nadyad

Hello,
Does anyone know what the process is to access wireless at the Westin? Do they just provide you with a password to the network?
Thanks!

TravelScholar

Booked here with points for a 4 night stay in late January 2010. I've never been to The Cayman Islands before, but I thought I'd give it a try since I found out that the Le Meridien in Cancun is beach-less due to a beach reclamation project currently underway there.

Got a standard king room with a resort view, as this was the only thing available using points. Hoping for an ocean-view upgrade upon arrival as Gold, but not holding my breath since it seems like the resort might be pretty full.

Anyone have any recent trip reports for this property? Any advice for a first-time visitor?? Specifically, I'm looking for advice on airport transfers, dining, and attractions.

Thanks!!

Flews

Cayman is a wonderful vacation, depending on your tastes.

Try this site for all the information you seek:

http://www.caymanislands.ky/canada/

Try this site specifically for dining:

http://www.caymangoodtaste.com/

No airport transfers to the Westin. I recommend taxi. It's not cheap but it's easy and efficient. Just go to the taxi stand as you exit the airport doors. There is a large taxi stand at the Westin as well.

For Island travel, however, you should rent a car for the day to explore the various sites. Remember they drive on LHS. You'll need to pruchase a Cayman drivers licence, kindly provided by the rental agency.

For heading into town, and going up and down the Seven Mile Beach strip, just use the local bus. Seriously. Just flag it down across the street from the Westin. It's only a buck or so.

For sightseeing - Stingray City and the Conch Farm are bothing unique and interesting. Also golf if you are interested. The usual touristy suspects are all in town - try to avoid shoppers when the Cruise Ships are in, unless you like crowds. Some decent deals on gems and other high end trinkets.

Cayman is also renouned for scuba diving.

Finally, you will find the restaurants to be many and excellent, especially if you like seafood & local Caribbean fare. Deckers has all you can eat lobster night. The Cracked Conch has a unique buffet. So does the Ritz Carleton - it will cost you an arm and a leg but it will be one of your best ever. Grand Old House is a romantic, five star meal by the Ocean. As is Papagallos. Or for the less adventerous, good old Italian - very good - at Casanovas in town.

Lots of local places to eat too. You will find the Westin very expensive, so a lot of folks eat at the breakfast place across the street. We personally enjoy the restaurant at the Sunshine Suites, also across the street, which offers really great food at reasonable prices for lunch and dinner.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

BogeyMan

For Italian, I'd recommend Edoardo's Fine Italian Cuisine, you can walk from the Westin, just past the Ritz. Also Cassanova.

The Wharf Restaurant has good food, is on the water and you can see the Tarpon feeding at 9PM. Excellent wine list as well.

The turtle farm is worth seeing for a fist visit as well as Hell. As noted in earlier posts, cabs are very expensive other than airport transfers so you should consider renting a car.

TL2000

We are considering this hotel as an alternate to traveling across 5 timezones to the Sheraton Maui with our 6 month old. Can anyone tell me if any of the rooms have balconies? It sounds like as a plat I have no chance at a suite upgrade, so I'm wondering how big the room is going to be with a crib in it. Does anyone have comments about this?

It sounds like everything is fairly close to walk to, since I'm not too excited about taking my daughter on a bus or in a taxi.

For anyone who has been to the Sheraton Maui, how does this compare?

Thanks in advance for the help.

freeupgrade

I'm very biased towards Maui - I looove it there.

I have stayed at the Westin G Cayman. To be candid, I thought it was ridiculously overpriced. Having said that, the beach and pool there are beautiful.

I don't remember if there was a balcony - it was many years ago.

I leave for Maui on January 3 - so I can laugh at everyone heading out of there after Christmas....

Flews

Yes there are balconies. It's just you may be overlooking the air conditioning on the east side, or the parking lot on the front.

Now that we have kids we now stay at the Sunshine Suites across the road. Tons more room, kitchenettes, free breakfast, better prices, and by far better value.

