Cayman Islands

The best things to do are take a sunny nap at the crystal clear beaches or take a ride to Rum Point where the locals know how to relax, including street signs pointing you in the right direction. For the less adventuresome, like myself, there's amazing underwater sea life and corals just snorkeling these crystal clear waters. For the more adventuresome, like my husband, there are plenty of dive packages to take you to depths of glorious underwater beauty just waiting for you to visit it all, including caves, fish, and sea life. The food was outstanding. The people were very courteous; we learned to relax just watching them.

Quick Tips:

Use the free carts upon arrival at the airport to manage luggage. Cayman Customs is a slow process and they take it seriously. For example, don't wear a hat when speaking with the agent. All rental car companies are located across from the airport at a strip mall. We chose for me to sit it out at the airport with all the luggage while my husband, the driver, walked over to do rental paperwork including paying his license fee then pick me up at the curb along with all the luggage.

Best Way To Get Around:

Rental car is the best way to get around but prices can vary greatly so start looking early and use every perk you can to reduce the cost. This is a laid back island so having a huge luxury car is not necessary. One thing though: in keeping with tradition they drive on the opposite side of the road. Cab fare would have been cost-prohibitive for us since we stayed on the quieter, more serene east end of the island. We booked a car from Dollar rental who was already the cheapest rental we could find on the island and then they gave us more money off for signing up for the Silver Club that anyone 55 or over can sign up for free. We had the lowest price rental of anyone we talked to there.

Best Things Nearby:
In-room jacuzzi tub and washer/dryer, beach, pool within steps of the patio, barbeque pits for outdoor cooking on the beach. Restaurants, internet cafe, and dive/snorkel trips could all be arranged on site without need of a car (although we do recommend a car for other reasons, like shopping, sightseeing, and other touristy activities).

Best Things About the Resort:
Courteous, helpful staff efficiently checked us in. Everything that wasn't explained to us at check-in was explained in the handout booklets provided at check-in. Many nice extras were already in the room, like multiple rolls of paper towels, dishwasher soap, automatic dishwasher tablets, scour pads, coffee filters, tissues, and premium bath soap. In bar areas, there are some of the hugest sea turtle shells displayed as wall hangings we've ever seen up close and personal. We can understand why sea turtle farming would be such a popular attraction after having seen these fine sea turtles.

Resort Experience:
Wow! It's like being in the lap of pampering. We did not want to go home after just seven nights. We loved waking up to see the beautiful wet beach sand just glimmering right outside our bedroom windows and knowing that anything we wanted was all ours! This resort is beautiful and new, with stylish furnishings. It includes many extras you would expect from a Gold Crown resort. We had a two-bedroom villa that included a jacuzzi tub in the spacious bedroom suite. There was walking access from the room to the beach, dive shop, pool with swim-up bar, and elevators to take you to the highest floor. No room was a bad room. Either you have a ground floor patio, which is great for quick escapes in and out of the pool/beach, or unit with a balcony overlooking the beautiful pool and beach. The week we were there was full moon so nighttime was serene and had a beauty all its own. The washer/dryer in each room sure made our trip home a lot easier in that we didn't have a week's worth of dirty laundry to face immediately after returning from our glorious vacation.

The daily maid service was excellent. There is an energy surcharge. We had one of the largest rooms and our fee was $100 without leaving windows/doors open, but we did keep it polar bear cold inside.

We swam, ate, went to Stingray City, Rum Point, the town of Hell, Seven Mile Beach (opposite side of the island), snorkeled and dived some of the best sites in the entire world, and still had a palace to go home to after ever new experience.

One of our favorite memories was getting out at the blowholes to watch nature push incoming seawater up through the rock much like what a whale's blowhole would look like. There were a bunch of schoolkids whose bus stopped there and the laughed and giggled as they tried to figure out where the next one was going to blow.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

This place has excellent service, atmosphere, and a gourmet seafood feast, the best we had anywhere else on the island. While pricey, we ate a full dinner here twice and discovered that many people return again just for the dessert and cappuccino menus so they may savor yet one more pleasurable dining experience right on the beach. Outdoor dining is just as elegant as indoors, day or night.

This is an excellent dining experience because your choice of dining indoors or outdoors can decide what you will wear. For example, indoor dining would be more casual elegant while outdoor dining may be more casual like shorts with a shirt because people will walk up to the outdoor dining area straight from the beach.

Service was so-so, but the food more than compensated. We had the fried grouper with balsamic vinegar sauce -- it was amazing. We dropped in very casually for lunch twice and had burgers and fries, which were also very good.