Author: InACents

Top 10 Things to Do with Kids in Grand Cayman

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Are you headed to Grand Cayman and wondering if you should bring the kids? Sure you may be looking for a relaxing vacation away from the family, but you can also create priceless memories with your children with a variety of great options that are available for kids of all ages.

Top 10 Things to Do with Kids in Grand Cayman

Margaritaville Grand Cayman

150630 Margaritaville, Grand Cayman with Kids

What could be better than ordering your Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville food and drinks and then heading to the adjacent pool, complete with a waterslide? Well ask our kids and it is one of the best things to do in Grand Cayman.

Not to mention, the food at this particular Margaritaville was outstanding!

Rum Point Beach

150701 Rum Point, Grand Cayman with Kids

Rum Point Beach, located on the north side of Grand Cayman, might just be one of our family’s favorite places on the island. Beautiful, calm waters, with perfect sand, palm trees, and shade. Add plenty of lounge chairs, hammocks, a bar, restaurant, bathrooms, and a gift shop, and you have your perfect secluded paradise.

The calm waters provide an excellent environment for the kids to play, and the menu at the onsite restaurant provides some great kid options!

Blow Holes

150702 Blow Holes, Grand Cayman with Kids

The Grand Cayman blow holes are located on the south side of the island along Sea View Road. Depending on the waves and wind, one can see spectacular displays at the blow holes, which seem to have a calming effect on kids.

Starfish Point

150702 Starfish Point, Grand Cayman with Kids

If you have a vehicle and made it far enough to get to Rum Point, drive a little further down the road and find Starfish Point. While unmarked, the location provides an excellent opportunity to step into serene, calm waters that are teaming with starfish. Feel free to pick them up, but keep them underwater.

Cayman Island Turtle Farm

150703 Turtle Farm, Grand Cayman with Kids

Spend a day at the Cayman Island Turtle Farm, and be sure to get the all-access pass. Not only will you see the largest sea turtles you will ever see, but your kids will also get to go into tanks and hold smaller versions of turtles. Then swim in the huge pool complete with twisty slide. Or snorkel in the lagoon with fish and turtles. The turtle farm provides a variety of great options that kids will love.

Stingray City

150704 Stingray City, Grand Cayman with Kids

Book an excursion, like the original Captain Marvin’s, out to Stingray City. Located on a sandbar off of Rum Point, guests will jump into the ocean and instantly be surrounded by wild stingrays in the wild. It is an amazing experience that kids will love, not to mention most boats also offer additional stops to snorkel, or even Starfish Point.

The Wharf to Feed the Tarpon

150704 The Wharf Tarpon, Grand Cayman with Kids

While dinner at The Wharf will set you back a small fortune, the restaurant provides nightly feeding of the tarpon. When the dinner bell rings, they will bring out a bucket of chum to throw to the tarpon. Kids will love seeing the wild fish scurry for food right at their feet.

Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens

150705 Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens, Grand Cayman with Kids

What kid does not love running through gardens? Well how about if it also includes searching out for the elusive blue iguanas? The grounds provide a variety of different gardens kids will enjoy visiting, searching out wildlife in the shadows.

Camana Bay Splash Pad

150706 Camana Bay Splash Pad, Grand Cayman with Kids

Camana Bay Towne Center is located near Seven Mile Beach and offers a variety of upscale dining restaurants and shopping venues. However, they also offer a free, fantastic outdoor splash pad that kids love! Plus it overlooks water and docks, with plenty of chairs for parents to sit and enjoy.

Pedro St James

150707 Pedro St James, Grand Cayman with Kids

The oldest structure on the island, which has been gorgeously restored by the government, Pedro St. James provides a great little shows kids may enjoy prior to touring the grounds. In addition, they are free to roam the area and see the animals on property.

Does your family have a favorite place for kids on Grand Cayman?

Review: Grand Cayman Comfort Suites & Resort

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Upon booking 6 nights at the Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman, we elected to “save the best for last” with two nights at the Grand Cayman Comfort Suites & Resort.

We had used up some old points via a US Bank credit card promo, and secured our nights at roughly $250 per night. What is ludicrous is that you can get a room for closer to $150 per night when booking on your own, though there are other charges like resort and energy fees that get tacked onto the rate, bringing it back up in cost. Considering that the Holiday Inn was only around $110 per night (plus resort and energy fees), it was quite the splurge to stay at the Comfort Suites.

The Comfort Suites is located along Seven Mile Beach, but is not beach front, as there is another hotel directly in front of it.

We had ordered a two queen bedroom for our stay. Since we were checking out of the Holiday Inn and into the Comfort Suites, we arranged with them in advance to allow us an early check in around 11:00 am, which was incredibly generous of them, and helpful to us since we had milk and some other items we needed to get into a fridge.

The staff was incredibly nice and helpful at the Comfort Suites on many instances. However, as soon as we entered the room, we had regretted our ever leaving the Holiday Inn.

What the Comfort Suites has on location, they are lacking in every other regard.

Our room was located on the first floor adjacent to the gym, which was no big deal, as it made access to the pool incredibly easy. Plus the hotel really does not have any “views” worth upgrading to since the ocean view is blocked by another hotel.

However, the room was incredibly small, at least compared to what we were used to over at the Holiday Inn. There was old carpet in the room, the “suite” aspect was completely lost apparently as there was a small bar area with sink and mini fridge, but that was about it. The furniture was incredibly cheap and dated, with a horrible layout, making it next to impossible to get into the second bed without crawling up into it.

