welookgood.com

As someone who stayed there for 40 nights over the past 2 year:

Book the breakfast buffet in ya rate or u r screwed(price wise).
It's great food with an AMAZING omelet lady.

Go to Lone Star Restaurant which is down the road. Avoid Cocunut Joe as they will try to rip off Tourist. The comfort suites actually has a very good diner/bar. Try the Ritz's steakhouse which is US prices.

Beach is amazing. Bring a snorkel/mask before you come and you have unlimited snorkeling

5. Were the theme night meals everything the website claims?

Don't pay for the theme nights. For $60 cayman a person you can get a better deal elsewhere. Hell the Ritz
s salmon are like 25 and steak 45. You can nearly get a dinner for two at the Ritz for their theme nights..

As a plat upgrades are nil. I couldn't even get a later checkout.. They do have a manager party with free food and drinks to welcome you though

LAX1K to AmWest

I have not been to Grand Cayman, but will be staying at the Ritz Carlton there on awards... the awards between the Marriott and Ritz were within 10,000 points, so trying the larger property.

I am going to check the Marriott out and will let you know any impressions of someone seeing the property... but from what I hear it is a decent property.. but not too large.. or luxurious..

welookgood.com

The RITZ is much nicer inside, rooms and the pool. However the Ritz is not nicer by the beach. The Marriott has special ornaments dropped by their beach so the snorkeling is INCREDIBLE and best of all FREE (if you bring your mask). There's also alot of watersports (Water Tricycle) at the Marriott. The Ritz is near a few good food places but the Marriott is more central. That said I like to walk so wouldn't mind staying at the Ritz. :-)

PM me and I can give you a list of food places and who to scuba dive with and who to avoid.

hhoope01

Things can always change over time, but when I was there last year, the beach itself was much wider and nicer down by the RC.

marlin

Does anyone know whatever happened to this property?

aaupgrade

Yes it's closed. Vague word from the locals down there the last time I visited (Nov 2009) was that the owner was in some sort of trouble from suspected insurance fraud... something like making claims of damage from the the last storm, when damage was actually there before the storm. Locals were sufficiently vague and it appeared no one really knows what happened other than it is a bit sketchy. Don't look for it to reopen anytime soon.

marlin

Too bad. Thanks for the info.

FromNC

We stayed twice during the summer with our three boys and loved it. The beach was quiet and never crowded. The restaurant, bathrooms, chairs/towels, and beach sports right there was very nice too. Nice snorkeling as well.

We are very disappointed that it has closed. The last time we were there some of the first-floor rooms were closed due to water damage, but that was *before* Paloma or whatever the bad hurricane was named.

Crossing the street was not a problem at all...

needtoescape

That's interesting. When was your last trip?

I had reservations at the Courtyard Marriott Grand Cayman for early December 2008. The hotel was open until sometime in November 2008, but closed right after Paloma hit. The reason they gave me (when I found out the hotel was closed on TripAdvisor and contacted them) was water damage from the hurricane. This seemed very suspect given that no other resort on Seven Mile Beach sustained serious damage.

There had been a lot of speculation in 2008 (and probably before then too) that the owners planned to close this hotel, renovate it, and re-open it as a more upscale property, so I figured that they just made an economic decision not to clean up some minor water damage.

It is sad that the property has not reopened. It is on a really nice stretch of Seven Mile Beach.

For anyone else interested in Marriott properties in GC, I ended up staying at the Marriott Beach Resort and was generally pleased with it. I'm a beach snob, so I had eliminated the Marriott Beach Resort fairly early in my planning because of reports about the beach there being narrow and rocky. It was a little narrow, but not too bad. The beach at the Courtyard, or the Westin and Ritz-Carlton, were better though. But, the RC was totally unappealing to me because of how closely packed together the beach chairs were (and they were the big kind with built in sun shades that I assume would be difficult to move).

falco

Last April, booked a trip to Marriott Grand Cayman in March using points. On Dec 30th, decided to look into the All Inclusive options using points. MR informed me that the property was no longer doing all inclusive using points as of December 15, 2010, but that I could book it because my reservation was made ahead of time and that it was close to the date when the change was made.

I thought about it over the weekend and called back yesterday and today several times. I was informed several times that I could NOT use points for the all inclusive, even after I called the original MR rep back, he changed his tune, but that it would be $145 per person per day just for the food & beverage!

Sent a message to customer support and have not heard anything beyond standard "looking into it" response.

Am I completely SOL? Are there other avenues I can take? Should I keep calling back?

Nanceetom

We're going on points on Feb. 19 for 9 nights and are platnium. First, since this is a resort, has anyone been offered free breakfast? We've e-mailed the hotel, but they don't seem to acknowledge any type of up graded service for platnium etc. members. Trip Advisor seems to have mixed reviews on this place. Anyone been there recently for more current info on the property and/or restaurants?

welookgood.com

Platinums don't get free breakfast at international resorts. The breakfast in the Caymans is expensive onsite so I would ask them if you could prepay your breakfast for the 2 of u and get a savings. Otherwise your options are limited to across the st which won't be as good or a muffin.

The benefit of getting their breakfast is it includes omlets, waffles, etc so u won't need lunch. (Food is very expensive in cayman). Then go out to a nice dinner.

Dinner options to do:
Aquabeach (across the st)
Yoshis - amazing Japanese (make reservation day or two before or u wont be able to go)
Fidel Murphy - make sure to go for their fish & chips
Cassanova - italian
Seven at the ritz - Steak and Fish (Salmon)

Avoid lambertis and the wharf. Overprices for what you get

Upgrades are very tough this time of year. If you are lucky you will get a better view (ocean or garden view).

Nanceetom

I'm not sure what you mean about prepaying breakfast? Is there a special plan that you can get for a better $$? We wanted to use points, at first, for their inclusive, then decided not to. And from what I can see now, they stopped (Grand Cayman only)( offering that for points.

Nomad5058

I stayed there last January and breakfast was not free for Plat members. We ended up stocking up on pastries and other items from the grocery store and made the in-room coffee and enjoyed breakfast from our balcony. The location is great and you are walking distance to a lot of restaurants close by. Marriott restaurants are much more pricey than the other ones that are close. One of our favorites, was Sunshine Grill for fish tacos. Inexpensive and very close.

The hotel staff there is excellent and I would recommend staying there. Some parts of the hotel are a bit dated, but worth overlooking especially if you are staying on points.

bonzaiflyer

Although it's been a year since then, how was the beach? When I went there way back in the late 80's/early 90's, the beach was small, rocky and not at all enjoyable. I know there was a reclamation project after one of the hurricanes, so I'm thinking they put some sand there and made it tolerable.

Since I haven't been there in a while, I thought it might be time to go back.