Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman [Master Thread]
 

What are the odds of getting an upgrade at the Grand Cayman Ritz? We are Marriott Gold members. I am booked in an oceanfront room (using points & cash) but am wondering if I should switch to resort view (same points and less cash) and hope they move us. We are going July 28- August 5th. Thanks!!

My 2 cents.

Was gold when we stayed there 3 years ago. I have Ritz Credit card and used the free Club level upgrade for 7 nights. Rate was $429.00 per night and we booked Oceanfront room.

The upside is you'll have easy access to pool and ocean. Downside is somewhat long walk over enclosed walkway over road back to lobby area.

Also, Deckers, on Tue. or Sat night, have all you can eat lobster tails. Dukes is also a fun place up the road from the Ritz.

I'm currently booked for almost the exact same dates on points alone in the Resort Tower. I emailed guest relations about booking activities and an upgrade, but got the normal rundown about upgrades being based on availability the day of check-in. Platinum Premier status for reference.

As much as I would like to steal your room ;) if not getting the upgrade will diminish your enjoyment of the stay I would recommend keeping your current reservation.

As a plat a few years back, we booked a resort view room on points at the RC Grand Cayman. We were upgraded to an oceanview one bedroom residential suite. Regular room rates were $850 for our original room, which we booked for (I think) 60k points per night. The suite we ended up in was going for around $2,500 per night at the time.

This property isn't stingy with upgrades, based on my experience. But, as always, YMMV. Good luck.

Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman
 

Hi all. I'm planning a trip to the Ritz Carlton in Grand Cayman in July. Originally I was going to use points to pay for the whole stay but now I'm thinking about another option. If I use points for 5 nights, I only use points for 4 nights and then get the 5th night free therefore maximizing my reward points. Then I was considering using a Virtuoso travel agent to book the final two nights. The rate is similar to Marriott quoted rates but I also get free breakfast for 2 each day as well as $100 hotel credit. Has anyone tried something similar? Will they make me switch rooms or will they just end up combining the two reservations under my name? Any downside in doing it this way? Thanks for your thoughts.

I have stayed at that resort before, but haven't had the same situation as it was a cash stay. However, I'm thinking the Virtuoso res would likely get you a better room. My suggestion would be if possible to have your Virtuoso part of the stay first and your points nights last and ask them to keep you in the same room. July is their low season, so you might just be in luck.

Good advice..... ask the Virtuoso agent to ensure Front Desk understands it is one stay prior to arrival. Will help ensure same room and no-check in / check out issues

couldn't find a more recent thread. Has anyone stayed here lately? Looking for some reviews

Bump

Anyone stay here recently?

Stayed here for a week Mar 2018. Anything specific you want to know?

Any platinum recognition? How did you like the property? Do you know how it compares to the other Marriott properties on the island?

While it has been a couple of years since my last stay here, I will say of the Marriott choices in Cayman, the RC is easily the nicest and most luxurious. If given a choice, I would easily stay here every time, but I know some prefer the Westin. I don't know that anyone has said they prefer the Marriott over the other two though.

If you want to see posts comparing the 3 properties check out the https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...nd-cayman.html thread.

I'm not sure about platinum recognition, but I wouldn't count on much. As an ambassador, I had my one suite and one regular room upgraded to a nice 2-bedroom suite, but from talking with others, it seems like upgrades are somewhat rare at lower status levels. And other than the upgrade, I think the only other platinum benefits at the time were maybe some minor discounts, but if there were discounts or anything else, they weren't good enough for me to even remember.

Overall, I thought the property was great and would gladly return. The food and drinks were expensive (even more expensive than expected), but in general the food and service was great so I never felt ripped off.

We stayed the first night in the tower across the street and I did not like it at all. The rooms were still nice, but they are a far walk from the beach (especially with small kids and all their stuff) and the views were not great. If we went back we would only stay in an ocean view room, but we do spend more time in the room with young kids so this may not be as big of a deal for people that can be out and about most of the day. The beach chair situation was also a little crazier than I was expecting. By 9am, the entire front row and a lot of the second row were already reserved with books and bags. There are a TON of chairs, so we never had an issues getting chairs; they were just often 3-4 rows back unless one of us went down very early. So if the front row is a big deal, plan on going down first thing in the morning.

We have never stayed at the other Marriott properties, but we spent a lot of time walking the beach and my impressions of the Westin were not good. The Ritz is busy enough around the beach, and the Westin seemed to be on another level. There were literally people everywhere, chairs were moved all over the place, and it did not seem one bit relaxing. There were some cabanas that seemed a little bit removed from the busiest parts, but I'm sure those are pricey. The pool area and bar also seemed crazy busy, but we couldn't see the parts of the pool that were farther from the ocean. This was in July though, which I understand is one of the busier times so perhaps it's not normally that bad.

Thanks! Do you remember if the pools were heated?