Sooner1:
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