Anyone been on either of these excursions?

[Anatresia]

My husband and I will be going on our first cruise this April. We're spending one day in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. Neither of us is interested in swimming with sea life (stingrays, snorkeling, etc.) so here's our plan for the day:

 

We were going to take the Carnival excursion called the "Grand Cayman Island Tour" which takes us to the turtle farm, Hell, and the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory. I think we'll enjoy that and know what to expect (the turtles are cool, hell is kinda pointless, rum cake tastes good...)

 

Then we were thinking of taking the excursion to Sea Grape Beach, grabbing some delicious drinks and conch fritters and then hanging out on the beach.

 

(I know that Carnival charges more than the local tours, but with this being our first cruise, I want the security of going with the cruiseline and I'm justifying the money being that we don't know when we'll be able to see Grand Cayman again.)

 

So I was just wondering if anyone has been on either of these tours and what your thoughts/experiences were. If you have pics- bonus!:D Thanks in advance!

[twinkletoes4445]

I think you'll enjoy both of these.

 

Our first cruise was on the Triumph and we also did the "Grand Cayman Island Tour" as our fist tour. We wanted to be one of the first ones off the ship.

 

We met our guide and boarded a smallish air-conditioned bus. I believe the bus seated around 20 people or so. We went down the 7MB area, then stopped for a look at the Gov's Mansion (you only look through the gate, you don't get out of the bus). Then we drove past the old conch/sand house. Again, you stop and look, but don't get off the bus.

 

Then we went to Hell (haha, that sounds funny) and we did a little shopping. There are a couple of different Hell stops. I don't know how they choose which one they go to, but they are both next to one another. The one we stopped at on this tour was the smaller one (when we returned for a week, we stopped at the other one-the one with the red building, and the devil and angel face cut-outs in front-and the guy inside is the one you see on the postcards dressed as the devil). I don't know which one you'll stop at, but they are basically the same type of place. Although one has a larger gift shop, but they both have views of the jagged rock formations.

 

Then we were off to the turtle farm (we went to the old one-the new one is up the street now). We had a little tour and then shopped a bit. At that time, the rum cake place was right next door to the old turtle farm, so now you'll probably have to get back on the bus and go down the road a bit. We sampled Tortuga rum and rumcakes and bought a few. If you go to the same place we did, it's a really small place. I do think they were making rum cakes (we were able to watch them through a glass window, I believe), but it's really small.

 

A year ago, we found rum cakes at the turtle farm food court that were really tasty. They were made by "Hook" and they were called "Hurricane" which is chocolate and vanillla swirl. They were quite tasty. We found them sitting on a table near the counter.

 

We've never gone to Sea Grape, but we driven past there many times. It looks like a really fun place to spend the afternoon. There's a restaurant, restrooms, chair rentals, water toy rentals...everything you need for a fun afternoon.

 

Have a great time. I wish I was going to be in Grand Cayman soon!!! :)

[KVR]

We did a 6 1/2 hour Island tour on a land vacation in 2003 with Tropicana Tours. It went to:

 

Capital - Georgetown

Caribbean Arts & Crafts

Conch Shell House

Tortuga Rum Shoppe

Black Beard Rum Shoppe

Points of Interest Along 7 Mile Beach

A Visit to "Hell"

Turtle Farm

Pedro St. James with lunch

Picturesque Blow Holes

East End Ship Wrecks

Sting Ray Brewery

 

There was only us and one other couple, so we got to personalize the tour as we wanted. We really enjoyed being able to see most of the Island. They offer other types of tours also.

 

I understand wanting the security of doing an excursion though the ship depending on the Island and type of excursion. In Grand Cayman I would feel confident enough to go with a local tour operator or cab it.

 

If you'll click on our link below. We have pictures of our vacation in Grand Cayman.