Grand Cayman - Do you need to avoid the cruise ship crowd for attractions?

[Anonymous]

We are thinking about going to Grand Cayman in January. We are looking to visit Stingray City, the Cayman Turtle Centre and Seven Mile Beach among other things. I know that GC is a big cruise ship stop. Can anyone comment on whether or not the cruise ship passengers swarm the above attractions? Are there days to avoid the cruise ship crowd when visiting? TIA.

[Anonymous]

There are websites that say which ships will be in port each day (way in advance, like a year out), but I bet they have ships in port nearly everyday.

Stingray City is in the water, and there will always be tourist boats there. The entire island is a vacation destination after all. Even if you book through your resort or on your own, you will likely be on a group your—potentially with people from your resort or a cruise ship. The best way to avoid crowds is to charter your own boat (that’s what we do).

Seven Mile Beach - Where are you staying? Aren’t you staying on Seven Mile Beach? It’s the best beach, water, and snorkeling. If you aren’t staying on 7MB, then what’s your plan for visiting it? A public beach? Most resorts don’t sell day passes.

[Anonymous]

We were there this past July for a week. We booked with Six Senses and also with George’s Watersports. Both know what they’re doing and we didn’t notice any issues due to cruise ships. I would say the latter company has better boats and more friendly/entertaining staff but we liked both experiences for different reasons. We did a day tour with tons of stops including Sting Ray City and also did the nighttime bioluminescent tour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are websites that say which ships will be in port each day (way in advance, like a year out), but I bet they have ships in port nearly everyday.

Stingray City is in the water, and there will always be tourist boats there. The entire island is a vacation destination after all. Even if you book through your resort or on your own, you will likely be on a group your—potentially with people from your resort or a cruise ship. The best way to avoid crowds is to charter your own boat (that’s what we do).

Seven Mile Beach - Where are you staying? Aren’t you staying on Seven Mile Beach? It’s the best beach, water, and snorkeling. If you aren’t staying on 7MB, then what’s your plan for visiting it? A public beach? Most resorts don’t sell day passes.

This is the key question. Where are you staying? The farther from Georgetown (where the boats dock) the better.

[Anonymous]

Go to the turtle center when it first opens to beat the cruise ship tourists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to the turtle center when it first opens to beat the cruise ship tourists.

We loved it when our kids were little and went again when we were in the Caymans last Christmas but were profoundly disappointed. You can no longer touch the turtles and they were short staff so only had self guided tours the morning we were there. It also has a third rate water park in brackish waters that the turtles swim in. Unless you have young kids, I'd recommend Sting Ray City or just a day at the beach over the turtle farm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the turtle center when it first opens to beat the cruise ship tourists.

We loved it when our kids were little and went again when we were in the Caymans last Christmas but were profoundly disappointed. You can no longer touch the turtles and they were short staff so only had self guided tours the morning we were there. It also has a third rate water park in brackish waters that the turtles swim in. Unless you have young kids, I'd recommend Sting Ray City or just a day at the beach over the turtle farm.

And we learned that many of the turtles are slaughtered for their meat which shocked us. Apparently, it's the only way the turtle center can keep functioning.

[Anonymous]

skip turtle farm- big disappointment. you can snorkel by walking into the water off seven mile beach near the governor's house among other areas and if lucky see giant sea turtles without the canned entry fees at the farm. stingray city is seen by boat and you will be on a small tour. i would try to check when ships are in port and go to stingray city on the off days or on an early catamaran trip for a better experience. you can also charter a boat and go to sting ray, alternate locations for snorkeling or even conch diving- extremely worth it but $$.

[Anonymous]

I read that cruise ship passengers do crowd those attractions. When we went, we stayed for a week and I planned our outings based on the cruise ship schedule. We went when there weren't multiple big ships docked and it was fine.

We stayed on 7 mile beach so we were able to just hang out on the beach next to our rental. There were a couple of restaurant bar places along the beach where cruise passengers could rent beach chairs. Those were crowded on days when there were a lot of big ships docked but the part of 7 mile right outside of our rental was never crowded. We spent a lot of time on the beach there.