August 07 update

Interiors of first floor rooms are different from pictures, since Hurricane Ivan required water damages to be replaced. When accepting an exchange, the lockout is called a studio, which has a king bed, small sofa, small table with two chairs, dorm size refrigerator, NO stove top, microwave, toaster coffeemaker and dishware. It has a large bathroom, miniscule closet and entertainment center. The one bedroom unit is truly a one bedroom apartment with large kitchen, dining area and king bedded bedroom with bath that has two entry doors. The restaurant on site has good food. I may not fit the profile of timeshare vacationers, because the restaurant prices were too high for my budget. The bright spot (in Nov 2006) was the daily Happy Hour with about seven 2 for 1 drink specials. If you recover from the prices of hard liquor in the package stores, this Happy Hour is very pocket friendly! Construction of the Condotel buildings has begun with the building closest to the water underway. When I visited on Sunday, August 5th there were no blocks being laid, but I understand it is a quiet process. There are some palm trees nicely disguising the work site as of this writing. The hot tubs were replaced after Hurricane Ivan and are much nicer than the one shown in the photo. They are under a kind of cabana. Construction of the proposed lagoon pool has not begun as of August 07. There's a nice paperback book exchange off of the lobby, courtesy of a great activities director. She has many offerings for low key afternoon activities on site as well as a kid's club. Internet accress is available in the units, otherwise it is...an outrageous $3.00 per 15 minutes and the clock keeps running until you report to the desk to log you out. Bicycles are for rent at $10 per 24 hours. There has been a grocery shuttle if you don't want to rent a car for the whole week. New road construction has added about a mile for any taxi rides...and they are EXPENSIVE!!! We are entering our third year as owners at the Grand Caymanian. We are also owners at Plantation Village. We are very happy with our decisions to buy on this island. It is VERY low key compared to Nassau and the Bahamas. We lost two seasons at Plantation Village and one at the Grand Caymanian due to Hurricane Ivan. Hurricane Dean caused no structural damage at either resort. They were very serious about renovating with future hurricanes in mind!

It sounds to me that a lot of their plans have slowed or stalled since we bought three years ago. Do you find any trade value in this timeshare? Or are people going to The Ritz, Marriott and others instead?

michaelf37 wrote:

It sounds to me that a lot of their plans have slowed or stalled since we bought three years ago. Do you find any trade value in this timeshare? Or are people going to The Ritz, Marriott and others instead?

Hi, Xmas festivities put my computer time on the back burner! We stayed in Grand Cayman from Nov. 10th to dec. 8th this fall with flawless weather...actually cooler than usual (what the winter visitors pay BIG for). The update from Grand Caymanian as of then...the condotel plans have been dropped, transferring any purchasers to the adjoining luxury condo being planned. The finalization of Wyndham taking over the property and mgt. is scheduled for early 2008. The second section will be marketed as timeshares. The restaurant will be phased out into something much more informal. The Kids Club will be housed in a section of the restaurant buildng, as their current space will become part of the manager's apartment. Construction of the footings for the second phase had resumed while we were there. II still considers all time at GC as red. We noticed a nice thing developing among the returning owners in our time slots...couples and families checking calendars so they would be able to connect next year. The dive shop is one of the best to use for Stingray City. The videotaping is excellent...well worth the additional fee. My sister used them this year and had nothing but praise for the entire experience. The operators are stewards of the stingrays. The units remain in great condition with quick attention to any maintenance alerts. The marketing group still promotes the addition of a lagoon type pool along the beachfront, with a boardwalk linking us to the proposed Water's Edge luxury condo complex. As for visitors going to the big name hotels...those visitors want a different vacation experience than most timeshare owners. The beach in front of The Marriot has eroded again. The Hyatt will be leaving the island as of the end of 2007. The beach at the Westin and the Ritz is still wonderful. That's about it for now! MJ

maryjane37 wrote:

Interiors of first floor rooms are different from pictures, since Hurricane Ivan required water damages to be replaced. When accepting an exchange, the lockout is called a studio, which has a king bed, small sofa, small table with two chairs, dorm size refrigerator, NO stove top, microwave, toaster coffeemaker and dishware. It has a large bathroom, miniscule closet and entertainment center. The one bedroom unit is truly a one bedroom apartment with large kitchen, dining area and king bedded bedroom with bath that has two entry doors. The restaurant on site has good food. I may not fit the profile of timeshare vacationers, because the restaurant prices were too high for my budget. The bright spot (in Nov 2006) was the daily Happy Hour with about seven 2 for 1 drink specials. If you recover from the prices of hard liquor in the package stores, this Happy Hour is very pocket friendly! Construction of the Condotel buildings has begun with the building closest to the water underway. When I visited on Sunday, August 5th there were no blocks being laid, but I understand it is a quiet process. There are some palm trees nicely disguising the work site as of this writing. The hot tubs were replaced after Hurricane Ivan and are much nicer than the one shown in the photo. They are under a kind of cabana. Construction of the proposed lagoon pool has not begun as of August 07. There's a nice paperback book exchange off of the lobby, courtesy of a great activities director. She has many offerings for low key afternoon activities on site as well as a kid's club. Internet accress is available in the units, otherwise it is...an outrageous $3.00 per 15 minutes and the clock keeps running until you report to the desk to log you out. Bicycles are for rent at $10 per 24 hours. There has been a grocery shuttle if you don't want to rent a car for the whole week. New road construction has added about a mile for any taxi rides...and they are EXPENSIVE!!! We are entering our third year as owners at the Grand Caymanian. We are also owners at Plantation Village. We are very happy with our decisions to buy on this island. It is VERY low key compared to Nassau and the Bahamas. We lost two seasons at Plantation Village and one at the Grand Caymanian due to Hurricane Ivan. Hurricane Dean caused no structural damage at either resort. They were very serious about renovating with future hurricanes in mind!

