I am excited to share with you all what we did while visiting Grand Cayman on our Disney Fantasy cruise last September! If you are looking for reviews of the other stops, please click the link "Posts by Location", which you can find at the top of the web page, or by clicking
here.
**If you are looking for a review of the ship & my stateroom, see this post.**
Departure Date: September 13, 2014
Departure Port: Port Canaveral, Florida
Cruise Length: 7 days
Itinerary
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Day 1
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Embark/Sea Day
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Day 2
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Sea Day
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Day 3
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Cozumel, Mexico
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Day 4
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Grand Cayman
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Day 5
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Falmouth, Jamaica
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Day 6
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Sea Day
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Day 7
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Castaway Cay
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Day 8
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Disembark
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Georgetown, Grand Cayman - Seaworld Observatory ($45), Self "Walking Tour"
In my opinion, Grand Cayman offered the least amount of "things to do" while in this port. They do have a pretty extensive shopping area that is very close to the ship, but other than that, if you want to see Georgetown, you'd better take a taxi or tour.
That being said, my sister and I decided we spent enough money on the other two tours we took, and opted to just do our own walking tour of the island. Our parents decided they would do the Seaworld Observatory last minute; I think they booked this tour on the ship around 11:00, and there were still spaces and tours available.
We exited the ship together, around 11:30; the ship didn't arrive in Grand Cayman until about 10:30am. My sister and I took off towards the stores, while our parents headed off to their boat ride. The mall is pretty interesting; it's mostly along Harbour Dr/North Church Street and in that general area. We walked down towards the Harley Davidson store, then cut inland a bit, eventually making a loop past the Police Station. Along the way there are lots of stores you will pass; upstairs, downstairs, hidden in corners and along side streets.
We decided after we were done shopping we wanted to find a beach. We aren't big shoppers; we spent only about an hour walking around various stores and bought a few magnets. So we started walking along Church Street, because my sister is pretty sure she saw a beach that way from the cruise ship. I knew from research that there were some beaches near the port, but I was also 99% confident that you would have to take a taxi to reach them. We walked for about half a mile before we ran into a Burger King. I was super thirsty, so I decided we could stop inside and buy a drink. This is probably the nicest Burger King I have ever been in. I ended up spending $5 on a huge drink (I gave them
American, but I got change back in a Caymanian dollar, which is worth $0.82 to our $1.00 USD). It was worth it, though, to soak in the view from this BK on the edge of the island. The interior was tastefully decorated in a beach style, with pale blue accents. That and the air conditioning made us sit in here for about 30 minutes before we decided that we would never reach a real beach and head back to the ship. To the left you can see part of the view this BK had; this particular image is taken looking off to the left of the restaurant.
We actually did find a very small beach along this street. It was nothing to write home about, but it was still neat to discover this tiny sandy area that no one else was using. We also met a very kind German couple who was sailing on a different cruise line than us. They didn't speak very much English, but we shared the few words in German that we knew (they were ecstatic that we knew any at all) and asked us if we could collect a bit of sand for them, which we did.
One cool thing, a favorite store of ours was actually right in the main port area. On the way back to the cruise ship, we stopped and looked around the stores in this area. There is a fence with security that you must pass through before you enter the ship. Inside this area is a handful of stores and some outdoor vendors selling things like iced coconuts and wind chimes. This particular store we enjoyed was called It*Sugar. It was basically a huge candy store that sold every variety of candy you could think of, as well as over sized candy items, such as the Hershey's Syrup bank you see my sister hugging to the left.
We love Hershey's Syrup :)
They had bulk dispenser bins where you could buy all kinds of candy, as well. While things were slightly over priced, I just reminded myself how far this stuff had to come from wherever it was manufactured. I bought this really cool side bag that looks like a jolly rancher for only $20; it was 50% off. So look around for the clearance stuff!
(As a side note, my Indiana Jones hat actually kept me quite shaded. I recommend wearing a hat with a brim to keep your face out of the sun!)
Seaworld Observatory Semi Submarine
I made sure to give my mom my spare camera so she could take some pictures on their excursion. We have been on the Atlantis Submarine in Hawaii, which goes down about 110 feet or so. My parents felt so-so about that submarine (thinking about that much water overhead...) but said this one was by far much better. You don't have to worry about 100 feet of water between you and the surface. You actually descend into the hull of the ship, which has windows for viewing sea life.
During the 50 minute ride, they take you around to various reefs and shipwrecks. Employees also came around multiple times and offered to use your camera and take a picture of you (as you can see in the above picture). They also had divers who would go out and feed the fish, to get them to come out of hiding for you to take pictures of. My parents loved this excursion, and really wished that my sister and I had decided to take it with them. My mom said this would be great for families, as little kids would be entertained looking out the big windows for all kinds of sea animals.
