Here’s the trip report I promised before I left for a visit to Little Cayman in Feb 2023; my gal and I stayed at the Southern Cross Club. This is my second trip to Little Cayman/SCC; my gal and I went in 2022 too…also in Feb. This trip was my gal’s sixth trip to Little Cayman/SCC. It was a semi-regular destination for her and her diving friends over the BG years (Before Gratefulmjc). I chose SCC like I chose my car insurance company…it was my dad’s (raise your hand if…). However, like my insurance company, I’m very happy with my “choice” of SCC. FWIW, this was my fifth trip to Cayman; the other three were to Grand Cayman (Rum Point twice and the East End once).
Travel: We flew United from the Wash DC area to GC on Sat Feb 11 arriving and getting thru immigration and customs in the early afternoon. There were kiosks in the immigration hall a la the Global Entry kiosks in the US. We used the kiosks and got thru immigration quickly and easily…they must be new as I don’t remember them from our Feb 2022 trip. Customs couldn’t have been easier; we went thru the Nothing-To-Declare line without getting a second glance, much less a question, nor having our forms collected.
Due to United’s ever-shifting schedule, to have connection time margin, we booked the 5:10 GC-LC Cayman Airways flight. Getting to the CA counter about 1:30pm, we asked to be shifted to an earlier flight and were obliged but only after an hour’s wait for a supervisor’s approval. We got the last two seats on the 3:20 flight…which was delayed until 4:50. Only after we received our 3:20/4:50 boarding passes, were we told that our original 5:10 flight had been canceled because one of the Twin Otters was out of service. There wasn’t a whiff of the cancelation on anywhere…not on CA’s website, not on the airport monitors, nor on the GCM website…everything appeared hunky dory…uncool. Needless to say, we were elated to have a flight…until we got paged at the gate at 4:15. Back out at the check-in counter we were told that due to some confusion, there actually had not been seats for us on the 3:20/4:50. Sigh. We were offered a choice of a few flights the next day and chose the 7:05am. CA paid for our room at the Marriott on Seven Mile Beach, cab fare to & from, and $30 each towards food. The early AM flight was uneventful though we did find out from fellow passengers during checking in that CA canceled the 3:20/4:50 flight circa 6pm so we got a head start on our GC overnight. After all the flight drama, luck turned out to be on my side; the flight landed in time for me to make the AM two-tank dive with SCC holding the boat for me. After grabbing my gear from my luggage in the parking lot, I only held up the 8am departure by 5 minutes…awesome!
The return flight to GC was 75 minutes late departing but we had given ourselves a ton of connection margin. After checking in for our United flight, we took the free shuttle to the George Town Yacht Club for lunch and got home without an issue.
Southern Cross: If interested, I’ll let you check out the resort’s details on their website (Southern Cross Club, a Caribbean Resort on Little Cayman.). Otherwise…
We stayed in Bungalow #10, an upper floor deluxe bungalow on the beach. It was very comfortable, had AC and a nice balcony overlooking South Hole Sound, and featured an outdoor shower on the full-sized balcony…a great touch.
We were both very happy with the dining. Though there is an air-conditioned dining room and a screened-in porch, we ate all our meals on the patio.
A full breakfast buffet with bacon, sausage, fruit, cereal, etc. was available every morning. A kitchen staffer was available to make waffles and eggs/omelets to order. You could also order pancakes and French toast from the kitchen.
Lunch was also served buffet-style. It was different every day though there always was a kitchen staffer making salads to order. Some examples of the lunch main course were chicken wraps, hamburgers, and pizza. As well, there were sides to go with the mains like fries and seafood salads. And there were always cookies.
