Grand Cayman - Which Hotel?
 

We are planning a trip in April to GCM for a friends wedding. They are staying and getting married at the Ritz, which is a bit out of our price 'comfort zone'.

We have been looking at the Marriot, Westin, GC Beach Suites - but I am not sure which way to go. We need to decide soon, and I am terrified of making the wrong choice.

Basically - I read some reviews and heard that one hotel had construction, one hotel was outdated, and now I am so lost as to which was which!

If anyone can give us some insight it would be great!

I visited Grand Cayman in December 2008 (stayed at the Marriott) and have not kept up with developments too closely, but here are a few thoughts:

Westin - next door to the Ritz, best beach, this may be the place where some people are disappointed with the rooms. I remember reading mixed reviews.

Beach Suites - middle location in terms of proximity to the Ritz, former Hyatt, beach area narrower and more sloped than Westin when I was there, rooms larger (suites).

Marriott - furthest from Ritz (about 1 mi, I think), narrower beach, decent rooms (fairly standard Marriott IMO). If price is a big factor, I have heard that the Marriott often is won on Priceline for bids well below standard rates.

If it's within your budget, I'd choose The Westin. It's on the best part of the beach, and across the street from an excellent moderately priced lunch/dinner place called EATS. Also within walking distance of a big American-style supermarket for stocking up on snacks.

I agree with above poster...we stayed at Westin last May & I would definitely choose that over Marriott (smaller beach with a big crane hanging over beach doing construction next door)and Beach Suites (smaller beach and I think they must have cruise ship people coming there or next door from the looks of it). We loved Westin & kept joking about a few of the trip advisor reports. Just can't please some people. It isn't the Ritz but we weren't looking for that either. Westin will be nice & close to Ritz too for wedding. Enjoy! We loved the island. Walk about 15 min away from the Ritz to Calico Jacks ...right on the beach...great jerk chicken & cold Caybrew...doesn't get better than that!

The Westin has one of the best beach locations, but that's the only positive I can say about it. It is one of only two hotels in the Caribbean we would never stay at again - and we've been to 14 or so islands and have loved every place else. My recommendation is that you don't stay at the Westin. Choose the Beach Suites instead!

We stayed at the Marriott Beach Resort - yes, the beach is a bit narrow, but you can easily walk to a wider part if that's important to you. We thought it offered great value.

I could be wrong, but aren't the Beach Suites across the street from the beach? I seem to remember that the only part of the Hyatt actually ON the beach was the restaurant.

We stayed at the Marriott two years ago. The rooms had just been refurbished and the hotel is not a large resort, but very nice. The beach is narrow, but that didn't bother us. There is construction next door to it. We stayed on the other side of the hotel.
The Hyatt was closed when we were there so I don't know anything about beach suites. The Ritz is beautiful. The Westin I hear is in a good location with a nice beach but have not stayed there myself. I have heard some negative reviews on the rooms myself, but can't say I have seen them.
The Marriott is a nice hotel. The island was great and friendly and the water is beautiful!
Enjoy wherever you stay!!

Thank you all for the responses. After doing a little more digging - I found out that the westin charges an extra $20/day for beach chairs and beach towels!! We are goin to stay at the Beach Suites - Not the one that is across the street, but it is right on the beach and has the same 4 star rating as the Westin...

Just back from a 7 night stay at the Ritz. I saw that right next to it on either side were nice condos. If I ever went back I would definitely go the condo way so that I would have a kitchen - the restaurants on the island are on the expensive side. If you are going for a wedding, is there any chance you could share a condo with another couple? It could work out to be less expensive, especially if you are going the latter half of April. It looks like low season starts around April 17th ish.

Villas of the Galleon were right in between the Ritz and the Westin and were low rise smaller buildings with tons of beach space (something neither the Ritz, Westin, Marriott or Beach Suites have!) and looked nice to me from the outside, although probably not brand new. South of the Ritz were Coral Stone Club (pricy I think) the Waters Edge, Beach comber and Meridian. The last three were all 5 story buildings, looks like 5 or 6 condos per floor and looked newer. They had beautiful beach front.

PS - I would not have chosen the Marriott. We went there to see in did not like it at all. No pool to speak of, crowded beach and those reef balls in front made the water really icky.

PS - watched a wedding on the beach at the Ritz about 5 pm on 2/19. OMG if I was the bride and groom I would have been sooooo angry. They put up the canopy right in front and in the middle of all the beach chairs filled with people in swimsuits, etc. That could be expected, I mean it is a beach full of people, but there had been a couple days of winds and higher waves than normal and seaweed had washed ashore. Since the fancy beach machine wouldn't pick it up, the slower-than-snails groundsmen for the Ritz were raking it up. Even though they could see a weeding was getting set up (hours in advance) , the groundsmen just left stinky piles of seaweed, black plastic bags, rakes etc laying on the beach next to the wedding party and the bridal canopy. It looked terrible. What were they thinking!!!???

That should read "Even though they could see a WEDDING was getting set up (hours in advance) " but it was a "weeding" in a sense too, LOL!

We stayed at the Ritz last june and had previously stayed at the Westin a few times. Just for fun we took a walk through the Westin. We couldn't believe how it looked worn. I don't know, I'd look at the beach suites or a condo.