Grand Cayman

[JDC]

We are debating booking an excursion in Grand Cayman or simply using their public transport and/or taxis to visit the same places. A couple of people have suggested to me that Grand Cayman is very safe and easy to navigate without a pre booked excursion. They have some of the options we like listed as excursions but they seem very rushed at 3.5 hours when our ship is scheduled to be in port for 10 hours. Not looking to push it, but I think all of the excursions would be much more relaxed and enjoyable with the freedom not being with the official excursion group would allow. 

FYI we are looking at the dolphin encounter, turtle center, or possible the manta ray. 

We think we could do one or two of the above and stop of for an hour at the beach and still leave for the ship by 4 for an on board time of 6. 

Does anyone here have experience going it alone? 

If you book an excursion and decide to stay longer or explore something else can you ditch your group?

 

[need2cruz]

Welcome to the forums.  I've used the public transportation bus in Grand Cayman.  But we used it to get to a resort on 7 mile beach and stay there.  This was back in 2019 and the bus was just a few dollars.   We enjoyed being on the really small "buses".  They really were really vans that looked like VW buses.  We enjoyed talking to some locals on the trips.  Their bus system operated a little like a taxi, where they could take you off of a regular route.  We stayed on the regular route, though.   For the amount of places you want to go, I am guessing either familiarize yourself with the bus routes 1st, or consider using a taxi service.  I have no experience with taxis there.  Hopefully, someone else can give you some better advice.  Iv'e only been to Grand Cayman a few times and all the other times we did cruise ship excursions.

[EJK]

Not yet, but this is what we are planning for our stop in Grand Cayman in November.  We toured Bermuda by public transportation and had a great time.  I've found a couple of you tube videos on the bus (really vans) system in Grand Cayman, found a few articles on the routes and it seems completely doable.  We're thinking of taking the green or yellow line to the turtle center and then stopping at governor's beach on the way back, or skipping the turtle center and just going to the beach.  From what I read so far you can hop on/off anywhere along the rough and it's around 2.50 per person each way, and they take US money so we'll just plan to bring a bunch of small bills.  

Not sure when your cruise is but would love to know what you decided and how it went.