Grand Cayman -- There Today (11/4)

[NinaCO]

Conquest arrived at Grand Cayman right on schedule today. I can't tell folks how the diving is or how many stingrays are at the sandbar. I took the shuttle to 7 Mile Beach. :) The beach is in fantastic shape! The place I went was serving food and drink as usual. The water was beautifully clear and that wonderful shade of blue we all associate with the Caribbean. There were fish swimming around us at the beach. Some folks swam out a bit to snorkel and came back saying there were [I]hundreds[/I] of fish not far from shore.

There were signs of Ivan's destruction throughout Georgetown. You can't avoid seeing them. Some buildings in the area were missing roofs, and some were missing one or two sides. You could see the sad palm trees without leaves even from the ship. I was told that the true devastation was on the other side of the island.

BUT, at least in the Georgetown area, people are ready for the return of tourists. Tours were being sold at the dock just as before. Rum cake samples are available at Tortuga Rum stores and the Blackbeard rum cakes were there for sampling at the little shopping center.

It's obvious that things haven 't returned to normal for the citizens of Grand Cayman. But, they seemed ready for us and glad to have a couple of shiploads of tourists in town. I spent a few hours on the beach and went shopping. Everything went as smoothly as it did before Ivan.

[cruzinfamily3]

NinaCO,

Have you heard if the are going to let more than Two ships in Grand Cayman by Nov 14th?

[zydecocruiser]

I'm one of the ones planning on being in the 4 ship floatilla on 11/11. I would think you would know for sure in the next few days. I doubt any firm decision has been made. My guess is that they will evaluate how things go this week and then extend the schedule week to week, adding more ships as quickly as possible.

On other news, a report of the first cruisers:
[url]http://www.caymannetnews.com/2004/11/749/ships.shtml[/url]

[ddamore]

[quote name='cruzinfamily3']NinaCO,

Have you heard if the are going to let more than Two ships in Grand Cayman by Nov 14th?[/QUOTE]
This is the Port Authority's schedule for the next two weeks... we are on Mariner of the Seas for the 11th, and there are four ships due in Port that day!


Fri, Nov 5 2004: Radiance of the Seas

Sat, Nov 6 2004: Coral Princess

Sun, Nov 7 2004: Seven Seas Navigator

Mon, Nov 8 2004: Norwegian Sun
Splendour of the Seas

Tue, Nov 9 2004: Carnival Miracle
Disney Magic

Wed, Nov 10 2004: Imagination
Inspiration

Thu, Nov 11 2004: Carnival Conquest
Carnival Victory
Mariner of the Seas
Star Princess

Fri, Nov 12 2004: Explorer of the Seas


Denise :-)

[mappa2]

ninaCO -----

WHAT BEACH AREA DID YOU GO TO?
we will be there on 11/16 and would like to go to a nice location.



larry

[PINEY10]

NinaCO

I also am interested to know which beach you went to. Did you notice if there was any parasailing going on? Thanks for your review. We will be there on Nov. 17.

[pringle]

Thanks for your post, NinaCo. It was reassuring to read.

What is the shuttle to 7 Mile Beach? What is the cost or is it free? Do you have to book in advance?

Also need some advice. If we do a morning stingray tour that ends around 1pm, and we have lunch on the ship, is there enough time to take the shuttle (or taxi?) to 7 Mile Beach for a 4pm departure?

Thanks for any insight.

[softballmom]

I'd like to know about the beach and shuttle also.

[zydecocruiser]

How is the tender situation? How long of a wait to board one?

[NinaCO]

I tossed a few pictures of Grand Cayman up on my website:
[url]http://www.ninaco.com/conquest/gc.htm[/url]

Shuttle: There are shuttle buses waiting to take you to Seven Mile Beach. The cost is $3 pp. No advance reservations -- they'll just load you in a little shuttle bus. If you want to go further down the beach, the cost is $4 pp.

Beach: The shuttle dropped us off at an entrance to the beach. It turned out to be the same beach used by Holland America (and maybe Carnival too?) for their beach package. The Holland America passengers all had tickets to get in. I would not have purposefully gone to this area of the beach! There were quite a few people there and the rest of the beach as far as you could see just had one or two people here and there. Plus, I paid $8 admission and $5 for a chair. I know that 7 Mile Beach is public, and I really could have walked 1/2 a block to a public entrance. But, I wanted facilities and everything else that that area of the beach was still closed.

Return to Georgetown: There were little shuttle buses waiting to take us back. I think they held around 20 people, and the drivers waited till they were nearly full to depart. I didn't see any taxis at the beach -- just the shuttle. Return trip was also $3.

Tenders: Tenders were running constantly. No problems. However, there were only two ships in port.

Hope that answers everyone's questions.

[PINEY10]

NinaCO:

Was it a public beach or part of a resort? WAs it SeaGrape? Did it look like any of the hotels with beaches were open? Also did you notice if there was any PARASAILING? Thanks.

Joan

[NinaCO]

Joan, it was a private beach club. I didn't notice the name on it. I saw no parasailing at all. Doesn't mean there wasn't any. Many of the hotels are still closed. It didn't look like any were open on the stretch of beach I went to. There was lots of damage to the roofs of buildings, and repairs were underway at a BUNCH of buildings we passed.

[PINEY10]

Thankis NinaCo. I do know that many hotels will not be opening for awhile, but I am glad to hear the beach is open. It will probably take a very long time for the island to come back to normal.

[cruzin2paradise]

Thank you NinaCO for posting your pictures and talking about your trip. We are scheduled to go 11/24 and hop that we can. If not, we'll book our cruise with GC for next year.

Thanks again!

[Laurabetterbelizeit]

Thanks for all the helpful information - Wondering if children also pay for the ride. I guess they may, since they occupy a seat? Also, I will be on the Miracle next week, do you think that there are abundance of people from the cruise lines going to these beach clubs?

[patnjohn]

We were at 7mile on 11/2. I think it was Sea Grape. There was parasailing.