M & M Crawford Frisco, Texas

markc315 wrote:

maryjane37 wrote:

Interiors of first floor rooms are different from pictures, since Hurricane Ivan required water damages to be replaced. When accepting an exchange, the lockout is called a studio, which has a king bed, small sofa, small table with two chairs, dorm size refrigerator, NO stove top, microwave, toaster coffeemaker and dishware. It has a large bathroom, miniscule closet and entertainment center. The one bedroom unit is truly a one bedroom apartment with large kitchen, dining area and king bedded bedroom with bath that has two entry doors. The restaurant on site has good food. I may not fit the profile of timeshare vacationers, because the restaurant prices were too high for my budget. The bright spot (in Nov 2006) was the daily Happy Hour with about seven 2 for 1 drink specials. If you recover from the prices of hard liquor in the package stores, this Happy Hour is very pocket friendly! Construction of the Condotel buildings has begun with the building closest to the water underway. When I visited on Sunday, August 5th there were no blocks being laid, but I understand it is a quiet process. There are some palm trees nicely disguising the work site as of this writing. The hot tubs were replaced after Hurricane Ivan and are much nicer than the one shown in the photo. They are under a kind of cabana. Construction of the proposed lagoon pool has not begun as of August 07. There's a nice paperback book exchange off of the lobby, courtesy of a great activities director. She has many offerings for low key afternoon activities on site as well as a kid's club. Internet accress is available in the units, otherwise it is...an outrageous $3.00 per 15 minutes and the clock keeps running until you report to the desk to log you out. Bicycles are for rent at $10 per 24 hours. There has been a grocery shuttle if you don't want to rent a car for the whole week. New road construction has added about a mile for any taxi rides...and they are EXPENSIVE!!! We are entering our third year as owners at the Grand Caymanian. We are also owners at Plantation Village. We are very happy with our decisions to buy on this island. It is VERY low key compared to Nassau and the Bahamas. We lost two seasons at Plantation Village and one at the Grand Caymanian due to Hurricane Ivan. Hurricane Dean caused no structural damage at either resort. They were very serious about renovating with future hurricanes in mind!

Can you tell me who to talk to about a timeshare at the Grand Caymanian - we are owners of timeshares in Cabo San Lucas . We are every interested in a time share in grand cayman - maybe trade a week to come there any advice or information

M & M Crawford Frisco, Texas

markc315 wrote:

maryjane37 wrote:

Interiors of first floor rooms are different from pictures, since Hurricane Ivan required water damages to be replaced. When accepting an exchange, the lockout is called a studio, which has a king bed, small sofa, small table with two chairs, dorm size refrigerator, NO stove top, microwave, toaster coffeemaker and dishware. It has a large bathroom, miniscule closet and entertainment center. The one bedroom unit is truly a one bedroom apartment with large kitchen, dining area and king bedded bedroom with bath that has two entry doors. The restaurant on site has good food. I may not fit the profile of timeshare vacationers, because the restaurant prices were too high for my budget. The bright spot (in Nov 2006) was the daily Happy Hour with about seven 2 for 1 drink specials. If you recover from the prices of hard liquor in the package stores, this Happy Hour is very pocket friendly! Construction of the Condotel buildings has begun with the building closest to the water underway. When I visited on Sunday, August 5th there were no blocks being laid, but I understand it is a quiet process. There are some palm trees nicely disguising the work site as of this writing. The hot tubs were replaced after Hurricane Ivan and are much nicer than the one shown in the photo. They are under a kind of cabana. Construction of the proposed lagoon pool has not begun as of August 07. There's a nice paperback book exchange off of the lobby, courtesy of a great activities director. She has many offerings for low key afternoon activities on site as well as a kid's club. Internet accress is available in the units, otherwise it is...an outrageous $3.00 per 15 minutes and the clock keeps running until you report to the desk to log you out. Bicycles are for rent at $10 per 24 hours. There has been a grocery shuttle if you don't want to rent a car for the whole week. New road construction has added about a mile for any taxi rides...and they are EXPENSIVE!!! We are entering our third year as owners at the Grand Caymanian. We are also owners at Plantation Village. We are very happy with our decisions to buy on this island. It is VERY low key compared to Nassau and the Bahamas. We lost two seasons at Plantation Village and one at the Grand Caymanian due to Hurricane Ivan. Hurricane Dean caused no structural damage at either resort. They were very serious about renovating with future hurricanes in mind!

Can you tell me who to talk to about a timeshare at the Grand Caymanian - we are owners of timeshares in Cabo San Lucas . We are every interested in a time share in grand cayman - maybe trade a week to come there any advice or information

M & M Crawford Frisco, Texas

M&M Crawford, Funny but I have a brother that lives in Frisco or realy McKinney. We have had our timeshare for awhile and haven't had the chance to return yet. We are scheduled for July 5th. Wondering what you have found out about getaways and sales? Thanks in advance,