Grand Cayman is it really that expensive?

[Sooner1]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Grand Cayman and plan on staying at the Reef Resort. I have heard that the Caymans are very expensive. Can someone give me some examples. We live in Houston where a decent dinner and some drinks for 2 is usually in the $100 range before tip. Our dive travels have been to Cozumel and the Yucatan. Is the diving in the Caymans a lot more expensive than Mexico? I'm just trying to get a ballpark budget together. I would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks everyone.

 

[Doc]

We live in Houston where a decent dinner and some drinks for 2 is usually in the $100 range before tip.

You will feel no pain in the Caymans then.

Our dive travels have been to Cozumel and the Yucatan. Is the diving in the Caymans a lot more expensive than Mexico?

What were you looking for... bus pickup at your lodging, or were you planning to get a private boat... or?

I'm just trying to get a ballpark budget together. I would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks everyone.

Cayman can be done reasonably, but one might do well to do some grocery shopping (still not cheap) as well as search out some of the less travelled spots, even on the back streets of Georgetown where the locals might stop and eat something simple.

 

[Sooner1]

Roatan Man,

Thanks for the info.

The resort has a dive op on site that I've heard good things about. It's called Ocean Frontiers. I haven't received a reply to my email requesting prices. Just sent the email a few hours ago. Any other feedback on them would be appreciated.

I think we'll have kitchen at the resort. How is the grocery shopping there?

$100+ dinner one night a week no pain 7 nights would be stretching it. Especially if you throw in a few $75 lunches.

 

[RiverRat]

I guess it's all relative. Hailing from one of the most, if not the most expensive states in the US (CT) I found G. Cayman to be reasonable. I found breakfast for around 7 - 8 $ CI (Cayman $) and lunch / dinner for around 20-30 CI per person. It all depends on how fancy you want to get and how many drinks you buy I was there to dive so as long as I found a good meal I was happy. I stayed at the Treasure Island resort and most places I hit were within a mile or 2. I went in Dec. also, not sure if they raise prices during the high season on food etc. If you want more info PM me and I'll dig up some details on where I ate etc. After the hurricane some places may still be shutdown or non- existant.

 

[Ondeen]

Cayman can be done reasonably, but one might do well to do some grocery shopping (still not cheap) as well as search out some of the less travelled spots, even on the back streets of Georgetown where the locals might stop and eat something simple.

I think it depends a lot on what you want to do and how you want to get it done that determines how much you spend on Grand Cayman. My husband (not a diver) and I went to East End two years ago. We rented a car so we could move about easily. We stayed at Morritt's and I dived with Ocean Frontiers. (By the way, this may be one time you want to book at least some of your dives in advance as OF is one busy dive operation).

We used air miles to get there and condo share time for the rooms. That takes a great bite out of the bill. On the other hand, we didn't do a lot of cooking, especially of dinner. Many did take advantage of the available cooking facilities or did BBQ's on the beach. Food is high in price but cooking your own has to help. We usually spent close to $100/person on dinner but we love eating out when on vacation. The restaurants are predominately Italian. There was also some sort of yacht club. This was actually a very good restaurant. At least two or three of the restaurants offer buffet-style meals once or twice a week. These were less expensive when available and we loved the variety. I arranged in advance to have dinner twice at Turtle Inn and it was a very enjoyable change of pace. It was less expensive than East End, but we had to drive almost into Georgetown to get there. We did do breakfast and lunch in the condo though that wasn't real cheap, either. However, it does save some money and it really is convenient.

We really enjoyed having the car and found we used it quite a lot. However, there were lots of people there who stayed put and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The beach on East End is nice with a lot of decent snorkeling. The restaurants there seem to serve quality food, too. and most had at least some evening activities/festivities for evenings.

If you rent a car, keep your eye on the gas guage as stations are few and far between, especially on East End. If you elect to buy groceries, try to shop at one of the larger stores in/near Georgetown for variety as well as cost. There are two small grocery stores near East End that carry small quantities of decent food but charge more than do the bigger grocery stores in EE.

 

[munkispank]

great advice from Ondine.

you will have no worrie money wise in GC, it can be a shock to the unprepared, but these are usually the type of people who never look at the prices on menus anyway- then they get hit with a big tab.

Lunches can be very reasonable and good- just pick your spots accordingly.

I have to suggest you do what I did- one of my fav experiences was grabiing a bottle of champage and two plastic glasses and watching the sunset on the beach. Can't be beat,

 

[SCUBAKristey]

Went there in Sept 2001 and it CAN be a shocker. It all depends on where you eat. There's the Wharf, which is a BEAUTIFUL restaurant, but also pretty $$$. Then there's a couple other smaller diners in the strip malls that are pretty affordable. My hubby and I found that for lunch, we'd grab a sandwich somewhere and share it, since portions are all so big everywhere. For breakfast, we brought poptarts from home and ate them and also cooked eggs in the am. I'll look for some of the info I wrote down and try to remember to post it here. Believe me, we had a AWESOME vacation and did it on a budget.

