This hotel is a mixed bag. Good points are 1) room was clean and 2) nice beach with a good bar and snorkeling a few yards offshore. Bad points are 1) major road between the hotel and the highway so forget about opening a window and listening to the surf, 2) no balconies so you are room bound, and 3) the hotel is in the middle of nowhere with the closest store, much less restaurant, a fifteen minute hike - if you choose this hotel be sure to rent a car or the taxi fares will kill you. I would not go back as when I am on a beach vacation I want to be on and able to appreciate the beach and ocean from my room and that's not happening here.

This hotel sucks! The staff are unhelpful and dishonest. Management is terrible. Their are major organizational probems. Room service is awful. Staff dont understand properly English. Very limited restaurant menu choices. There is a nice pool but its in the back of the hotel and in the shade.

AVOID at all costs!

My friend and I are just back from a week at the Courtyard by Marriott in Grand Cayman. We had a great vacation. Our primary purpose was to snorkel in addition to enjoying the beach. The Courtyard was the perfect location. We could snorkel right off the beach across from the hotel and saw lots of interesting, even unusual varieties of fish and sea creatures. We booked an ocean-view room from which we saw beautiful sunsets. The room itself was very nice. We ate several dinners in the hotel restaurant as well as lunches at the beach-front grill. All were excellent. I had breakfast at the hotel and appreciated their willingness to allow substitutions since I have several dietary restrictions. The service staff were all very pleasant.

We were able to walk to Neptune's for a special dinner and to Eats (across from the Westin) for another good, but less expensive dinner. Food prices are generally high throughout the island. This is to be expected since nearly everyting is imported. We also had a good lunch at Thai Orchid one day on our way back from Georgetown. (Lunch prices are half the dinner prices.) We used the local buses (vans) to get into town and saved a lot that way.

My husband and I stayed at the Courtyard, Grand Cayman from Feb.13-24, 2008. What a lovely vacation we had! The Courtyard staff provided outstanding accommodation to all our needs. They were friendly if we wanted or needed information or just to chat and unobtrusive when we wanted solitude or privacy. The rooms were attractive, (Marriott beds are always comfortable) clean, and a great value. I really loved the glass/bowl fresh flower arrangements on each floor and all over the lobby. We had an ocean view room with three palm trees right outside our window. Each morning we looked out to find several Blue Iguanas in the palm trees just basking in the sun. The pool was quiet and relaxing, with lots of shade if you didn’t want to be in the sun all day.

The in-house restaurant was forgettable, and a little too pricey for the breakfast buffet, (go to Eats café for a good reasonably priced breakfast instead), but the beachfront Gecko Bar has great sandwiches and drinks. The bartenders and servers are very friendly (Especially Edsell, Maria, Jose, and Ken), and they make a great Mudslide. Wednesday night they had an all you can eat BBQ for $25 with live music and a fantastic view of the sunset.

Other reviewers have mentioned the superiority of the beach right across the street and I heartily agree it is one of the best locations on seven-mile beach. The first day we walked over to the beach, one of the Marriott staff directed us to empty chairs and offered to set up an umbrella before we even asked. It was never crowded and the water is just beautiful. We went snorkeling right off the beach and it was great.

We did go check out the other Marriott, and the beach there is a skinny strip with the chairs right on top of each other and other properties so close it had a claustrophobic feel to it. The inside amenities are more elaborate, but it doesn’t make up for the quality of the beach, and the noise from the construction going on next door was very annoying. I definitely would not pay more to stay there. The location of the Courtyard is way better traffic wise, too. It’s right next to the bypass and that main drag can get very congested.

Needless to say, I didn’t want to come home.