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Grand Cayman
The one Caribbean port you should plan around rather than plan for. Everyone comes ashore by tender.
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| Getting ashore | Tender, always. Up to four ships anchor at once and passengers are ferried to one of three terminals, all about five minutes away. |
|---|---|
| The terminals | South Terminal, North Terminal and Royal Watler Terminal, all run by the Port Authority |
| Currency | Cayman Islands dollar, with US dollars used interchangeably. The official rate is CI$1 = US$1.227. |
| Seven Mile Beach | Public, about a ten-minute drive from George Town |
What tendering means for you
The Port Authority's own annual report explains the position plainly: the harbour has no berthing for larger vessels, so tendering is how everyone lands. There is an alternate cruise facility at Spotts, listed by the Port Authority, used when conditions require it.
Whether tenders run at all on the day is the captain's call. Celebrity publishes that "the captain and crew will assess the conditions in any tender port and decide whether tender operations are safe." No official body publishes the sea state or wind threshold for cruise tendering, so nobody can tell you in advance.
Getting to the beach
Seven Mile Public Beach is public land managed by the Public Lands Commission, with parking, a playground, volleyball courts, bookable cabanas, a vendor area and a restroom block.
The accessibility find here is genuinely good. The National Council for Persons with Disabilities publishes Mobi Mat locations across the islands, and Seven Mile Public Beach has a mat 6.5 feet wide and 100 feet long, with accessible parking, a crosswalk, ramps and railings, and accessible restrooms and showers. Other mats are at West Bay Cemetery Beach, Governor's House Beach, Coe Wood and East End.
Taxis and buses
There is a taxi stand at the ship dock in George Town. Fares are set nationally, per trip for up to four passengers, but the published chart only shows airport-origin rows, so use the government's own CI:GO app, which quotes the fare in both currencies before you ride.
The cheaper option: public buses run from about 6am, fares start at CI$2.50, and they take both US and Cayman dollars. Routes connect George Town with Seven Mile Beach and West Bay.
Where these facts come from
- Visit Cayman Islands, travel by ship
- Port Authority of the Cayman Islands, 2017 annual report (PDF)
- Port Authority, port information
- National Council for Persons with Disabilities, Mobi Mat locations
- Radio Cayman, Seven Mile Public Beach enhancement
- Visit Cayman Islands, transportation
- CI:GO official fare app
- Norwegian Cruise Line, tender ports and accessibility
Ports change their rules and their prices. Check the official pages above before you sail.
Independent tours usually cost less than the ship's, and are often run by the very same local operator. Look for a listing tagged Worry-Free Shore Excursion — Viator backs those with what it calls a "Back to Ship Guarantee," which is the bit that takes the worry out of booking on your own.
- Viator publishes 400,000+ travel experiences
- Full refund on most experiences cancelled at least 24 hours ahead
- Back to Ship Guarantee on Worry-Free listings
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Search Grand Cayman tours on ViatorStairs, gangways, tenders, long piers, a cane on bad days. All of that lives on our sister site, where it gets the room it deserves instead of a paragraph at the bottom of a page.
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