Grand Cayman - Georgetown

[cruisemeister8]

Has anybody ever rented a car for the day in Georgetown, Grand Cayman for the driving tour?

 

Safe enough? Easy enough? Please share your experiences.

 

Thanks.

[bruce-r]

Well, it wasn't Grand Cayman, but one of the little sister islands, Cayman Brac where we rented a car. Good thing that there is very little traffic on the Brac, or we surely would have had an accident. It took several days to get used to driving on the left side of the road. The real problem was you have to think about which land you want to be in when you make a turn. Short left, Long right we had to keep telling ourselves.

 

So, is it safe? That would depend on your driving skill, but the island as a whole is very safe.

Easy? again that would depend, are you from England, Japan, or Australia?

 

You should also know that the traffic along 7 mile beach can be pretty slow, almost to the point of stopped, during the morning rush to work and in the afternoon when you are trying to get back to the ship. If all you want to see is along the West end, a taxi might be a better choice. If you want to explore the much less crowded East end, a car would be fine.

[cruisemeister8]

Thank you, bruce-r, for sharing your experience. I imagine driving around Georgetown should be easy enough. I already figured that I'd just have to adapt to driving on the 'wrong side of the road' :D for the day. (I am from the US.) Afterall, it's part of the "adventure" of the trip right? How often can anyone go home and tell their friends what it was like driving in a right-handed car!

 

I appreciate the point about the beach traffic. Hadn't considered that. We were just thinking that the "driving tour" would be a more independent way to see points of interest like Hell, the turtle farm, and the beach. Plus, the prices I've seen make a car tour cheaper than a 'cattle call' bus tour, which would take us to the same points of interest.

 

So I suppose the traffic issue is one thing to think about before we make the final excursion decisions for that day. But considering that I've seen more than my share of So. Cal. freeway gridlock - I can't imagine Georgetown could be any worse! :D

[vossjemi]

Yes we rented a car from grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com through the avis link. Pick up was at the blue iguana just a couple of blocks from the pier. They took us to their airport location and we paid $45 for the cheapest car, but alas, they were out, so we got a free upgrade to a jeep!:p We drove the east side, saw the blowholes, the wreck of 10 sails and several beautiful beaches. We drove the north side and ended up at Rum Point! A must if you have a car! Definitely have corona commercial in mind. We had prebooked a stingray excursion from the red sail sports desk at rum point. Their glass bottom boat is only 15 minutes from stingray sandbar as compared to 1 hour from georgetown. We hung out at the beach afterwards, drove back, and did have time to shop before getting back on the ship. Absolutely no problems!

[cruisemeister8]

Thanks, vossjemi, it sounds like you had a good experience. That makes me feel better. Although, you did the East route, and I'm thinking about the West route.

 

I find it interesting that you also got in a stingray excursion. I've considered that, but didn't think there would be time. Plus, I wasn't sure if there's a place to get to the stingrays from the land, versus all these boat trips that I read about.

 

So now I'm torn. Do a car trip on our own? Or stick with tour groups and possible head out to the stingrays? ...decisions, decisions, decisions.... Isn't planning fun?:eek:

[vossjemi]

I was torn too. I wanted to explore on my own and head out to rum point as I'd heard great things about it. But I also wanted to do the stingrays. It all worked out just fine. We got up early, had room service, and brought our collapsible cooler w/sandwiches we got from promenade cafe night before and drinks. We were on the first tender I think at 8am promptly. We walked the couple blocks to the blue iguana and waited maybe 5 minutes for our avis van. Then, it took about 10 minutes to get to their airport location. We were probably on our way by 9am. We took our time, drove the long way around the east side, and saw some sights arriving at Rum Point by 10:30 am. We had pre-booked w/Red Sail Sports for an 11:15 stingray sail. It was only a 2 hour trip...but don't be fooled...the 4-5 hour trips from georgetown take an hour going/hour to get back. So, this was sufficient. We not only did the stingrays, but also snorkeled at a reef, which was awesome.

 

We got back to Rum Point and hung out until around 2. My only regret was we didn't get to spend as much time at Rum Point as I would have liked. Our original port times were 8am-5pm, but when we got our daily compass, they had changed departure time to 4pm. Bummer. We took the short way back to georgetown, which took 45 minutes. We then bought rum cakes, hardrock tshirts, and some cuban cigars.

 

My only forewarning for anyone trying to replicate what we did is how to book with redsail sports. First time I called they told me they didn't allow cruise ship passengers to make reservations on the stingray sail (probably because of the risk of not tendering). Maybe a month later, I emailed red sail telling them how much I really wanted to do this. The email I got back told me to call and I would get a reservation. I called again, and they gave me a reservation. Funny thing is I called the week of our cruise to confirm everything, and the reservationist said we don't take reservations from cruise ship passengers, and I told her I had one. She checked, and sure enough I had a reservation. But, I guess I took a risk because I think I might have had to pay even if we had not tendered.

 

But, bottom line, if they didn't let you make reservations or you didn't feel comfortable making them, Rum Point was not at all busy when we were there. I really don't think reservations were needed. I think I could have walked up and got on the sail trip no problem. Just dbl ck the times w/red sail before going.

 

But, whatever you do, have fun planning it.

Next trip, we plan to do west side and see turtle farm, hell, cemetary beach, and 7 mile. Hope I can get it all in!!!:D

[cruisemeister8]

wow! sounds like you had a full and short day!

 

We went ahead decided on the car trip. now it's just between the east and west route. it's so hard to decide between the turtles and the stingrays!

 

if we could do a little bit of each world, we may like to try a quick run up to the turtles, then make a run out to the east side of the island. this way, we could skip the busy 7 mile beach, but still see some pretty scenery, by stopping at quick places like the blowholes. now, we may not have as much time to spend at any one stop out there on the east side, but we could still cover the scenery. we hope.

 

does this sound feasible? or is there just too much traffic out west to get off that side in one day?

 

also, avis said that we have to call them when we arrive at the blue iguana, and then they send the shuttle? does this take long? and how do you call?

 

hoping you can help again....