Charbonneau

We've just discovered the brand-new Turtle Nest Inn, in Bodden Town, Grand Cayman. It's on a sandy beach with excellent snorkelling, and has a pool, but it's away from the Seven Mile Beach "tourist strip" -- much quieter, more authentic, closer contact with the local culture and people, and more affordable. It's a two-story Spanish-style building, with eight luxurious, fully furnished apartments, equipped with kitchen, balconies, A/C, 35-channel TV, VCR, etc. Each apartment could sleep four, and the maid service, six days a week, was impeccable. The resident owner/manager couple was friendly, helpful, and catered to all our whims -- they even picked us up from the airport! And the prices are only US$150 to US$180 per night (plus tax, but no service charge), depending on the season. A really unique find, but I fear that, once the secret's out, they'll be full a good part of the year. To e-mail Turtle Nest Inn: [email protected]

Nancy Shumacher

I'm presently staying at Turtle Nest Inn and was about to post a message to the Fodors website telling the world about this place. You beat me to it, but I can only confirm what you say and add to your comments. My husband and I had budgeted to stay at the Westin, on 7-Mile Beach at over US$250 a night incl. tax & service (off-season rates), with no kitchen. Cayman restaurants are very pricey. At US$150 plus tax here, cooking our own dinners and paying only 6 nights for a week, we've saved enough to pamper ourselves with a few optional extras: we've got a laptop computer and laser printer in our apartment, with our own e-mail account, and a full stereo system with CD player in the living room. By the way, you didn't mention the laundry room off the lobby, with coin-op washer and dryer, iron and ironing board, or the gas barbeque on the beach...

Mary

I see you are both Grand Caymanian locals! Did you eat at The Edge or are there other great restuarants atound there? We were at the Westin last Nov. and ate at the Edge since it was highly recommended! Expensive taxi ride from 7 mile beach!! Loved the island! We will return this November!

Nancy Shumacher

In reply to Mary, no, I'm not a local, although I wish I was. I wouldn't have to go back to work in Texas! I'm writing from the apartment we've rented for a week at Turtle Nest Inn. We rented a laptop as an extra, and it came with our own e-mail account. Yes, my husband and I have eaten at The Edge. We can walk there from the Inn. The Edge is great, and so are two other restaurants at this end of Grand Cayman: the Lighthouse at Breakers, and Portofino at East end, both a few minutes from here by car. The evening we decided to not cook, the owners of the inn drove us to the Lighthouse, and picked us up (no charge)!

Mary

Nancy-Sounds like a great place! We'll have to check it out in Nov! What all have you done there and is this your 1st trip to the island? Enjoy the rest of your stay-can't wait to go back!!--Mary

Nancy Shumacher

To Mary: This is our third visit to Grand Cayman, and we love it here. We spent time snorkelling here at the inn, sunbathing, swimming in the pool, reading, surfing the Internet and e-mailing friends and family back home. We also toured the island a couple of times, stopping at the mini-zoo and the Botanic Park. Most of all, we relaxed. But we'll be leaving Sunday; our vacation wasn't long enough!

Jackie

We are looking at the Turtle Nest Inn for March 2000. Did you have any problems with the current and was the beach/water good for kids? It sounds like a great place (I've been to the website).

paulo

Dear Mary and everyone..lived in Cayman for five years and never got tired of the East End..Bodden town, The Breakers
and all...however, be good souls and remind everyone that the wiley islanders have pegged our great US dollar at 80 cents Cayman, making the trip relatively
expensive ...in fact very expensive!!!

M.B.

EXTRA REMINDER to CANADIANS!!!!

If the U.S. dollar is worth 80 cents Cayman, then for we Canadians ( and we've been there ) the trip is outrageously expensive.

atltom

The Turtle Inn sounds great. How does its beach compare to those on 7 mile? What activities are must do on the east side?

Tom

Busted

The beach at the TNI is not the silky smooth sand that you find on 7MB ... there is a bit of turtle grass right off the shore that you have to wade through and the beach is pebbly because there is a reef right off the shore. Although you can walk a little way, you can't walk for long stretches on the beach as you can on 7MB. The owners name is Alain, which seems to be the name in the email address that started this thread... hmmm.....

xyz

I stayed at this place in May and it was a dump. Tiny rooms in need of maintenance. The "beach" has an odor to it-can't explain. It is also in Boddentown in the middle of nowhere. Don't be fooled by the low price; you get what you pay for.

nina

Puhleeze! The owner of this inn didn't even attempt to hide the fact that he wrote the original post (Check the email addresses), and probably made phony responses to them as well. It may very well be a perfectly fine place, but the thinly veiled attempt at free advertising here is pretty tacky.

Sandy

Definite SPAM !!!

Scott

This is DEFINITELY the owner posting his own advertisment. His name is Alain (check the email) and he had also posted on other boards the exact same message. Must be awfully slow at TNI to have to pose as a tourist. BUYER BEWARE!!

bb

that sort of posing on message boards is common but usually much more subtle. there is a us virgin islands web site out there that is heavily manipulated by groups like tourist and villa owners associations. they employ all the common techniques in a fairly subtle fashion like fake trip reports, disparaging the competition (other islands), quickly removing any content that might impact tourism (crime discussions, negative reviews), and ganging-up on anyone not helping their cause. of course a lot of the content on message boards is legitimate, and there are loads of trolls and unfair negative criticisms as well. but with a little practice it's fairly easy to pick out the business owners, travel agents, etc who have a hidden agenda.

sue

I doubt if the Einstein who started this post realized it could return to haunt him. Since I saw this I was looking at reviews for that Inn on different sites and its amazing how many are suspiciously overly positive. Many different reviews say "I would never stay anywhere else", which seems a bit suspicious. I think its important to to mention some of the negatives about soemthing you are recommending so that it isn't mistaken for a total fraud.

AZ

I think it's outrageous that this clown that that is affiliated with the TURTLE NEST INN is attempting to use this message board to deceive folks. I think this needs to be brought to the attention to the GC Chamber of Commerce or whatever organization exists on the island to protect consumers. Lying to the public is not going to help your business dumbass!