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Royal Palms or Sea Grape?

lindalo5032

By lindalo5032,
in Cayman Islands

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lindalo5032

lindalo5032

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We are a family of 7 (grandparents, DD, SIL, and 3 grandkids ages 6, 9, 10), trying to decide between Royal Palms or Sea Grape beach. I know both have chairs and umbrellas, which we will need. Carnival now has an excursion to Sea Grape, so I'm wondering if it will be more crowded than Royal Palms. The cab fare to Royal Palms might be a little less, since it is closer. Does anyone have a recommendation, or does it really not make any difference?

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poochierebelbear

poochierebelbear

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I was trying to decide the same thing today but I think I'll be going to Royal Palms. If you looked under the "Compiled Info" Sticky list, they have a description of both. Great Info there. There's even an explanation from someone that works with Royal Palms because the original posted mentioned the burgers being $10. That's not bad for being free admission beach. It balances.

 

Unless I come across and read something that blows my mind about Sea Grapes, I'll be headed to Royal Palms.

 

Best of luck with your decision and have lots of fun on your trip. You know, if you get to whichever one you choose, the great thing is that the admission is free so you can always hook a cab to the other beach.

 

Erica

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jean-lynd

jean-lynd

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FYI - if you think the Royal Palms area is too crowded and you don't need a chair or umbrella you can always just keep walking up the beach until you find an uncrowded area and put down your towel. Then if you get hungry or thirsty you can walk back. We spent a week in a condo about a mile up the beach from the Royal Palms and I walked the beach past Royal Palms almost every day. One morning I walked almost all of the way to where the ships come in. The beach gets nicer and nicer the farther you go!

 

I hope this helps!

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HogWild4

HogWild4

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I was at Royal Palms this past March and we loved it. It is a short taxi ride from the pier. If I remember right the chairs were $5 each. Something to be aware of though is that they didn't have many umbrellas when we were there. They ran out because some people lied and told the man who was giving out umbrellas that they had rented one when they didn't :mad: We got the last umbrella, and I saw maybe 10 on the whole beach. That is just a heads up for us that burn really easy. :) When you rent an umbrella you have to give them your seapass card which made me nervous but it was perfectly fine. I didn't eat at the grill so I can't comment on that. They had bathrooms and outdoor showers as well. The beach and water were beautiful and you can actually see your ship from the beach. There were tons of taxis waiting to take you back. Hope this helps. I would post pictures if I was smart enough to do that.

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jean-lynd

jean-lynd

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I'm not exactly sure where Sea Grape is but I know it is on the north end of 7 mile beach which would put it about 5 miles from the Royal Palms/Reef Grill. We stayed at Lacovia which was 1 mile north of the Reef Grill and when we drove to Cemetery Beach it was right at 4 miles North of Lacovia. That makes for a pretty long walk!

 

I hope this helps!

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UpstateCruizer

UpstateCruizer

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Sea Grape beach is a wonderful beach area and there is no charge for the beach. They do charge to use the umbrellas and loungers if you need them. We absolutely love this beach. I WOULD NOT book this through Carnival or any other ship excursion. It is a fairly short taxi ride and only costs $5 pp each way. The food is excellent and reasonable as are the drinks. They have several picnic tables built around those shady hut things (forget the namae now). When we go we set out belongings on the far end of the picnic table and our beach towels on the ground in front of them. This is what most people do as well. There's plenty of free shade at the picnic tables. They also offer a variety of water sports if that interests you. There's plenty of space to seclude yourself away from others if you choose to. The loungers are not on top of each other either. The sand is powdery soft and you can see your feet in the water. Truly a great beach day. The reason I would not book this through a ship excursion is that you can easily get a taxi to and from the beach and spend as much or as little time as you want at the beach.

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  • 2 weeks later...
NaturalLove

NaturalLove

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At Royal Palms or nearby on the beach, are there any palm trees for shade, since the umbrellas are so scarse? Also, do they have lockers?

 

No conch for me. I just googled to see what it was. ewwww

 

LOL! I swear I did the exact same thing last week and was like YUCK! Sea snails? No thanks.

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  • 4 weeks later...
CruiserMom2096

CruiserMom2096

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OK, so what is Royal Palms exactly? Is it a hotel and do they charge to go onto their beach? A bit confused. :confused: okathy

 

It is a "beach club". Basically, it's a beach front restaurant, plus they have changing facilities, restrooms, and there are beach chairs available on the beach, and watersports nearby.

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Kiera99

Kiera99

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We were taken to Sea Grape Beach by accident and the driver took us back to Royal Palms. We enjoyed the beach by the Royal Palms but it was very sunny. However, I think I will try Sea Grape Beach next time. It looked nice and shady, with nice trees.

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momma5

momma5

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We just got back from Sea Grape (visited on 9/13/08). Here's my 2 cents:

Took taxi ($5 per person each way-not bad)

Beach had nice facilites-we didn't eat there as the restaurant had a limited menu,

We rented a couple chairs ($18 for 2 chairs, again not bad)

The beach was GREAT! The sand was prefectly soft and clean. The water was crystal clear and wonderful. Not too crowded.

We had 3 kids with us (7, 5, & 4)-they loved it..we brought a couple of small sand pails and shovels with us and that kept them busy. Sand was perfect for sand castles

A great, relaxing day at a great beach

The only thing I'd change is the amount of time we spent there..I wish we had more time there.

If you're a beach bum, this is definately one worth visiting!

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TravlGrl

TravlGrl

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I completely agree with Momma5. We were at Sea Grape last week on our cruise and loved it! Yes, they rent umbrellas. The cost to rent 2 chairs plus a large umbrella was $21. To me, that's too much but it's the going rate on the beach apparently.

 

What we did instead is is parked ourselves under one of the MANY covered areas. They're not really palapas, but they serve the same purpose. They are made of wood, and each one has 1-2 picnic tables under it. So, you can sit in a shaded area and eat lunch, relax and chat or whatever. Since I didn't want to spend the $21 for that stuff, we just used our towels and laid them on the sand and enjoyed the beach that way.

 

Sea Grape also rents water sports equipment, has a children's playground, restroom facilities, and a restaurant. I wasn't hungry but my husband purchased chicken fingers and fries for something like $10.

 

I recommend Sea Grape, as it's about 5 minutes north of Royal Palms and tends to have less people on the beach for the reason being that it is further from the port (about 10 minutes from the port). That being said, I will try Royal Palms at some point, probably on a land vacation to Cayman so I can pick a day when there are no ships in port. I really don't think anyone can go wrong with either of these beaches.

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