki Beach and Sea Grape. Both have similar facilities to Royal Palms, except for the pool. Sea Grape also has a playground nearby, I think.

The main reason I like Royal Palms better than those two is that RP doesn't have any excursions from the cruise ships, whereas the other two do, and are sometimes more crowded for that reason.

I sent them an email about the cost of a day pass and this is the response I received:

Hi there,

We do not charge a fee, you have free access to Beach bar, bathrooms, and showers.

We do rent beach chairs $10.00, Umbrellas $10.00, Floats $10.00 and we also rent Jetski's all prices are in USD.

Thank you

Then I asked if we were able to use the pool and I received this response:

The pool is for 18 and older so yes, if you and your party are adults. If you choose to use a cabana around the pool then we ask that you have lunch.

Thanks for your interest.

Stephanie...here it is a year later and i'm looking at your post and wondering if you spent the day at Royal Palms and used their facilities (including the pool) with no incident and if you recommend that.

Stephanie...here it is a year later and i'm looking at your post and wondering if you spent the day at Royal Palms and used their facilities (including the pool) with no incident and if you recommend that.

Yes I did go and it was wonderful. The pool was refreshing and the food was delicious! I would go back in a heartbeat. See link to pics.

http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=a5e34034009f7111c7e45aad1e0cdff4#1347388721508

thanks for the quick reply. i wandered around on the royal palms site (http://royalpalmscayman.com/cruise-information/) and see that they now have a $2 p/p gate fee and the chairs are $10 each and the cabanas are $50 so i think there have been some changes since you cruised last year. that said, it's still a bargain for a day in grand cayman.

was the beach busy?

i can't open your link. requires a password. :-(

I thought you could go into shutterfly as a guest. Hmmmm

There was a $2 gate fee and the chairs were $10 each when I was there.....I forgot lol

I can't post pics on here. When I uploaded them, it said something about a security token.

try this for me please

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZN3DFu4cOWbjg

thanks, stephanie. that link worked and your pix were GREAT!

Thank you!

Went there last year and enjoyed it very much. Thought the food was reasonable (for islands) and good. We plan on going back there again this coming March. Enjoy.

We were there for lunch last week when no ships were in and again for dinner on Thurs and it was very quiet. So different when 3 or 4 ships are in. Great burger and decent fried grouper and the beers are always cold.

We love it at RP when there's no ships in port... :grin:

It's a nice change when not busy but we were one of only two tables there for lunch and we prefer a little more action:p