Conquest - 10 Ships in Port at Grand Cayman!

[tony&jackie]

My recommendations:

Montego Bay: Sunset Beach Resort or stay on the boat

Grand Cayman: Captain Marvins, shopping if you are wealthy.

[Eliot Ness]

We'll also have 10 ships on 1-26-06 ..... had my heart set on stingray city and snorkeling, but with 20,000 other vacationers, I can't imagine there being any room to breath OR swim...........

You might want to book an independent tour for this, then at least there won't be as many people crammed in as with a tour booked through the ship. Might still be crowded when you get to the sandbar, but shoot them an e-mail and see if perhaps they'll go somewhere a bit less crowded. Here are two operators that come to mind, but I'm sure there are more if you search the Ports of Call forums:

 

http://sotoscruises.com/index.shtml

http://grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com/StingrayCityCaptBryans.htm

John

[jaydubya]

Thanks, I'll check out those links. But seriously, I just can't imagine being there with that many people. Staying onboard is not a problem, and we'll likely cruise to Grand Cayman again sometime ... hopefully when the crowd is thinner. Either way, a bad day on a cruiseship beats the hell out of a good day at work!!!!

[yl1]

We were on the conquest in jan 05 and there were three ships in Grand Cayman. The restraunts were over run and it took two hours to eat lunch. On the return to the Conquest it was horrible. The line for the tenders wrapped around one city block. There is no way they can handle 10 ships, what a joke, glad its not me on that day.

[jetskier]

Well dont I feel blessed for being on the Sun.

Only one other ship in Cozumel and Belize. In Roatan, we are the only ship in port.

 

Dave

[Rowan555]

Where is the Sun leaving from? We were hoping to do that cruise out of New Orleans, and down the road if it makes its way here I hope to give it a try! Looking forward to your review!

[tbag124]

There are 4 other ships in port w/ us on Dec. 7th in Grand Cayman...we booked the Nativeway Rays, Reef, & Rum Point excursion, which will take up just about all of our time there...If we dont get a chance to grab anything other then a t-shirt or a shot glass, it's okay...so do you think we'll miss most of the "crowd" for the day, as we'll be on the excursion?

[jetskier]

Where is the Sun leaving from? We were hoping to do that cruise out of New Orleans, and down the road if it makes its way here I hope to give it a try! Looking forward to your review!

 

It will be leaving from Houston until Jan 17th and then it is going to Miami. We were scheduled on her Jan 22 out of NOLA and then Houston and then Miami. So we cancelled before they next moved it to New York :) and rebooked for Oct 23 out of Houston. On the bright side the fares were cheaper plus we are getting a balcony for about $250 more that what we were going to pay in NOLA for an inside.

Dave

[Rowan555]

The Sun really looks like a gorgeous ship - can't wait to hear about your cruise on her!

[weakerthan]

Strange. According to this schedule: http://www.caymanport.com/schedule.htm the Valor will be in port on 12/13/05. However I will be on the Valor and we'll be in Belize on that date. We won't be in Grand Cayman until 12/15. Which is already scheduled for 8 ships in port. Crap. How accurate are these schedules? I'm really hoping it's all a mistake and there will only be 2 ships in port.

[serene56]

I can even begin to imagine 10 ships in a tendered port!

 

 

I dont think I can either. That has got to be a misprint. 10 ships oto a tendered port has got to be redicualour. Did they open another pier? Last time we were there there was only two piers for 4 or 5 ships. if 10 ships are in port-- i can only imagine the time to stand in line for a tender back will be very long.

[Rowan555]

Now you've got me wondering if the site is wrong! We'd be happy to stay on the ship, at any rate. I will be sure to go up on deck and take some photos of the other ships in port - if it really is ten that will be CRAZY.

[Cruise, J.D.]

If you wanted to do something fun and easy close to the pier you could walk down to Eden Rock, rent some snorkeling equipment, and snorkel right off the rocky beach. It was a little crowded when we did it, but there were still plenty of beautiful fish to see.

[texas greeneyes]

Strange. According to this schedule: http://www.caymanport.com/schedule.htm the Valor will be in port on 12/13/05. However I will be on the Valor and we'll be in Belize on that date. We won't be in Grand Cayman until 12/15. Which is already scheduled for 8 ships in port. Crap. How accurate are these schedules? I'm really hoping it's all a mistake and there will only be 2 ships in port.

 

On each cruise line's website, just look up the itinerary for each ship that is listed as being in GC when your ship is. That will confirm where each ship is scheduled to be, on what date.

 

I did this and it confirmed that there'll be 6 ships with a total of 15,000+ pax in GC when we are there on 11/24/05. :eek: Are we crazy if we still do the sting rays, turtle farm, & Hell? :confused:

[serene56]

I did this and it confirmed that there'll be 6 ships with a total of 15,000+ pax in GC when we are there on 11/24/05. :eek: Are we crazy if we still do the sting rays, turtle farm, & Hell? :confused:

 

I can see 6 ships-- Not 10

crazy to doit?? No- are youdoing it with the cruiselines or with the private vendors?? CCruiselines will get as many passengers as possible into those boats. Private vendors will take 30 at the most. Its all the same place.

