If you’ve ever considered a trip to Grand Cayman, you know that there are quite a few options in lodging. The island has a little bit of everything, from vacation home rentals to large resorts, and condos along with boutique hotels. We have now been to Grand Cayman twice, our first trip was last year when we stayed at The Ritz Carlton with another family. We just recently returned from our second trip, and this time we stayed in a boutique hotel. Having experienced both a large resort and now a boutique hotel in Grand Cayman, I thought I’d share my thoughts on both.
For us, getting to Grand Cayman was super easy. Grand Cayman is the largest of the Cayman Islands and many U.S. airports have direct flights to Owens Roberts International, the main airport. Our flight was a direct flight from Houston and was right under three hours. Although they are expanding the airport and completing some repairs from the hurricane, the immigration line process was not bad at all. Usually arriving anywhere on a Friday or Saturday equals long lines in immigration. We did not experience that in Cayman.
For this trip, we chose to rent a car, which we hadn’t done in Cayman before. If you decide to rent a car, there are a few things to keep in mind. One, they drive on the left-hand side of the road, so that takes some getting used to. My husband drove us around all week and did a great job, but there were several times out of habit, we found ourselves driving down the wrong side of the road. Oh and those roundabouts….who came up with those and why are they so confusing? It’s like everyone just takes a chance on when to dart out and there’s no rhyme or reason to it.
All the rental car agencies are in one location near the airport. They are within walking distance but if it was raining or you have little ones, keep in mind, you have a little bit of a walk because it is not actually part of the airport. We rented a jeep because we thought it would be fun for sightseeing but it wasn’t fun for transporting luggage to our resort. It was also the first time I have ever been greeted by chickens at a rental car agency, hee hee.
On our trip last summer, we stayed in a Residence Villa at The Ritz Carlton. The Ritz has a reputation for being recognized around the world for their customer service, this due to The Ritz Carlton Gold Standards. I have never had a bad experience at a Ritz. Our stay at The Ritz in Cayman was wonderful, but let me share why we chose to stay somewhere else this year.
First of all, my favorite part of any tropical vacation is the beach. Give me a chair, a good book and ocean sounds and I am good for the day. I enjoy people watching but I don’t like a packed beach. Just being honest, I have personal space rules and I don’t like those being breached. I don’t want an entire family plopping down for the day an arm’s length away from me. Another biggie for me on tropical getaways is that a vacation shouldn’t involve one of us having to wake up early to go lay claim to our beach chairs for the day. It’s vacation and who wants to have to set an alarm?!
The Ritz does offer the option of renting private beach cabanas. These beachside cabanas feature curtains that can be opened or shut for privacy, daybeds, a mini fridge with beverages, a fruit platter, a server for the day and most now have fans. These book up very quickly and many times are sold out. Make sure to book them in advance.
If you don’t have a cabana, the beach attendants will kindly set up chairs and an umbrella for you on a first come first serve basis. There are a lot of chairs on the beach. The upside to this is that more seating is available, but the downside is how many people are actually on the beach. It gets packed. I was actually surprised how close they seat people to each other. Remember my personal space issues?
Right next to The Ritz, the Red Sail Sports company has a booth set up. This is the largest watersports company on the island and they have locations at or near quite a few of the large resorts. Red Sail offers scuba, snorkeling, tours, parasailing, kayaks, equipment rentals, and many other water activities. It’s great having close access to Red Sail when staying at The Ritz, but even if you are staying elsewhere, you are allowed to utilize Red Sail just by walking up to their booth.
We have used Red Sail for parasailing, banana boating, and snorkel gear rentals and never had any issues with them.
Another benefit of staying at The Ritz are the dining options. There are 6 restaurants on site which is a nice perk. Of course, the resort also has other amenities like basketball courts, shopping, multiple swimming pools, Starfish Cay (a water/splash attraction for younger kids ), and Golf.
There really is a lot to do on site. When staying at The Ritz, the local grocery store, liquor store and the Tortuga Rum Company (with its famous Rum Cakes) are all within walking distance. It is nice being able to walk to the store rather than having to grab a taxi. The Ritz will even allow you to bring your shopping cart up to your villa to unload and they will return it for you! So convenient!
So enough about The Ritz for now, and on to this trip. This time we stayed at the Caribbean Club, a much smaller resort also on seven-mile beach. Shortly after we got checked in, I noticed the resort was flying the Texas flag and learned the owner was from Texas. Have to admit, it’s pretty cool being over 1100 miles from home and seeing your flag!
The Caribean club is a boutique hotel. It consists of 37 suites and villas that have 1-3 bedrooms. The location on seven-mile beach is awesome. The grocery store, liquor store, pizza shop and several other shops are literally right across the street. The Caribean club has oceanfront and poolside suites and villas. The cool thing is that no matter where you stay at Caribbean Club, you can see the beach. Every oversized balcony is on the rear side which means you can see the ocean from each unit.
Comparing the interiors of the Caribbean Club to The Ritz Residences, (at both we stayed in the 3 bedroom), the Caribbean Club three bedroom units are larger and have a more open layout. Both have full kitchens and washer and dryers. The furniture and décor can vary depending on specific villas/suites at both the Ritz and Caribbean Club because most are privately owned and rented out. The negative with that is some units may be more beachy than others. I did not mind this because we spent the majority of our time outside anyway.
The Caribbean club only has one restaurant called Luca. Luca is a very popular restaurant and people from all over the island come to dine at Luca. They offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner and also provide room service. Luca is best known for its Sunday Brunch (reservations are recommended), where both locals and tourists come to enjoy the large spread. Sunday brunches are a big social outing in Cayman and Luca is one of the top spots.