Four of the seven nights (we missed one night overnighting on GC) plated dinners were served at your table…an appetizer, main, and dessert. On those nights, a menu was provided at lunch and orders taken. For each of the three courses there were three choices. For the appetizers and mains there was one meat, one seafood, and one vegetarian choice. The other three nights, dinner was done buffet-style. One night the theme was Mexican with the kitchen staff cooking steak, chicken, or fish fajitas to order. You could also make your own tacos. All the sides and fixings that go with a Mexican meal were available. Another night was Pasta Night with the kitchen staff preparing to order a wide range of pastas, add-ins (e.g., meatballs, shrimp, sausage, etc.), and sauces…again with all the sides and fixings you would expect. The last buffet-style dinner was Indian Night. As the head chef is Indian, the various offerings were 100% legit and delicious…my favorite meal of the week.
And the kitchen added a special touch on special occasions. A guest had a birthday that week and the kitchen made a cake for her. And they dressed the tables and meals up to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
During the day, beer, sodas, and water were available on the honor system from the bar. The bar opened at 4:30, closing at midnight (as I can attest). Javie is the bartender who could make anything you want. There were some local beers on draft and a good selection of bottled beers. The wine list was solid and prices reasonable; the list is not like the wine lists I’ve seen in Mexico where musty old bottles of Malbecs have gone to die. There was always a basket of free snacks (chips, pretzels, granola bars, etc.) on the bar top all day.
SCC was staffed by basically the same people as last year. They remembered us by name and were super helpful, friendly, and always cheerful. One of the managers would stop by when we were dining to check to see if everything was in order along with a light side of small talk…the right amount of hospitality without being intrusive. PeterH, the owner, lives on site and is outgoing, friendly, and approachable.
Lastly, though I was skeptical, the resort comes by its name honestly. One restless I night at about 3am I did see the Southern Cross just above the horizon from our room’s balcony.
Unlike what I’m hearing about other resorts on LC, SCC is not arm-twisting guests to do Saturday-to-Saturday bookings; people were coming and going just about everyday of the week. Some friends of ours, two couples, for differing reasons had to cancel their trips. Perhaps because they are long-time and regular customers (or perhaps not), SCC allowed them to roll their deposits over to 2024. On that note, 10 of us have already made reservations to return in Feb 2024. We’re doing a Tuesday-to-Tuesday trip with the intention of avoiding the GC/LC Saturday mass migrations and attendant cancelations and delays. And hopefully the third Twin Otter cited in the Cayman newspapers will be in service by then.
Travel: We flew United from the Wash DC area to GC on Sat Feb 11 arriving and getting thru immigration and customs in the early afternoon. There were kiosks in the immigration hall a la the Global Entry kiosks in the US. We used the kiosks and got thru immigration quickly and easily…they must be new as I don’t remember them from our Feb 2022 trip. Customs couldn’t have been easier; we went thru the Nothing-To-Declare line without getting a second glance, much less a question, nor having our forms collected.
Due to United’s ever-shifting schedule, to have connection time margin, we booked the 5:10 GC-LC Cayman Airways flight. Getting to the CA counter about 1:30pm, we asked to be shifted to an earlier flight and were obliged but only after an hour’s wait for a supervisor’s approval. We got the last two seats on the 3:20 flight…which was delayed until 4:50. Only after we received our 3:20/4:50 boarding passes, were we told that our original 5:10 flight had been canceled because one of the Twin Otters was out of service. There wasn’t a whiff of the cancelation on anywhere…not on CA’s website, not on the airport monitors, nor on the GCM website…everything appeared hunky dory…uncool. Needless to say, we were elated to have a flight…until we got paged at the gate at 4:15. Back out at the check-in counter we were told that due to some confusion, there actually had not been seats for us on the 3:20/4:50. Sigh. We were offered a choice of a few flights the next day and chose the 7:05am. CA paid for our room at the Marriott on Seven Mile Beach, cab fare to & from, and $30 each towards food. The early AM flight was uneventful though we did find out from fellow passengers during checking in that CA canceled the 3:20/4:50 flight circa 6pm so we got a head start on our GC overnight. After all the flight drama, luck turned out to be on my side; the flight landed in time for me to make the AM two-tank dive with SCC holding the boat for me. After grabbing my gear from my luggage in the parking lot, I only held up the 8am departure by 5 minutes…awesome!
