Holiday Inn and DiveTech - Any Feedback?

[mi000ke]

We are on GC for several months each year, and other than buying fresh fish at the local fishermen's market and an occasional visit to the library (and maybe a sunset drink at Rackham's, because they allow dogs), we tend to avoid downtown other then driving through to go east - especially on big cruise ship days. We might walk our visitors around for an hour if they insist, but they rarely want to go back. Time is much better spent on the beach or under the water. So you won't miss much by staying on SMB or up north towards West Bay, or more to the east side.

 

[mi000ke]

@KathyV and @Alucard

Thanks for the clarification. Sunset house is also an option for sure.

How's the driving situation and parking situation in Grand Cayman? Is it easy to find street parking or paid parking in George Town for instance? Or at the "better" restaurants on West Bay Road? I'm going to assume we're not going to be shaken down by police officers, right?

Parking can be a PITA downtown on busy days unless you know the "secret spots." Rackham's and a couple of the other restaurants do have limited parking and there is a pay lot in town. Parking is not a problem at the restaurants on SMB or the rest of the island. Police, if you even see one outside of downtown, are generally pretty easy going.

 

[divezonescuba]

I contacted Dive Tech back in 2016 when I was considering taking some tech courses. I did not get a good feeling from them.

Among other things, Emma-Jane Nicholsby wanted to charge me $60 per fill of double al80s for air. That's 30 per fill for an al80. Absurd.

In fact, her email indicated that dive tech wanted $1200 for the air, x50, and x80 gasses alone for TEC 40, 45, and 50. This did not include any helium. They were not going to give me credit any unused gases, essentially recharging me for the same gas I did not use with the next fill. Since in tech diving, you normally keep a 1/3 reserve barring emergencies, that's a lot of money.

Needless to say, I did not do my training with them.

 

[Damselfish]

@KathyV and @Alucard
Thanks for the clarification. Sunset house is also an option for sure.

How's the driving situation and parking situation in Grand Cayman? Is it easy to find street parking or paid parking in George Town for instance? Or at the "better" restaurants on West Bay Road? I'm going to assume we're not going to be shaken down by police officers, right?

Try not to compare Cayman with Coz. They're not really similar so that will just throw you off finding the right place.

By town, are you thinking of the cityish area of Georgetown proper near the harbor? Or what's really West Bay, the fairly heavily developed general area along 7MB which is more where Comfort Suites is.

Comfort Suites seems like a good lower priced option that suits some people, and you can walk to some things. I wouldn't call it the closest place to Georgetown proper - perhaps the closest moderately priced but pretty good place? But that's sort of irrelevant, because there's no reason to look for a place close to Georgetown. Georgetown has some restaurants and a bunch of shopping supported by cruise ship visitors. Visit it one day if you must, preferably on a light cruise ship day - or better yet not.

If your real goal is to find a place where you can manage without a car, there are a number of choices which have been covered in this and other threads. Many you can walk enough places or take quick cabs, and the dive ops will pick you up if you're not diving with an onsite op. Or try the buses, though I consider messing with that a waste of time on vacation. Someplace like Cobalt Coast with the AI you can get away without leaving the ranch. At the Holiday Inn you can mess with the shuttle and whatever rides you can snag from the dive op to shore dive. However, you may be happier with a car on Cayman - it opens options of where you might want to stay, and gives you more flexibility even if you stay someplace you don't "need" to drive. We rented one partway through our first trip there in 94, and have always gotten one ever since. Yes you have to get used to driving on the left, but it's not so bad, the roads are good, and rental cars seem to be for some reason one of the more reasonably priced things on Cayman. I don't think we've had too much trouble parking in Georgetown, but that's probably because we've had no need/desire to since that first trip! Restaurants at hotels or otherwise along West Bay Road, or anyplace really, we've never had a problem parking, there always seem to be adequate lots.

A car also opens the option of the East End - really you need a car to get out there, do a little sightseeing, and visit some restaurants beyond the couple that may be where you stay. It's also a good place to practice driving on the left, since once you head east out of town all you've got is a few simple and uncrowded roads without rotaries.

