bookbabe

That’s annoying. So much for my rep at Viking letting me know when it dropped, now the ES are all sold out. I guess we are sticking with our Regent WC for 2026. Ah, well, I think the Regent itinerary is a bit better anyway, even if I don’t like the onboard experience as much. DH likes the fact that our current choice is round-trip Miami, he’s not a fan of the way the Viking WC seems to always end in England instead of going completely around the world back to its starting point.

Don’t hold your breath. 😉 Few, if any, hotels offer day passes, so you are unlikely to get any reviews. Editing to add: Okay, a quick google shows the potential to buy passes through a couple of the usual day pass resellers, at the Holiday Inn and the Grand Caymanian, neither of which is on Seven Mile Beach. So I would look on the hotel review sites for recent reviews of those two hotels.

Public Beach is the commonly known name of the beach, technically I guess it’s Seven Mile Beach Public Beach, but no one calls it that. If you are coming in on a cruise ship and ask a shuttle driver to take you to Public Beach (not a public beach) that’s where you should end up. It’s by the Kimpton Seafire hotel if you are looking for it on google maps. https://www.explorecayman.com/things-to-do/best-beaches#seven-mile-beach-public-beach The only other place a shuttle might possibly try to take you if you say “a beach” is Coral Beach, which is next to where Royal Palms used to be, and is the only remaining beach club catering to cruisers. But if you confirm with the driver that you want to go to Public Beach by the Kimpton, you’ll get to the right place. Is it really confusing? Yes, but navigating here is kind of like that. No one tends to use street addresses, it’s all navigating by landmarks and place or plaza names, including ones that no longer exist. It takes some serious getting used to.

Yes, if there’s a cruise ship in port, there will be taxis and shuttles to take people to the beach. Prices vary. Private taxi will be more expensive, shared ride vans are usually about $4-6pp each way.

It said that in my booking too. But when i logged into MVJ on reservation day the system said 12 for each. Surprised me, but I’m not complaining

That’s not necessarily the case. We’ve got a B2B Iconic Med Treasures and Trade Routes cruise coming up in March/April in an ES2, and MVJ allotted me 12 advance reservations for each of Manfredi’s and CT. I didn’t book anywhere near that number, but I could. I can post screen shots of the calendar showing my bookings if you like. 😉 Assuming that Trade Routes is the standard three reservations since it isn’t made up of multiple segments, that’s nine for Iconic, so I’m assuming three segments?

There’s usually portapotties there. Generally no rentals or food. It’s a stretch of beach beside the governor’s residence. It’s not a beach club or anything even as developed as Public Beach.

lol, different strokes for different folks…it’s the local equivalent to Budweiser and such, it’s not a craft beer by any stretch of the imagination. For craft and specialty beers, there’s Craft - https://biteclubcayman.com/restaurant/craft-fb-co/ - but most of their beer is imported.

You may have to google and try calling companies. Maybe check TripAdvisor and see if any of the ones you are interested in have recent reviews. We have our own boat, so we don’t book any excursions and thus wouldn’t have a clue who to use, sorry. I do know Red Sail is still in operation, because I’ve been in their retail stores recently, and I noticed Captain Marvin’s had people going in and out of their store front when we ate at a restaurant in the same plaza, but that’s about the only ones I feel confident about commenting on. I can see Stingray City from the backyard, and there are always tons of boats out there on a cruise ship day, so there’s definitely lots of excursion companies still running tours.

If you are a confident driver and comfortable with roundabouts and driving on the left, sure. Lots to see and do outside of George Town and SMB.

If you haven’t visited Smith Cove, try there. Opposite direction from SMB from the cruise port.

If you love seafood, check out Lobster Pot. We’ve always enjoyed our meals there. Most restaurant menus will have a number of seafood choices, and there’s quite a few near the port with open air decks that look out over the ocean.

Nope, I don’t think so. Called Cheeseburger Reef ‘cause the entry point is in the Burger King parking lot. Good snorkeling spots generally aren’t at fabulous sandy beaches. Smith Cove is the only spot i can think of that’s got okay beach and okay snorkeling, but no rentals.

What’s your definition of great, and where in George Town? Near the port? Near Seven Mile Beach? Near a particular attraction or hotel? A few more details would be helpful please. Otherwise, check out options here and come back with a short list of choices: https://www.caymangoodtaste.com

According to the app, it’s about $25 US each way for up to four passengers. It’s on a main road and in town, so you’ll likely be able to flag down a return driver, or you can get the driver’s number to call them for a ride when you want to go back. Or the bus goes right past there, info is on lots of the threads in this forum. Taxi info is here: https://www.caymantransport.ky/transportation-services/taxi

As a side note, your taxi fare each way, for four people from the cruise port to the caves, will be about $100 US plus tip. You can rent a car for the day for way cheaper than $200.