Cheers,

TL2000

Thanks for the help. We are staying on points, so I am obviously trying to stay with *wood. It's hard to beat the Jr. Suite we are most likely going to get in Maui.

I think we are also going to try and stay at the Grand Wailea while we are there, so it will probably be worth it. We're just really worrying about what the 5 hour time change is going to do to our daughter's sleeping habits.

freeupgrade

Wailea is fabulous - far nicer than the area at Sheraton.

Aloha...

BogeyMan

I think you would still need a car in GC if you want to go shopping or see some of the sites. Also there are sections along the main road without sidewalks.

Oh, the dreaded time change on kids...I'd vote for the suite, at least you'll be more comfortable when you daughter is up in the off hours.

Pizzaman

So, I've been through the entire thread, and there's some truly great information here. I was left with one question.

For those that have visited the property during the January-March timeframe, how is the water temperature? Pool and beach?

Cobijonz

We were there end of Feb last year and the water in both the pools and sea were very warm. Air temp was mid to upper 80s and we were hot under the sun and needed to jump in the water often to cool down. I remember thinking at the time that it was warmer in GCM than in Riviera Maya at same time previous years. We're heading back to GCM this year, similar week so am expecting great weather again.

TravelScholar

Does anyone know if this hotel offers any SPG Instant Awards? If so, then what are the options??

trilinearmipmap

We just got back from one week at the Westin Grand Cayman. We had booked their cheapest (no-view) room, 5 nights as an award stay and 2 nights as a paid stay.

We have no SPG status however on checkin we were upgraded to an oceanfront room.

The room was comfortable overall however the "Heavenly Bed" was too soft, giving both me and my wife backaches.

There was a large group of American contractors attending a fully-paid junket at the resort which included free travel accommodations food and unlimited drinks. Despite this most of them were well behaved and their presence did not spoil the stay for us.

The beach was superb. We did not use the pool as the weather was unseasonably cool (still warm outside averaging in the mid 20's Celsius however the pool was a little cool). Locals advised me that normally the temperature is much higher than it was during our stay and they called the mid 20's temperatures a "cold front".

I was disappointed that no drink service was offered at the hot tubs. I spent a couple of hours in the hot tubs every day and not once did anyone ask if I wanted a drink. I managed to flag down a server once with difficulty, the other times I had to go to the bar to get service. Drink service on the beach and beside the pool was OK though.

The gym was a little on the small side but was not overcrowded and had adequate workout equipment for my purposes. For a serious workout enthusiast I think this gym would be a little lacking. Air-con in the gym was not adequate and I finished most of my workouts due to overheating rather than exercising to the point of fatigue.

It seemed that many of the hotel staff were not very motivated to do more than the basic minimum. For example the concierge told me my flight home was on time when it was in fact listed as delayed. She was unable or unwilling to find out my duty-free allowance for my return home. Staff could not tell me the cost of a taxi to the airport. Similarly the rental car agent left his desk unattended for a prolonged time and the front desk staff seemed uninterested in tracking him down. In each of these cases the management got on top of things and corrected the problem, but overall it seemed that the staff didn't have the knowledge or motivation to figure out how to solve problems themselves.

The one dollar per minute charge for use of the computers at the business centre was unreasonably high.

The buffet breakfast was better than expected. The selection and quality of breakfast food was good compared to other more expensive properties I have stayed at. Service by the waitstaff at the breakfast buffet was good. At $15.00 Cayman Island dollars the buffet was priced lower than I am used to paying at hotels of similar calibre.

We did not have lunch or dinner at this resort however we had drinks at the lounge a few times and everything was fine there.

The overall ambience of this place is relaxed, quiet and upbeat. Just hanging out at the beach, pool area or lounge/bar area felt great.

Overall despite the service lapses my wife and I had an unexpectedly good time at this place and I would like to go back in a few years on points.

thor17

Does anyone know if they have a kiddie pool here?