The return flight to GC was 75 minutes late departing but we had given ourselves a ton of connection margin. After checking in for our United flight, we took the free shuttle to the George Town Yacht Club for lunch and got home without an issue.
Southern Cross: If interested, I’ll let you check out the resort’s details on their website (Southern Cross Club, a Caribbean Resort on Little Cayman.). Otherwise…
We stayed in Bungalow #10, an upper floor deluxe bungalow on the beach. It was very comfortable, had AC and a nice balcony overlooking South Hole Sound, and featured an outdoor shower on the full-sized balcony…a great touch.
We were both very happy with the dining. Though there is an air-conditioned dining room and a screened-in porch, we ate all our meals on the patio.
A full breakfast buffet with bacon, sausage, fruit, cereal, etc. was available every morning. A kitchen staffer was available to make waffles and eggs/omelets to order. You could also order pancakes and French toast from the kitchen.
Lunch was also served buffet-style. It was different every day though there always was a kitchen staffer making salads to order. Some examples of the lunch main course were chicken wraps, hamburgers, and pizza. As well, there were sides to go with the mains like fries and seafood salads. And there were always cookies.
Four of the seven nights (we missed one night overnighting on GC) plated dinners were served at your table…an appetizer, main, and dessert. On those nights, a menu was provided at lunch and orders taken. For each of the three courses there were three choices. For the appetizers and mains there was one meat, one seafood, and one vegetarian choice. The other three nights, dinner was done buffet-style. One night the theme was Mexican with the kitchen staff cooking steak, chicken, or fish fajitas to order. You could also make your own tacos. All the sides and fixings that go with a Mexican meal were available. Another night was Pasta Night with the kitchen staff preparing to order a wide range of pastas, add-ins (e.g., meatballs, shrimp, sausage, etc.), and sauces…again with all the sides and fixings you would expect. The last buffet-style dinner was Indian Night. As the head chef is Indian, the various offerings were 100% legit and delicious…my favorite meal of the week.
And the kitchen added a special touch on special occasions. A guest had a birthday that week and the kitchen made a cake for her. And they dressed the tables and meals up to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
During the day, beer, sodas, and water were available on the honor system from the bar. The bar opened at 4:30, closing at midnight (as I can attest). Javie is the bartender who could make anything you want. There were some local beers on draft and a good selection of bottled beers. The wine list was solid and prices reasonable; the list is not like the wine lists I’ve seen in Mexico where musty old bottles of Malbecs have gone to die. There was always a basket of free snacks (chips, pretzels, granola bars, etc.) on the bar top all day.
SCC was staffed by basically the same people as last year. They remembered us by name and were super helpful, friendly, and always cheerful. One of the managers would stop by when we were dining to check to see if everything was in order along with a light side of small talk…the right amount of hospitality without being intrusive. PeterH, the owner, lives on site and is outgoing, friendly, and approachable.
Lastly, though I was skeptical, the resort comes by its name honestly. One restless I night at about 3am I did see the Southern Cross just above the horizon from our room’s balcony.
Unlike what I’m hearing about other resorts on LC, SCC is not arm-twisting guests to do Saturday-to-Saturday bookings; people were coming and going just about everyday of the week. Some friends of ours, two couples, for differing reasons had to cancel their trips. Perhaps because they are long-time and regular customers (or perhaps not), SCC allowed them to roll their deposits over to 2024. On that note, 10 of us have already made reservations to return in Feb 2024. We’re doing a Tuesday-to-Tuesday trip with the intention of avoiding the GC/LC Saturday mass migrations and attendant cancelations and delays. And hopefully the third Twin Otter cited in the Cayman newspapers will be in service by then.
