Grand Cayman After The Hurricane Season

One of ports visited on our recent Royal Caribbean cruise was Grand Cayman. This was an eagerly awaited port since I've been there before but wanted to take my girlfriend scuba diving there. We were worried that we might miss this port since Caymans were hit pretty hard by hurricanes and indeed, they had closed islands off to tourist travel for part of summer/fall. Fortunately for us, Grand Cayman had reopened just about two weeks prior to our cruise at end of November.

Getting to Grand Cayman is by tender since it had a shallow harbour. This can be a potential problem in itself because we were told that if wind and waves are too rough, captain would cancel port and spend rest of day at sea. Apparently in past, one of tender boat workers had fallen and got crushed to death between boat and dock during one of rougher wave days. This resulted in cruiseships being much more careful in deciding whether to allow tendering or not given conditions. Again, fortunately for us, weather was picture perfect during day we were in Grand Cayman last week.

The downtown area pretty well recovered from effects of hurricanes and shopping was business as usual. There were four ships at port during day we were at port. Grand Cayman is above average in terms of cleaniness and attitude of locals for a Caribbean island. It is also one of pricier island though. Bargains can still be found though, especially in liquor where there are examples of certain liquors being even less expensive in Grand Cayman than even Cozumel. For example, Malibu rum was $10 US in Grand Cayman, $13 in Cozumel and about $19 back in Miami home port. Everything else like restaurants and activities were generally more expensive than other islands.

Vacationing Tips to Protect You and Your Family

A.I.C. Insurance Agency Offers Vacation Tips to Protect You and Your Family Milwaukie, OR Feb. 28, 2005 – Vacations should be a time spent having fun and relaxing. By taking a few extra precautions while traveling, you can prevent yourself, or your friends and family, from being a victim of crime. A.I.C. Insurance Agency and Travelers, a leading provider of auto and homeowners insurance, offer these safety tips to help you, your friends and family have a fun and safe vacation: • Do not carry large amounts of cash. Use traveler’s checks that can usually be replaced within 24 hours. • Use ATMs only during daylight hours. If you must use one after dark, try and find a well-lit, busy area such as a grocery store. • Leave copies of trip information with a friend or family member at home. This includes credit card numbers, passport numbers, plane tickets and itinerary information, and phone numbers for your credit card companies. • Keep credit cards, cash, passport, and plane tickets separate. • Wear a “money purse” underneath your clothes that contains passport, phone numbers for credit card companies, and a small amount of cash, should your wallet get stolen. • Carry a “dummy” wallet in your back pocket containing $20 which, if you were to be mugged, would satisfy robber without draining all of your funds. • Have your mail delivery stopped while on vacation. If you have a neighbor retrieving mail and newspapers while you are away, ensure that they will be there every day. Nothing says an empty house like a stack of mail or newspapers at front door. • Do not assume your personal documents are safe in your hotel room. Lock them in a safe while room is unoccupied. • Have separate ATM, debit and credit cards and make sure that you need a PIN for in-store use of a debit card, not only for ATM. • For women, do not hang purses on back of bathroom stall doors. It is very easy for someone to reach over door and grab it. • Leave your regular checkbook at home. If your checks are stolen, it’s difficult to cancel them and track their use as you would a credit card. Plus, if someone reorders checks in your name, you won’t realize it until you receive your bank statement.