| One of the ports visited on our recent Royal | | | | examples of certain liquors being even less expensive |
| Caribbean cruise was Grand Cayman. This was an | | | | in Grand Cayman than even Cozumel. For example, |
| eagerly awaited port since I've been there before | | | | Malibu rum was $10 US in Grand Cayman, $13 in |
| but wanted to take my girlfriend scuba diving there. | | | | Cozumel and about $19 back in the Miami home port. |
| We were worried that we might miss this port since | | | | Everything else like restaurants and activities were |
| the Caymans were hit pretty hard by the hurricanes | | | | generally more expensive than other islands. |
| and indeed, they had closed the islands off to tourist | | | | According to other passengers who ventured to |
| travel for part of the summer/fall. Fortunately for us, | | | | other parts of the island, the damage from the |
| Grand Cayman had reopened just about two weeks | | | | hurricanes was more visible with fallen trees and |
| prior to our cruise at the end of November. | | | | some buildings still not repaired yet. A few of the |
| Getting to Grand Cayman is by tender since it had a | | | | organized tours by the cruiseship were also not |
| shallow harbour. This can be a potential problem in | | | | available. We decided in advance to do some scuba |
| itself because we were told that if the wind and | | | | diving off the shore and Eden Rocks Scuba Center |
| waves are too rough, the captain would cancel the | | | | was a 5 minute walk from the port. There are two |
| port and spend the rest of the day at sea. | | | | decent shore dives right in front of their dive shop |
| Apparently in the past, one of the tender boat | | | | and we spend the morning diving the site called |
| workers had fallen and got crushed to death | | | | Devil's Grotto. Instead of paying $85 US for a typical |
| between the boat and the dock during one of the | | | | Cayman boat dive trip, I ended up paying just $8 US |
| rougher wave days. This resulted in the cruiseships | | | | for a rental for a tank. |
| being much more careful in deciding whether to allow | | | | I didn't go to other parts of the island during this trip |
| tendering or not given the conditions. Again, | | | | but have been to the turtle farm, Hell village and |
| fortunately for us, the weather was picture perfect | | | | Stingray City before. They are all worthwhile sites to |
| during the day we were in Grand Cayman last week. | | | | visit. I wanted to take my girlfriend scuba diving at |
| The downtown area pretty well recovered from the | | | | Stingray City in the afternoon but for some reason, |
| effects of the hurricanes and the shopping was | | | | only the snorkelling sections of Stingray City were |
| business as usual. There were four ships at port | | | | available that day. So after returning to the cruiseship |
| during the day we were at port. Grand Cayman is | | | | for lunch, we went back ashore to do some |
| above average in terms of cleaniness and the | | | | shopping. We would like to come back to Grand |
| attitude of the locals for a Caribbean island. It is also | | | | Cayman again for a longer stay in the future. |
| one of the pricier island though. Bargains can still be | | | | In summary, most of Grand Cayman appears to be |
| found though, especially in the liquor where there are | | | | back in business again after the hurricanes. |