 

[sdwho]

I've found that GC generally is more expensive than Coz, but as others have mentioned, it really depends on what/where you eat. There are "fast food" places like Subway on GC and that's one option for a reasonable lunch.We stay at Cobalt Coast,where the rooms have full refrig (no oven or microwave). We go to the grocery and get local bread, some cheese, etc. We also bring a bottle of rum, and buy juices, etc. to make drinks. One thing you don't want to do is buy liquor at the liquor store on Cayman. The duty free prices are great, but if you buy to consume there, its very pricey. For dinners, places like the Cracked Conch offer a nice range of good food - you can get burgers or a jerk chicken wrap for under 15 CI or go for a "fancier" meal in the 25 CI range. Keep in mind that $20 US = $16 CI. We just got back and we did dinner for four at the Wharf, with a bottle of wine, a couple of shared appetizers and a shared dessert for around $50CI per person (w/tip). [Sharing, or getting a couple of appetizers instead of an entree, are other ways to hold down your expense]. Dinner for two at the Cracked Conch (w/a couple of beers and Pinas was $53 CI. Most restaurants automatically add a 15% gratuity, so be careful not to double tip. Finally, at Cobalt Coast, you can choose a full meal plan or you can just get a breakfast plan.

sdwho

My wife and I are planning a trip to Grand Cayman and plan on staying at the Reef Resort. I have heard that the Caymans are very expensive. Can someone give me some examples. We live in Houston where a decent dinner and some drinks for 2 is usually in the $100 range before tip. Our dive travels have been to Cozumel and the Yucatan. Is the diving in the Caymans a lot more expensive than Mexico? I'm just trying to get a ballpark budget together. I would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks everyone.

 

[diversteve]

The resort has a dive op on site that I've heard good things about. It's called Ocean Frontiers. I haven't received a reply to my email requesting prices. Just sent the email a few hours ago. Any other feedback on them would be appreciated.

I think we'll have kitchen at the resort. How is the grocery shopping there?

$100+ dinner one night a week no pain 7 nights would be stretching it. Especially if you throw in a few $75 lunches.

I did hear Ocean Frontiers re-opened in November(as did Compass Point condos) you might review some of the Cayman threads here about the damage to the East End. For example Morritt's is still not open(to the best of my knowledge) and Cayman Diving Lodge was destroyed. So although I encourage you to stay in that area and support them, unless things are getting back to normal there, it's a 1/2 hr/45min. drive to Georgetown or West Bay where most of the restaurants/shops are. I've read some threads that suggest that rebuilding is going slower than expected in some areas due to availability of materials and labor.
There's also some links to follow on caymanislands.ky about the rebuilding progress.

For inexpensive meals in Georgetown, there's Burger King and KFC. Prices were about 50% over U.S. at KFC. I've heard really good things about Cracked Conch too, but it's up near Turtle Reef on the North West end so a bit of a drive. You might also consider staying up north at Cobalt Coast/Divetech, they weathered the storm and do some all-inclusive things, plus they're probably 20 mins. from Georgetown on a good day.

Personally when I go to Cayman again, I'll stay in the Condos on the north end of SMB, there's good restaurants close by and the beach is nice. We stayed in a condo just north of the TI Resort and found we were too far away from everything, too far to walk to Georgetown and too far to any of the restaurants except by driving. Another mile or two north would have been much better. Look at a Seven Mile Beach map and you'll see what I mean, look for something in the Comfort Suites area. Just about all the diveops in the area run vans twice daily or more and pick you up for free so getting to the boat is no problem. And I think most of the runs to Stingray City are done from West Bay if you're planning to do that, you'd probably have to drive over from the Reef, or it's a long boat ride around.

There's some really nice restaurants on Cayman, where you'll pay what you're used to in Houston or maybe even 1/2 again as much, it is after all the offshore banking capital of the world, but there's also some affordable places - there's a Hard Rock in GT among others.

A great place for lunch just south of Georgetown is My Bar at Sunset House. Great food and outdoor dining. Plus you can dive the Mermaid while there. I'm not sure if they're re-opened post-Ivan yet though, Sunset House has but the status of the bar is unclear on their website. The other restaurant there, which I know survived Ivan because they were serving right after, is supposed to be really good also, it looked nice but we never ate there. And they're right on the water so great view.

There's a Greek/something else restaurant right by Treasure Island that was reasonable with good food. And we found this little sandwich shop in a strip mall just south of there that was frequented by locals, we got big sandwiches there for about $5 CI daily.

Groceries are at least 50% higher than the US. Perishable stuff can be double. Like the Bahamas if you've ever been there. Mostly because it's pretty much all brought in. There's a big market about 1/2 mile from the Airport on the main road, stop and buy your stuff there, the smaller markets to the North/East are higher. I've even read of people bringing food in with them to Cayman, but that seems a little extreme to me.

I haven't been to Cayman post-Ivan so some of this may have changed. The diving is Excellent and I've read that hasn't changed(much)

Steve