Glad you had a good trip again Kathy!
Two questions...
1) Since we had discussed it prior to my trip based off of the tripadvisor review, what was your opinion of the food at LCBR this trip?
2) Were the dolphins still hanging around the lagoon by the time you were there? If not, did any of the staff say how long they stuck around? They were there all week when we were there in late September, and I was kind of hoping they were planning to take up residence for a while.
I have been to LCBR every year for at least the past 10 including this September. The food is OK but not great and has deteriorated a little over the years. IMO the chef tries to make things overly complicated and the food ends up over spiced. I tend to eat the fish course at dinner and found it to be wahoo or basa most nights, dried out and oversauced. There was blackened wahoo one evening which was inedible. The food certainly is plentiful and there are always choices, but certainly not gourmet dining. The deserts are almost always rich cakes. One night there was Bananas Foster with ice cream which was outstanding. They had a BBQ one night and the jerk chicken was OK. I think they would do better if they tried to keep things a little simpler overall.
Breakfast was a winner in that there was an egg/omelet station and also bagels, lox and cream cheese every morning. Lunch seemed to be a rehash of what was left over from dinner the night before but was fine.
In the old days, as I recall, there was more seafood and more Cayman style cooking, which IMO, was better.
Doctorfish,
I agree that that the food was not quite as good as when Anthony was the chef there, but the tripadvisor reviewer had made it sound like the food was low quality and only very slightly above Luby's cafeteria level. I know you, Kathy, and I had a PM conversation about it before my trip and I thought the food was still quite good when we went in September. I don't generally eat fish while at LCBR (call it professional courtesy from a diver), so maybe that is where the big changes have occurred. I think sometimes chefs outsmart themselves in an effort to "not do the same things every week", but forget that most of us are only there for a week and will never know if the same dish was served the week before.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. The food at LCBR is more than adequate and there are choices at every meal. It's buffet style so not fine dining.
We go there to dive and the food is a secondary concern, but it's ok and the accommodations very good for a dive lodge in the middle of nowhere. The food was better at Southern Cross in the distant past but I have no recent experience and the cost is significantly higher than LCBR. It's not by accident that we return to LCBR every year.
There were no Dolphins in the lagoon and I forgot to ask the divemasters about them, sorry, but we did see Eagle Rays in the lagoon a few times.
We thought the food was better this year then it was 2 years ago. We had some truly fabulous meals, the beef and rib roasts were wonderful and my husband loves lamb and he said that the crown lamb roast was the best he has ever had; and we had some delicious seafood options including wahoo, shrimp, and crab. I cannot eat jerk and spicy foods so sometimes that was a problem for me and I don't like curry - but it is a British overseas territory so I am not complaining about the curry. I could have asked for something special but there was no need.
They offer great breakfast foods but the lunch time offerings were a little iffy - but they always had salads, and cold cuts, cheeses, and breads - so you could make a sandwich. I tried the soups a few times and wasn't impressed and although the dessert table was always loaded with tasty choices, many of them seemed to be store bought - like the cheese cakes and some of the pies and not home made. But still plenty of wonderful choices - too many!
I still think that the food at the CBBR is better, especially the desserts, but there is nothing to complain about the food at LCBR. The food is fresh and abundant and there are always a variety of good, nicely-presented choices, and the service is wonderful!
And it is great to have reasonably priced AI options on BC and LC, because there aren't many restaurants or grocery stores (although you certainly won't starve no matter where you stay!). The Caymans are expensive, but you can leverage the expense and have a wonderful Cayman dive vacation by booking an AI package at a Clearly Cayman (Tibbetts Family) Resort.
We rented a car one day and drove around Little Cayman and we stopped at the Hungry Iguana Restaurant that was acquired by the Dart company about a year ago. We had heard that they had done some remodeling but didn't notice any changes to the décor - and the menu wasn't very exciting. So we decided to head back to LCBR for a delicious dinner that we had already paid for , sometimes you like to get off the AI property and try something else, but not this time.
We also stopped at the Southern Cross Club and had a look around and had a drink at the bar and it is a lovely property. They have some big, beautiful dive boats with fewer tank holders, so I am sure that the ratio of divers to boat is lower; but it was never too bad at LCBR. We mostly had 10 - 12 divers on the boat and I think there was 14 or 15 on one day, but the boats are large and the dive op handles it well, so no complaints.
We also looked at the prix fixe menu for the day at SC and the choices looked very good but much more limited than LCBR, although I imagine that they are served in a more "fine dining" setting and not buffet style. But the biggest surprise was that the place was a ghost town! We didn't see another guest anywhere, the (small and unshaded) pool was deserted, the beach was empty and there was nobody at the bar. We asked about it and the bartender reluctantly told us that there were only 4 guests total staying at the resort that week! I know that it is the low season but I am amazed that they stayed open that week!
I prefer the opportunity to meet a variety of friendly folks at the bar, at meals, on the dive boats, and around the pool at LCBR. We were there during the Baseball World Series and that was a lot of fun to enjoy with others. Hopefully the TV service in the rooms is better at SC because it really stinks at LCBR, but we weren't there to watch TV anyway - and we didn't have problems with the WiFi during this trip so that was great. I walked away from SC thinking that it was a very nice place but I wasn't convinced that it was worth the extra money - I like what we get for the price at the LCBR better, but everybody has their preferences and that's fine.
We didn't have a drinks package at LCBR but we were able to take advantage of the free $150 per person (max 2) Resort Certificates that they were offering this year. If you don't use them up then you forfeit the balance - so we used them! We charged items to the room at the bar, in the dive shop, had our laundry washed and folded, and I enjoyed a very relaxing massage. Best of all - when we checked out we only had to pay a small balance!
But I am not thrilled that they've changed pricing for resort purchases from US to Cayman dollars since we were last there- so everything has gotten more expensive. Does anyone know if they have done the same thing at CBBR? I also missed the little Mermaid Boutique Shop - but things change!
Speaking of changes, Lara has left LCBR Spa - she got married and is moving to the US (good for her!) and they have a new spa technician named Kathy - but she was great and they have such a lovely, little spa at LCBR - much nicer IMO than the spa at CBBR, but that is nice too.
As we were hanging around the tiny LC airport to head home I overhead a guy that had also been staying at LCBR complain that "This was an expensive vacation as compared to Roatan!" I kept my mouth shut but I was tempted to say "No kidding, maybe it's because you are in the 1st World and not the 3rd World!"
You can eat the food and drink the water without worry, you don't have to get vaccinated before traveling or take anti-malaria medications, and you don't have to worry about mosquito-borne diseases and ferocious sand fleas. You can drive everywhere on good roads, and you are very unlikely to get robbed, plus the diving is better than Roatan IMO and you get valet dive services. There are also excellent health facilities available and strict safety requirements governing the dive ops. And for us, the airfare is cheaper and easier than Honduras.
We've had some wonderful dive trips to Roatan, but sometimes you get what you pay for - but that's just my opinion! And another nice thing about the Caymans is that you can enjoy the urbane sophistication and attractions of the 7 Mile Beach and West Bay area on GC as well as the quiet, peaceful atmosphere of the East End and the Sister Islands of LC and CB - you can easily have it all!
Anyway, we had a wonderful dive trip to GC and LC - despite a few blips with the weather - and considering the terrible year it has been for many tropical dive destinations, we feel very lucky!
We met many people that had changed their plans from taking a cruise, or visiting the T&Cs, or the US and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, or other unfortunate islands - which again makes me surprised that Southern Cross was so empty. Fall is usually the quiet season in the Caymans but not so much this time. The Caymans were lucky this year, and we are happy to have had another great trip!
