What to do on crowded day?

[karen11g]

Just learned that there will be four ships in port when we are in Grand Cayman (including ours). And they're big! :eek:

 

That seems like a lot. How much should we expect that to affect our experience? Seems like sting ray city will be nuts. Anyone have experience with a day like this? We'd probably do an independent (not cruise line) tour that included rays, reef & maybe beach

 

Does that still seem doable? Any recommendations for what to do on a particularly crowded day in Grand Cayman?

[drew sailbum]

Four ships isn't a particularly busy day... even if the ships are big.

 

Seven to nine ships is busy. If I recall correctly, eleven is the record.

 

With "only" four ships you should carry on as usual. Shop, go on excursions, enjoy the beach, and just plain relax. It is vacation after all!

 

The only thing to keep in mind is that the last minute surge to get back to town to board the tenders will result in the roads getting back up (as always). It is best to return to George Town early and make shopping your last activity for the day.

[karen11g]

Thanks Drew - It's hard to imagine 11! During the week we're cruising, ships in port at Cayman are 1 Mon, 3 Tues, 4 Wed (the day we're there), 1 Thurs and 0 Fri & the total number of passengers on the four ships on Wed is about 11,500 people. So we (and 11,498) others won the jackpot in that week at least. At least if it's not an unusual amount, they must be used to handling the crowds.

 

It seems Grand Cayman is one of those ports where there is one especially popular attraction - the sting rays. Is that true? It would be interesting to see stats on what percentage of cruise passengers do which shore excursions.

[airlink diva]

Thanks Drew - It's hard to imagine 11! During the week we're cruising, ships in port at Cayman are 1 Mon, 3 Tues, 4 Wed (the day we're there), 1 Thurs and 0 Fri & the total number of passengers on the four ships on Wed is about 11,500 people. So we (and 11,498) others won the jackpot in that week at least. At least if it's not an unusual amount, they must be used to handling the crowds.

 

It seems Grand Cayman is one of those ports where there is one especially popular attraction - the sting rays. Is that true? It would be interesting to see stats on what percentage of cruise passengers do which shore excursions.

I've been to Caymans three times, however the last visit was my last with more than 11,000 people. The port was packed!! You could barely move around. I jus returned to the ship.

The tendering was just as bad. Several of my fellow cruisers had ship tours and didn't get to shore until almost noon. We were due to leave port at 4 p.m., but because so many ship tours groups got to shore late, we didn't leave port until after five.

Yes they are use to crowds,but it's not a great port with so many people