You would want something arranged in advance, either make arrangements for a driver for the day, an excursion, or at the very least make plans with your taxi on the way there to return to get you (get their phone number). There will not likely be taxis hanging around in that area, and since it’s about 40 min from town it could take that long for a taxi to arrive to get you, if you can find one willing. Personally, I’d get a rental car so you can control your own arrival and departure times, and guarantee that you can get back to the ship when you want to.

Jackie’s has December 2023 reviews on TripAdvisor, so she’s likely still doing tours. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147365-d1523910-Reviews-Jackies_Historical_Land_Tours-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html A lot of businesses in Cayman don’t really bother with the whole internet thing. Some don’t even bother with street addresses. We’ve gotten used to navigating by plaza names and other landmarks, including historical ones (ie, “turn left just past where the Mirco Centre used to be, and we’re in the third building on the right”)

Most bars and restaurants will at least carry some of the various CayBrew options. If you want a beach bar where you can rent chairs and such, with facilities like restrooms and showers, your option is Coral Beach. https://coralbeach.ky There are lots of bars and restaurants with ocean views and outdoor spaces, just depends what you are looking for. Some time spent looking at the options here may help, you can filter by area and cuisine. The port is right in downtown George Town, so anything along the water either in the George Town or Seven Mile Beach areas will likely fit the bill. https://www.caymangoodtaste.com

Thankfully, someone else posted. We have a car, so I never take the bus. 🙂

Andy’s has a Seven Mile Beach location, but most chain options are near the airport. Cayman Auto Rentals is the one that I think you may be thinking about, it’s relatively close to the port, and I vaguely remember seeing it mentioned here in the past. I’m not seeing a website for them when I search, but my friend Google says their phone number is +1 345-949-6954 if you want to try calling them tomorrow to see if they’re still open. Google maps shows a couple of other downtown options, none with websites, though, and all small local companies. A quick google search for “car rental george town cayman” will get you a map to click on and see locations, get some phone numbers to try if Cayman Auto Rentals is no longer in business.

For us? Yes, absolutely. Aft cabins, especially ones like the ES2 on Viking with a huge wraparound balcony, are our absolute favorite, and what we’d pick first given the option. Then again, we aren’t prone to seasickness. But we did have to ask for stuff like the water bottles and some other breakables to be removed, as things kept sliding off the table a few of the days. It was very rough at times. It was definitely a “hold onto things as you walk” kind of trip for much of the journey.

We’ve only done two Viking cruises to date, the Caribbean one out of San Juan and the Wake of the Vikings one. The first was just to try out the line and not for the itinerary, since we’ve cruised extensively on NCL and done a few on other lines, but had heard good things about Viking. I think Wake was so disappointing for us because it was a cruise we’d actually picked for the itinerary rather than using our usual method (see below) and it was a letdown that it really had nothing to do with Norse culture or history and they didn’t really make an effort to get you to the relevant ports. L’Anse was an annoying miss because the other line scheduled to be there that day did their rescheduling weeks ahead of time, and took up pretty much all the tour availability at the replacement port. We ended up joining someone else’s slightly chaotic last minute private tour to be able to get to the historic site, and it wasn’t really the way we would have preferred to do things. We always pick a random Caribbean itinerary with lots of port days as our test cruise when trying a new line, since they usually have easy departure ports for us to get to and if we end up hating the line we don’t have any/many sea days to tolerate. Our next Viking cruise is a B2B of Iconic Mediterranean Treasures and Trade Routes, Istanbul to Bergen, 46 days including the pre-stay. We’ve also got the Egypt river cruise, the Grand European river cruise, and British Isles Explorer booked with Viking over the next few years. Plus Hawaii and Alaska with NCL and the 2026 world cruise with Regent. We like to cruise, and every line we’ve tried has things we like and don’t like about it. We tend to figure out first what region we want to visit and when, then look at what the various lines have to offer in that area at that time, and then pick from there.

This year or a previous year? Maybe we just had bad luck? Just pointing out that the itinerary pre-cruise is not necessarily what you get, and people’s experiences can vary greatly from one cruise to the next, so the OP should take all the recommendations with a grain of salt…

We just did this itinerary in Sept 2023 and were somewhat disappointed. Missed Shetland Islands and got a sea day. Had a day before (but other cruise lines switched weeks ahead) change and stopped at a neighboring port instead of actually visiting L’Anse Aux Meadows so had to scramble for a private excursion since all the ship excursions were cancelled with limited replacements offered. Faroe and Iceland were great stops, but I’m happy never visiting Greenland again. It’s a one and done for us. And if you are at all prone to seasickness, be warned that the route and timing means really rough seas in spots, so choose your cabin carefully. And don’t expect a lot of Norse history and culture opportunities, it’s just the name of the itinerary and the onboard speakers and excursions won’t have any special focus, it’s just the usual random mixed bag of specialties.