150706 Comfort Suites Grand Cayman (1)

150706 Comfort Suites Grand Cayman (2)

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The bathroom was just as pitiful with the door practically hitting you in the knees when using the toilet, a very basic shower, and horrible water pressure.

I am not sure if the reason our room might have been so poor was because we got such an early check in and it was the only room available; however, in talking to a worker who was cleaning apparently the workers suite across the hall, lots of the room looked like ours.

Our family had never stayed in a Comfort Suites prior, and this experience was certainly good enough reason to never stay in one again. While we traditionally stick with more budget friendly hotels like Holiday Inns (IHG), Hampton Inns (Hilton), and even Club Carlson, the Comfort Suites was definitely a step down in room quality.

What was surprising though is that the rest of the hotel was rather nice. The hotel offered a free breakfast, which was good, and money saving. The outdoor pool area and landscaping were beautifully maintained and serene. There was easy beach access with lounge chairs and umbrellas. The food at the onsite Stingrays restaurant was good. It is just that the rooms were terrible!

150706 Comfort Suites Grand Cayman (4)

Not to mention, after requesting a crib in the room on the reservation, stopping in the day before our visit, and twice the day of checking in, we still did not get a crib in the room. It was only after I went down and requested one a fourth time was I told there would be a $15 per night charge for a crib. What? No where did we ever see this supplemental charge when booking, or the number of times we previously discussed about needing a crib. Let alone this was the first hotel I was ever being told we were going to be charged for needing a crib. What is also surprising is their website states “children 14 under stay free when with a paying adult.”

Fortunately, about questioning it, they waived the charges. Otherwise, we might have just checked out then and headed back over to the Holiday Inn.

The other pro of actually staying at the Comfort Suites is it was booked with lots of other families, which made it really easy for our kids to enjoy the company of others.

They also offer an easy towel service, allowing you to get towels, use them, and swap them out as needed.

I am sorry to say, while there are pros of being so close to the beach, especially for those without a vehicle, the Comfort Suites sadly was not well received by our family. Maybe it was because we were granted such an amazing stay over at the Holiday Inn, but surely when guests are paying a premium to be located over on Seven Mile Beach, the room should be adequately appointed, even for a “budget” hotel.

Sadly, we do not recommend staying at the Comfort Suites Grand Cayman unless you are without a vehicle and/or need to have immediate access of Seven Mile Beach. For our family, who was out exploring the island for the majority of the trip, the Comfort Suites was a major disappointment when it was expected to be the surprise ending.

Review: Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman

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Our family spent quite a bit of back and forth on where we wanted to stay in Grand Cayman. We ultimately decided to spend 6 nights at the Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman, where we secured a friends and family rate of around $110 per night. We then used some US Bank points we earned back in 2012 that we had luck ever using for airfare, and elected to use them at the Comfort Suites for two nights, which worked out to roughly $250 per night.

Before we get into details of the Holiday Inn, we need to take a quick look at the previous reviews on TripAdvisor. Comparing the Holiday Inn to the Comfort Suites, the reviews clearly showed that the later was the preferred hotel. However, when it came down to price, our family elected to stay more nights at the Holiday Inn, and boy were we glad we did.

Upon arrival to the Holiday Inn, we were told our suite would have an ok view with a single king bed and pullout couch. We were offered a dual bed room, but were told it did not include a fridge, so we elected for the king suite.

When we inserted the key into the door, we instantly knew we made the right choice by all of the comments from everyone in our family. The suite included a full kitchen, complete with dishwasher, stove, and blender. The bar area provided the perfect “workshop” for our kids to draw and eat. The full dining room table and living room provided ample room. The bathroom was huge with double sinks, tub and shower. The balcony could be reached from both the bedroom and living room, and did provide a view of the ocean that was certainly acceptable to our family.

150630 Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman King Suite (1)

150630 Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman King Suite (2)

150630 Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman King Suite (3)

150630 Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman King Suite (4)

150630 Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman King Suite (5)

Oh, and what is hidden behind door number two, a washer and dryer in the room!

150630 Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman King Suite (6)

From a family perspective, we could not rave about the Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman enough, as the room was one of the nicer we had ever stayed, and certainly for a Holiday Inn property.

However, it gets better from there. Need towels for the beach, etc.? Simple give them a card telling you how many you need. When you return the towels, either get new ones or your card back.

Want to eat at the onsite Blue Iguana restaurant? It is a great idea because kids eat FREE, making it one of the cheaper dining options on the island. Not to mention all the food we were served was fantastic!

The outdoor pool was large to accommodate a large amount of people, and there was a separate kid pool.

150702 Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman Pool

There is a beach area, and this is where the majority of negative reviews come in from on TripAdvisor. While it may not be the picturesque, soft sand and crystal clear waters of Seven Mile Beach, it certainly could be usable. We did not use it, as our kids were always busy in the pool. However, there was a dock with lounge chairs, and jetskis for rent if you felt inclined.

The Holiday Inn is located away from the hustle and bustle of the Seven Mile Beach area, which we greatly appreciated! We enjoyed it often seeming like we were the only ones at the hotel, ensuring no one would call for some noisy kids.

We also loved that the entire suite was tile and not carpeting, making for sandy beach days a little easier to clean up, let alone the cleanliness.

While we may have been limited to only trying two of the hotels on the island, our family thinks the Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman is a true hidden gem, as the accommodations were fantastic, the staff was amazing, and the price point certainly doable for families. We also liked talking with some other families staying at the resort, and learning they stayed there as part of their staycation, meaning if the locals love it, it must be good!

Thanks Holiday Inn for the fantastic stay! If we ever venture back to the island, or have friends looking for recommendations, we would not hesitate to stay here again!