My wife and I will be staying at the Westin at the end of March/early April. We love sitting on the beach and reading, but we're fair skinned and can't take too much sun. In the past we've always sat under an umbrella on the beach, but there are no umbrellas in the pictures I've seen. We don't want to sit by the pool.

I called the hotel, and they said Red Sail Sports will rent us an umbrella of some sort.

Can anyone who has been to the Westin tell us what we should expect? Is it simply a daily rental at Red Sail, and will it be what we are expecting? Or is there (for reasons I would not be able to understand) no real option to sit in the shade on the beach?

If the latter, we'll probably change our plans. Thanks.

what Westin?

Sorry, didn't realize the post goes beyond the Caymans newsgroup. Westin Casuarina in Grand Cayman.

send an email to Tom:
[email protected]

He owns/operates resort on the island...he might be able to answer your question

Yikes, hotels will start charging for inroom safes and coat hangers soon

I guess if the hotel says they will charge for this, then they will... but you can reach Red Sail at http://www.redsailcayman.com/gc_index.html to confirm

I'm sure there will be some option for beach umbrellas.

I would note that Seven Mile Beach faces due West, which is great for sunsets, but not so great if you are trying to stay out of the afternoon sun.

One of the reasons why The Reef is popular as a beach resort is that a) all of our suites are beachfront, and b) we face pretty much due East.

As a result, we get gorgeous sunrises, but by late morning people who want to avoid the sun but still enjoy the view and the ocean breezes can do so on their shady patios / balconies.

As we have that shade option we don't have beach umbrellas either, but we do have a bunch of shade palms which are pretty popular !

I wouldn't worry about an umbrella. The Westin has many large Causarina pine trees that give good shade. You may have to move your chair to keep out of the sun as it moves, but the amount of shade is good.

Why not just bring one (beach umbrella) with you, wouldn't take up any room in your suitcase. We have several we keep on our boat and they come in handy.

The Westin has no umbrella's on the beach. My husband and I are also fair skinned and I have Melanoma in my family. Two days of the week that we were there, the shady areas that would have covered us were unavailable to us as they were setting up for conventions. (Conventions are VERY big at the Westin and those people get special attention). I got the worst burn there that I have ever had. In the future, we would do a condo for that reason as well as others,i.e. the drinks at the bar were very expensive. That part of 7MB is famous because of it's good beach location, but there are other options.

To Knowing, Red Sail Sports has told me that they rent beach umbrellas for $9 /day. Did you try to do this and find that it was not available? Your message certainly scares me!

dgrahamr - Red Sail at the Westin in GC rents these things that are like small tents or cabanas. I've been to GC twice, and each time I noticed quite a few of them when I walked past the Westin. They look like a great way to stay out of that blazing GC sun.

Hi dgrahamr,
Yes, Red Sail Sports does rent umbrella's. My point is more that the Westin is already hitting people up with surcharges and at some point, we as travelers need to start saying to these hotels that we are not going to be nickeled and dimed for everything on our vacations. We are getting so used to paying for parking at resorts, etc. that we've stopped questioning why we are already paying good money and the resorts should be taking care of these things for us. We just returned from Kauai and used cabana's and still got sun on my legs, so I'm not sure an umbrella is always the answer anyway. In the case of the Westin, I felt like the trees would have been my best option,but as I said, they were using those areas to set up for the conventions.

What they rent at the WEstin are not umbrellas - they are like canopies that completely go over your beach chair. You can face them any way you want and be totally protected from the sun. There are however, so many trees along the beach that I can't imagine that you wouldn't be able to find a shady spot. Also, the pool area is right next to the beach and is very shaded as well.