Help? What is the best beach for loaction, chairs, value?

[hartskys]

Would like to get some opinions on which beach along Seven Mile Beach is the best to go to. We will have my 79 year old MIL with us so we would probably need chairs and umbrellas. Thanks a bunch

[weilhung]

Royal Palms is the place to go ,awesome beach,great food and good drinks,you can rent chairs and umbrellas if you need to but not a must,all beaches in cayman are open to the public. I was there in jan 2010 and am going back march 13,2010 0n the msc poesia.

[toolgrl919]

I agree. Royal Palms is great. My boyfriend & I went here in October & are planning to return on our cruise in April.

Weilhung, hehe, did you take a cab there from the port area? If so, do you remember roughly how much it cost. I thought we paid $7, but I don't remember if it was per person, or for both of us one way.

[pmoniz]

Any info on water sport activities and prices available there?

[TheWog]

We went to Courtyard Beach in 2005 and plan to return to either there or Sea Grape Beach. Both are about 10 mins from the pier and $4-5 pp each way. They are located right next to each other and both have chairs for rent and umbrellas. Prices are pretty standard on the beach. I believe $10 per chair for the day and $5 for the umbrella. It could have changed since then (also why I said $4-5 pp - it was $4 then, but have heard it might be $5 now for the taxi). These places also have food (burgers, fries, conch fritters, etc.), drinks -alcoholic and non, restrooms, and a taxi stand to bring you back. Courtyard had an outdoor shower, I imagine Sea Grape does too, to rinse the sand off. Both rented jet skis, but our place didn't because of the waves our day. We walked down to Sea Grape and they rented to us. Wanted $75, but paid $60 for an hour. They will also take you parasailing there, water skiing, banana boat rides, etc. You can also see the ships anchored in the distance. Great place.

[des1rees]

I was told on another post that at Sea Grape, you can move the chairs to whatever location you want. Do you know if the people renting the chairs do that, or do we have to move them ourselves? Also, the umbrellas - do they arrange everything for you? Are there restrooms at Sea Grape

 

Thanks,

 

D

[TheWog]

They will move the chairs and arrange everything for you if you like, but be prepared to tip for that service. Yes, rest rooms at Sea Grape.

[jean-lynd]

If you want to see what Royal Palms/Reef Grill is like they have webcams on their website at http://www.reefgrill.com. From the beach came you can watch the cruise ships come and go. The facilities and services are very similar at Sea Grape and Royal Palms. Royal Palms is a mile or two closer to the pier.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Enjoy!

[Rachy817]

Am I the only one who thought the Royal Palms was over-rated? It was the last stop of our last cruise, and I'm sure we were just spoiled by our beach service in Roatan and Cozumel but we thought this beach was nothing special.

Chairs are $7 each, and if you want an umbrella, that's another $12. It was super hot that day and if you didn't have an umbrella you would end up a lobster! We sat at the bar/restaurant most of the day and the service was s-l-o-w. And yes, I do realize we were on vacation but we practially had to grab our server to get another round of drinks, which were about the same price as you would pay on the ship. $5.50 - $6.00 for local draft beer? Plus the prices are in Grand Cayman Dollars, which you have to convert into American dollars.... and after having a few drinks, was pretty confusing for our group of 4 to figure out why our bill was much more then we anticipated. And yes I know everything has to be imported from the islands and that is why it is more expensive, but still seemed a bit steep. All in all it was a good day, but I am just wondering if there are other beaches that may be better?

[bookbabe]

Cayman's not a "cheap booze on the beach" kind of island. Not even remotely. :eek:

 

As you probably noticed, it's a bit more upscale than a lot of the other islands. It's expensive, but it's very safe, the people are friendly and you won't spend your time on the beach being pestered by vendors or shady characters trying to sell you drugs. You can drink the tap water and eat the food without being sick for days, you can take privately-booked excursions without worrying, the taxi drivers won't mug you and steal your money, and so on. I'm willing to pay the more expensive prices in exchange for that security and freedom.

 

As for the chair and umbrella rentals, that's part of how they recoup their expenses for the free restrooms and showers...after all, remember that the beach access is free, unlike a lot of other islands. I agree that table service can be slow there, though, especially when there's a ton of cruise ship visitors swarming the place. :D I usually just walk the ten or fifteen feet over to the bar and order my drinks there rather than waiting for the table service...