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