[Rowan555]

The site I checked originally shows 10 ships in port. Grand Cayman's port site shows 7 in port on 12-1:

 

Carnival Conquest Carnival Cruise Line 3700 2005-12-01 07:00:00 2005-12-01 16:00:00

Holiday Dream Mallorca Sea Shipping 758 2005-12-01 08:29:00 2005-12-01 17:00:00

Jewel of the Seas Royal Caribbean Cruises 2100 2005-12-01 10:00:00 2005-12-01 18:00:00

Radiance of the Seas Royal Caribbean Cruises 2500 2005-12-01 08:00:00 2005-12-01 17:00:00

Rhapsody of The Seas Royal Caribbean Cruises 2435 2005-12-01 07:00:00 2005-12-01 16:00:00

Sea Princess Princess Cruises Inc. 1950 2005-12-01 08:00:00 2005-12-01 17:00:00

Westerdam Holland America Line 1773 2005-12-01 08:00:00 2005-12-01 16:00:00

 

 

 

So it looks like there will be at least 7, possibly more. I'll definitely take photos of all the ships, and I need to buy a camera with a good zoom to take photos of the gazillion people standing in line for tenders back to the ships!

[Junebug1]

We snorkled @ Eden Rock also, but we we the only 3 people in the water.

It was very inexpensive & you can stay in the water as long as you like.

 

Could the ships be docking in different areas?

[Junebug1]

oops, I meant tender, not dock.

[jaydubya]

Between caymanport and cruisecal and the cruiseline websites, I have verified at least 9 ships at Georgetown on January 26, 2006. Total passenger capacity would be about 20,000, but clearly not every ship will be full, nor will every pasenger disembark there. Nevertheless, it's gonna be wall-to-wall people ...... streets and shops full to overflowing, beaches resembling Ft. Lauderdale at spring break .... tender traffic looking like a madhouse, wait times unbearable ...... forget the zoom lens, I'm not sure a wide-angle would capture it all .... I was thinking more along the lines of "satellite imagery" ...... lol ....

 

But, hey, even if we stay onboard, I'M AN A CRUISESHIP IN THE CARIBBEAN, NOT AT WORK!!!!!!!!

[bleuseas]

..or at least stay out of the shops. We were there when there were two or three other ships in port. We did Captain Marvin's tour to Stingray City on our own, but after that, shopping was a nightmare. It was wall to wall people and the shops were incredibly crowded. We headed right back to the ship after trying to enter one. Not the same as it was years ago. Can't even imagine having ten ships in port. Enjoy having the ship to yourself!

[The Cruisers]

..or at least stay out of the shops. We were there when there were two or three other ships in port. We did Captain Marvin's tour to Stingray City on our own, but after that, shopping was a nightmare. It was wall to wall people and the shops were incredibly crowded. We headed right back to the ship after trying to enter one. Not the same as it was years ago. Can't even imagine having ten ships in port. Enjoy having the ship to yourself!

 

Sounds likes us the last time we were in Grand Cayman. There were two other ships in port with us. We did the Captain Marvin's tour and there may have been 10 - 12 people on the boat, while the tours through the cruise ships were packed. Shopping down near the pier was crowded and the line to take the tenders was very long.

 

You may want to stay on the ship. Or wait a couple of hours after most everyone has gone ashore and take a tender over. Then take one back a couple of hours before the ship is suppose to leave. The waits still will probably be long, but not as long as trying to be the first one off the ship and the last to leave Grand Cayman.

[Cards5440]

We sailed Conquest back in February, there were 7 ships in port they day we were there. It was crowded with 7 ships, but it was mostly the port area, where the tenders picked up and dropped off. We arranged a stingray tour with Moby Dick prior, and there were about 20 people on our charter. The sandbar was quite busy with boats, and people, but there were pleny of Stringrays to go around! Especially since we had lots of food for them. If you are interested in the sting ray tour, I highly reccommend Moby Dick tours. They were great guides and they really took care of their guests. Also after visiting with the stingrays, they took us to a part of the reef for snorkeling which was not very crowded at all the tour ran about $30 a person. Hope you don't decide to stay on the boat in this port, as it is very beautiful. It's a vacation, have fun. That's what everyone else is doing there as well! It will help the congestion factor if you already have you excursions planned in advance...save from having to stand in some lines.

[Cards5440]

And a side note...you will enjoy your excursions a lot more if you booked outside the cruiseline, as posted previously the cruiselines will pack as many people in as thy can. The private charters at most would take 30 people, and most of the time people don't want to deal with the hassle of booking outside the line and the private co. have lots of extra space. Most ships are in port for a shorter period of time, so booking an excursion takes up most of the day...you won't have to deal with much of the city crowd. The only real backup we encountered was the tender back tot he ship at the end of the day. But everyone was trying to leave at that time. Try to sneak back before the very last tenders!

[BrendaB1]

Rumor has it that Valor will be changing port days for Grand Cayman & Belize. Nothing for sure yet though.

 

All ships will not be arriving at the same time either. Some will be there early morning & others later in the day. Tourists are their business. I'm sure they will do everything possible to accomodate as many as possible.

[serene56]

Brenda: Does any ship stay past 6pm at Grand CAyman?