Luca is also known for it’s wine selection, with over 400 bottles of wine from over 12 different countries. Wine Spectator has awarded Luca’s wine list with its Award of Excellence every year since they have been open. Whether you stay at the Caribbean Club or not, if wine is your thing, be sure to get a table at Luca.
So here’s what I loved about Caribbean Club…. They had covered parking which was great for our rental car and anytime we had groceries to unload. The beach at Caribbean Club is gorgeous. The water is calm, the views are beautiful and best of all it was not crowded. Even at full capacity, the beach did not feel packed. You never had to wake up and rush to save seats for the day and the chairs were not set up on top of each other. They have regular beach loungers and umbrellas and several larger thatched beach umbrellas with seating as well. Those did fill up pretty quick because there’s only a few but I personally preferred the regular loungers because they are set up closer to the water.
The pool at Caribbean Club is smaller than either pool at The Ritz, but because the property is a smaller boutique property, the pool was never crowded. Getting around the Caribbean Club is super simple because of its size. The Ritz is huge and the layout can be a little confusing.
Although you can order meals from beach attendants from Luca to enjoy at the beach or pool, there isn’t a casual poolside place to walk up and grab a bite. That would have been a really nice option to have had.
All guests at Caribbean Club have access to sand and beach toys and pool floats. Paddleboards were on the premises and available for checkout for $40 an hour. We rented a paddle board and the kids used it to get to the reef that wasn’t too far from the beach. It was nice having a reef so close because you could snorkel without having to leave the hotel. Many of the days we were there, we saw turtles, fish, and stingrays in the water right off the beach.
When it came time for my gang to parasail and ride the banana boat, my husband was able to make a call and the water sports companies came to the hotel to pick us up. It was super nice just wading out in the water, hopping on a boat and then getting dropped back off after the kids were finished. There’s something to be said about not having to get into a car after you’re wet and covered in sand. One day I even hung back at the beach and was able to watch the boat pulling my kiddos on the banana boat right beside our hotel.
Both hotels offer pre-arrival grocery shopping and room service, and both have dedicated concierge service that can also book water sports and tours for you as well.
So what did I not like about the Caribbean Club? First, let me say, I really did love the location. I think the beach at Caribbean Club blows the Ritz away, but again that’s due to the hotel size and number of guests. If I was voting solely on the beach experience, hands down Caribbean Club wins.
The one negative about Caribbean Club was the beach service. We didn’t have bad service, but sometimes it felt like there was a lack of. There were usually only two beach attendants (which honestly would be fine given the number of guests) but they seemed to be doing multiple jobs so they weren’t always around. It was never a huge issue but there were a few times when I wanted to something like a lunch menu and I had to go look for someone or just wait until one came around. With that being said, it was not a huge issue for us. The service at Luca was always great and the food was awesome too!
The Caribbean Club provides daily cleaning and turndown service and the housekeeping staff were the sweetest people. They truly went above and beyond and even though we usually declined evening turndown service, they stopped by every night with chocolates for the kids.
Which hotel would I choose again and why? I honestly think both are great properties but they are two totally different experiences. Here’s my personal opinion:
Traveling without kids- I would hands down pick Caribbean Club.
Taking a couples vacation- the laid-back, intimate atmosphere at Caribbean Club is perfect. I don’t care much about pools when I have the beach and the beach at CC is on point!
Singles groups- I would probably go for the Ritz because there are more dining and bar options and sometimes The Ritz also has live music.
Anyone focused on just relaxing and wanting a quiet getaway – Caribbean Club no question.
Traveling with an infant– I would also pick the Caribbean Club. Personally, I think it would be way easier to navigate with a stroller and all the infant gear than a large resort like the Ritz. There was a family at Caribbean Club during our stay with a newborn and two older kids, and she commented on how nice it was that she could stay in the villa while the newborn napped and still watch her family on the beach. As you can see below, the oceanfront villas are truly right on the beach.
Traveling with toddlers or kids who aren’t swimming yet– The Ritz would be a good option due to the water attraction. There’s a pool right next to Starfish Cay and it would be a great way to entertain little ones.
Families with teens- Honestly both hotels would work. Teens may prefer the hustle and bustle and all the action on the beach at The Ritz. But they could easily walk from the Caribbean Club down to the busier part of seven-mile beach where The Ritz, Westin and several other large resorts are. I have a teenage son and he said the only thing he missed about the Ritz was the basketball court, so there’s that. I loved that my kids could have some independence and paddle board to the nearby reef, yet I could always easily spot them because the area wasn’t crowded.
Families with kids 13 and under– This one is tough. If you want to spend a lot of time at the beach and your kids still needed supervision in the water, I would go with Caribbean Club. The crowds at the Ritz would make it more difficult to keep an eye on your kids in the water and on the beach. There also isn’t much room on the beach at The Ritz for them to build sand castles, use boogie boards etc.
With that being said, if you’re a pool loving family and want to spend a lot of time at the pool, The Ritz would be a better choice since it has two pools (both of which are larger than the one at Caribbean Club) and a poolside grill for dining.
If you’re the type of person that loves action, a lot of people and always needs to be doing something, I would suggest The Ritz because there is a constant flurry of things going on at the beach there. If you’re like me and the perfect vacation day is waking up, finding a relaxing spot on the beach and spending most of your day there, I must recommend Caribbean Club over The Ritz.
Both the Ritz and Caribbean Club are located on the beautiful seven-mile beach and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with either one but hopefully, this is helpful in deciding what property would work best for you and your gang! Grand Cayman is a beautiful place and I am already looking forward to our next visit. Next time I will be covering things to do in Cayman. Stay tuned!