You are not going to get shaken down in Cayman. It's nothing like places where you might be concerned about that. You may find it more "first world" than a lot of the US.

I keep seeing people talk about Cobalt Coast or the Holiday Inn not being near anything. This is true in a way. You can't walk to anything. But stuff is not really that far away either. To me, being in a quiet area where I can make a relatively short drive to lots of stuff is perfect. Depends on your perspective - most things are still probably closer than I have to drive at home!

 

[Dogbowl]

Try not to compare Cayman with Coz. They're not really similar so that will just throw you off finding the right place.

By town, are you thinking of the cityish area of Georgetown proper near the harbor? Or what's really West Bay, the fairly heavily developed general area along 7MB which is more where Comfort Suites is.

Comfort Suites seems like a good lower priced option that suits some people, and you can walk to some things. I wouldn't call it the closest place to Georgetown proper - perhaps the closest moderately priced but pretty good place? But that's sort of irrelevant, because there's no reason to look for a place close to Georgetown. Georgetown has some restaurants and a bunch of shopping supported by cruise ship visitors. Visit it one day if you must, preferably on a light cruise ship day - or better yet not.

If your real goal is to find a place where you can get away without a car, there are a number of choices which have been covered in this and other threads. Many you can walk enough places or take quick cabs, and the dive ops will pick you up if you're not diving with an onsite op. Or try the buses, though I consider messing with that a waste of time on vacation. Someplace like Cobalt Coast with the AI you can get away without leaving the ranch. At the Holiday Inn you can mess with the shuttle and whatever rides you can snag from the dive op to shore dive. However, you may be happier with a car on Cayman - it opens options of where you might want to stay, and gives you more options even if you stay someplace you don't "need" to drive. We rented one partway through our first trip there in 94, and have always gotten one ever since. Yes you have to get used to driving on the left, but it's not so bad, the roads are good, and rental cars seem to be for some reason one of the more reasonably priced things on Cayman. I don't think we've had too much trouble parking in Georgetown, but that's probably because we've had no need/desire to since that first trip! Restaurants at hotels or otherwise along West Bay Road, or anyplace really, we've never had a problem parking, there always seem to be adequate lots.

A car also opens the option of the East End - really you need a car to get out there, do a little sightseeing, and visit some restaurants beyond the couple that may be where you stay. It's also a good place to practice driving on the left, since once you head east out of town all you've got is a few simple and uncrowded roads without rotaries.

You are not going to get shaken down in Cayman. It's nothing like places where you might be concerned about that. You may find it more "first world" than a lot of the US.

Thanks @Damselfish. I am going to think about it and whittle down my wants and preferences, then come back and be more focussed. Right now I think I'm all over the place.

 

[KathyV]

@Dogbowl you might benefit by planning a trip that is more "turnkey" the first time you come to Cayman for a dive vacation. Sunset House might be a good option, or the all-inclusive Cobalt Coast. I forgot to mention that airport transfers are included in the packages for SS and CC so that's easy.

You could rent a car for a couple of days and do a little exploring while you are on the island, and then decide if you might want to come back and where you'd like to stay in the future.

I don't know if you could get away in August, or even if @BDSC still has any spots left in group travel to Cobalt Coast (see link below) that he is planning? But that is a spectacular price for an all-inclusive dive trip to GC and it would be an easy way to check out the island on a dive vacation.

And don't forget about the all-inclusive dive options on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, too. Perhaps you could spend a few days at the Comfort Suites on GC and then fly over to LC or CB - but note that the "wait to fly" rules after diving do apply to flights to/from the sister islands.

COBALT COAST RESORT on GRAND CAYMAN

 

[Dogbowl]

@Dogbowl you might benefit by planning a trip that is more "turnkey" the first time you come to Cayman for a dive vacation. Sunset House might be a good option, or the all-inclusive Cobalt Coast. I forgot to mention that airport transfers are included in the packages for SS and CC so that's easy.

