The Westin was a very nice hotel and the beach was unbelievable. The room was more than adequate since we did not have plans to spend much time in the room. I have gold SPG status and was upgraded to an ocean front with a nice balcony. I requested a mini fridge due to a need to keep medicine refrigerated and they had it in the room when we arrived. At check-in I also requested turn down service each night.

The pool and grounds were very beautiful and well maintained. We enjoyed relaxing by the pool when we became too hot on the beach. The beach is the best on 7 mile beach. We took two long walks, one south to the ship port and one north to the end of the hotels, and no other hotel/condo beach property compared. Even before we left I was ready to book our next trip to Grand Cayman and stay at the Westin.

Recommended activities: the stingrays are a must see even if the thought is a little scary. We went with Captain Marvins who has a location just across the street and next door to Eats/Legendz. We booked in advance online to save time of organizing it after we arrived. The website has multiple trip options and times. We went on the halfday tour with two snorkel sites and stingray city. Captain Marvins was very professional and well organized.

We also really enjoyed parasailing. The company the concierge & Red Sail usually recommends was repairing their boats the week we visited and therefore we booked with Eric (I think the boat was called Cloud Dancer). Eric charges $60 per person instead of $100 charged by the company recommended by the hotel. When you are on the beach and see the various parasail boats, Eric’s is the red boat with the rainbow colored parasail. I have always been terrified of heights, but decided to try parasailing and loved it. The views were amazing. I would highly recommend asking the hotel to call Eric at [--] and book a parasailing appointment instead of wasting money with the more expensive company.

Restaurants: We had breakfast at Eats across the street most days. It has a good variety and is relatively inexpensive for the island. One day we drove to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast which is behind the Butterfly Farm near the Marriott. They had the usual donut selection but did not carry any of the breakfast sandwiches that the US locations do, and they only accept cash. Our last morning we had a quick breakfast of fruit and muffins from Café Soleil in the hotel.

Twice we had lunch by the pool. They had a variety of sandwiches and wraps and were reasonably priced for the convenience of staying on the beach instead of getting dressed and going out for lunch. The brunette waitress was very nice and she did not add a default tip on the bill. The blonde waitress was snotty and included an automatic tip, so watch your bill as you would not want to add extra tip for rude service. One day we walked across the street to the Sunshine Grill located in the suites behind Captain Marvin/Eats. It was fairly good and inexpensive, but I did not find it to be as impressive as other reviews have said. A notable lunch was at Chiken!Chicken! in a shopping center down the street (probably too far to walk). It was excellent, filling, and very reasonably priced. We stopped at ICOA for our final lunch on the way back to the airport. The Frommers pocket guide to the Cayman Islands says it is a sandwich shop which is what we needed for a quick lunch before our flight. Apparently they have changed their focus since the guide was printed. It now seems to be more of a trendy café. When we entered we asked if they had sandwiches and they said yes have a seat. But when the waiter brought the menu it was all lunches we did not have time for them to cook before our flight. We got up to leave and the waiter came back and suddenly had a sandwich menu. The sandwiches were good and reasonably priced.

The first night we had dinner at Legendz because it is right across the street and we were still getting oriented. They have an extensive menu with lots of chicken and burger options (similar to Chili’s). Our favorite dinner place was Casanova’s. The food was excellent and the location was beautiful right on the water. We liked it so much we ate there twice. We also tried Ragazzi and the food was pretty good. But it was located in a strip mall, and that is not the atmosphere we were looking for on a Caribbean vacation. I wish we had picked another restaurant that was waterfront instead. One night we drove to the Lighthouse. The food and service were both good, but it was more expensive than the other restaurants we tried. And getting thtere was very difficult. It looks easy and close on the map, but took much longer than expected and there were many streets and roundabouts that were not marked on the map. Basically more effort than it’s worth to get there unless you will be in the area for another reason I would recommend sticking to choices on seven mile beach.

As most people note, food and drinks are fairly expensive on the island. We bought liquor in the duty free on the way over and picked up pops/bottled water on the way to the hotel to cut down on the drink expense. There is a sign on the beach that says you can’t bring your own beverages, but it was not an issue to keep our drinks put up in our bags. And you can get the hotel’s plastic cups by two water jugs near the pool and shower.

Service was hit and miss in the hotel. Some people could not go far enough out of their way to assist you, others acted like it inconvenienced their whole day to hand you a pool towel. It was an odd combination, but we didn’t let it bother our trip. It was by far the most relaxing vacation I have been on, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Westin to anyone.