luxe

We spent last week at Westin Casuarina in Grand Cayman. We also rented a car and drove around. We stopped at Morritt's mainly to see its infinity pool. Morritt's is on the other side of the island and is quite isolated. There is limited shopping with only a mini-market across the street. It looks like an adventure-focused hotel with people windsurfing and kite-surfing in a steady wind. The shore is protected from the waves by a reef.

Westin is within a walking distance to Foster's supermarket located south of the Ritz in Strand plaza. It sells a variety of prepared hot food, salads, soups, fruit. Across the street from Westin are several modern eateries - Perk Up, Eats Cafe.

We found service at Westin very good - friendly, quite fast, especially if one gets to know the staff. They are from around the world - just like on a cruiseship. I tipped reasonably - this may have something to do with my experience.

We booked 5 nights at an island view room on points and paid for 2 nights at an ocean view room. We were upgraded to an ocean view room. The ocean view room was on the 5th floor and was very spacious. We liked it very much. I am quite fussy about my room :-) It was in the south portion of the hotel, closest to Westin's restaurants and shops.

I asked about upgrades myself - Westin Casuarina only provides free upgrades to SPG members or cash upgrades. No upgrades on points. The suites as I understood were not different from ocean view rooms. Only Presidential suite had a huge terrace.

They also have several deluxe beach view rooms on the ground floor but they are not very private. I do not think they were occupied during our stay. These rooms do not face the pool and provide walk out to beach with a very small patio. Partial ocean view rooms are almost as good especially rooms 101, 103 and 105. They are on the side of the building and provide walk out to the beach via grass lawn.

We had a wonderful experience at the Westin. It is a very comfortable hotel with staff always available to provide service or answer questions. Visits to the spa were the highlight of our stay. We especially loved the facials. I felt 5 years younger after my gentelman's facial! Casa Havana dinner was another memorable event - Sea Bass was exceptional. The outside restaurants are close buy. For example, Luca is a great Italian restaurant, just south of Ritz. We went to Ragazzi under the same owner as it was more child friendly - great Italian food that challenges food in Northern Italy!

By the way Governor's Residence is next door to the Westin. There are also several very nice condos after the Residence - Pinnacle (high end), Plantana (older but well kept), Avalon (higher end). At Plantana, the prices are slightly less than those at the Westin but with no food services around the pool.

I personally would choose Westin for a special occasion.

I created a small photo album that shows the pool and the beach at the Westin here.

Cobijonz

Great review luxe, thanks for that. Do you recall seeing an iPod dock in the room, or will I need to bring my portable speakers? Heading down in a few weeks.

luxe

Thank you, Cobijonz. I did not see an iPod dock unfortunately.

As far as wireless access, they do provide it but at $12.95 C.I/day. Everyone has to pay, even SPG members.

Have a great trip. I wish I was going again :-)

luxe

An updated album of Westin Casuarina in Grand Cayman

JBauer

So you can use points here? Online it says limited participation and when i called that Plat Conc he said it didn't participate in point stays?

Starwood Lurker

I would call back and if I got the same answer, I would ask to speak to a supervisor.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Cobijonz

We used points for a 5 night stay in Feb of this year. If memory serves, it was use 4 nights, get the 5th free. Decent resort, nothing much to add from what has been said previously in this thread. Restaurant and grocery store recommendations were on target from our perspective too.

hgadhia

Just to echo last two posts, this property most definitely accepts point stays since we just got back a few days ago from a 7 night stay using points. We've stayed on points previously as well.

A few other points about this property:

- I think this place gets some really unfair criticism. It's probably my favorite Caribbean property overall since it's very clean, has nice enough rooms (nothing special, but not shabby at all), the service is very good, the food and pool are both excellent, and the beach is the BEST of any hotel I've ever been to. Most of that is due to the fact that 7 mile beach has incredibly gorgeous sand and crystal clear and calm (not choppy like st maarten) water.

- No plat lounge, no suites, no really fancy rooms, no fancy bathrooms, expensive internet -- yes, all of those negatives are right on the money, but if you're here to relax and enjoy everything the island has to offer, I think these are small points. IMHO, the pool and beach and service far outweigh the small little negatives

- Every time we've stayed there, we've gotten the upgrade to a 5th floor ocean view room without any problem at all. If there is an upgrade available, they are happy to give it to you. The only time you won't get the upgrade is if the hotel is full or near full.

- Location is wonderful. Close to great restaurants (check out Ragazzi and Yoshii -- Eats is also a nice cheap diner style option) and the supermarket (Foster's). Make sure you take full advantage of the public bus (which are just minivans with special markings) since it's WAY cheaper than taking cabs. The bus goes down to Georgetown and up to west bay/turtle farm. Otherwise, rent a car, which are usually about $40/day. I would avoid cabs at all costs since they are a major rip off outside of fixed fares like going to the airport.

- With all that said, the one thing I will say is that I would never pay the $329 per night that this hotel commands (especially when you add in the $20 daily resort fee and outrageously expensive internet). I stay here because I think it's a decent use of points, but if I am paying cash in the Caymans, I'd book the Ritz. If you use some corp codes, you can almost always find a room at the Ritz for $250 per night. Given that the Ritz site allows the same corp codes as Marriott, it's pretty easy to get this deal.

bichoo

Anyone know if you can book at this property using cash & points?

Flews

I've never been able to. You need to phone to use regular points anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to ask when you do.

If you want a nice alternative, dollar for dollar better value, a guaranteed suite, and a great, affordable restaurant, with access to the same beach as the Westin, check out the Sunshine Suites right across the road.

Cheers,

sjuhawk_jd

I booked using points (no cash and points) a 7 night stay towards the end of March 2010. I had to call in.

bichoo

I called up starwood and they said to call in on Jan.2 because very likely the hotel will release 2010 dates for cash & points. I hope this is correct.

trilinearmipmap

Can anyone tell me if this hotel has the nasty motion-detector-actuated thermostat system? I want to be prepared ahead of time if I need to deal with it as described on the thread about these thermostats.

gozetta

No, they don't. Their AC system is quite pleasant but has only two modes, high and low.

trilinearmipmap

Thanks.