You could rent a car for a couple of days and do a little exploring while you are on the island, and then decide if you might want to come back and where you'd like to stay in the future.

I don't know if you could get away in August, or even if @BDSC still has any spots left in group travel to Cobalt Coast (see link below) that he is planning? But that is a spectacular price for an all-inclusive dive trip to GC and it would be an easy way to check out the island on a dive vacation.

And don't forget about the all-inclusive dive options on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, too. Perhaps you could spend a few days at the Comfort Suites on GC and then fly over to LC or CB - but note that the "wait to fly" rules after diving do apply to flights to/from the sister islands.

COBALT COAST RESORT on GRAND CAYMAN

I have found that we don't do well with AI in general (unless we have to like on a liveaboard). We end up leaving the resort and eating at different restaurants so kind of defeats the purpose of AI. And we do not drink (or at least very little). We have also found we much prefer to stay in the busier or more developed areas for the convenience to restaurants and shops. For example, in Coz we stay in town and in Playa del Carmen, we stay practically on 5th Ave.

While turnkey is nice, I'm not 100% sure that's what we would like. So I have to figure this out. You would think we'd know what our vacation personality is by now but we really haven't figured it out yet. LOL

 

[Trailboss123]

I have found that we don't do well with AI in general (unless we have to like on a liveaboard). We end up leaving the resort and eating at different restaurants so kind of defeats the purpose of AI. And we do not drink (or at least very little). We have also found we much prefer to stay in the busier or more developed areas for the convenience to restaurants and shops. For example, in Coz we stay in town and in Playa del Carmen, we stay practically on 5th Ave.

While turnkey is nice, I'm not 100% sure that's what we would like. So I have to figure this out. You would think we'd know what our vacation personality is by now but we really haven't figured it out yet. LOL

I like what @KathyV said about your first trip and since you don't like AI, Sunset House still might be a good option since only breakfast is part of the package. You can rent a car for restaurant hopping and to get the lay of the island for future trips. You will almost certainly want to return. I have not found the driving and traffic to be as bad as others. Probably because I tend to avoid driving through Georgetown or 7MB areas during rush hour(s).

 

[Alucard]

Parking in George Town is a bit of an art. However you will not get "shaken down" by the police. That's unheard of on this island. Parking elsewhere in my experience is plentiful and free. I usually stay up in West Bay and rarely go into George Town proper, unless I have specific business there. I always rent a car.

On the subject of names, I was confused at some of the comments here, so this is a pretty standard breakdown of the various areas of the island

Using this as a standard, Comfort Suites is at the south end of the Seven Mile Beach area (not in West Bay). Lighthouse Point and Cobalt Coast would be West Bay, Sunset House would be George Town.

Sunset House has a lot of advantages - shore dives, boat dives and a nice bar/restaurant for when you don't want to explore. However, getting up to Seven Mile Beach or West Bay necessitates you going through George Town, which can be problematic. Also, it's doubtful that the Sunset Divers boat is going to go anywhere close to the North wall, which is definitely an option for the more northern ops.

 

[KathyV]

I have found that we don't do well with AI in general (unless we have to like on a liveaboard). We end up leaving the resort and eating at different restaurants so kind of defeats the purpose of AI. And we do not drink (or at least very little). We have also found we much prefer to stay in the busier or more developed areas for the convenience to restaurants and shops. For example, in Coz we stay in town and in Playa del Carmen, we stay practically on 5th Ave.

While turnkey is nice, I'm not 100% sure that's what we would like. So I have to figure this out. You would think we'd know what our vacation personality is by now but we really haven't figured it out yet. LOL

Well, you know what's best for you; it sounds like Comfort Suites or Sunset House would be good options for you. Breakfast is included and then you can walk to nearby restaurants to get something to eat. Cayman is more expensive then Mexico so keep that in mind when making plans, but at least you don't have to worry about eating the food or drinking the water on Cayman.

Little Cayman and Cayman Brac resorts are rather like a liveaboard, because there really aren't many other choices for places to eat or things to do, but the food is varied and good IMO.