Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman Finally Opened this Week

The long-delayed inauguration of the $500 million, 365-room Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands took place in three stages with the opening this week of 40 rooms, two restaurants, the Silver Palm Lounge and a pool bar. Another 173 rooms will follow on December 22, and the remainder will open on January 7.

In addition, the La Prairie Spa and the Ambassadors of the Environment children´s program will be operational during the holiday season. A nine-hole Greg Norman-designed golf course will open in February.

The Ritz-Carlton, which broke ground in September 1999 on a 144-acre site that stretches from North Sound to Seven Mile Beach, originally was scheduled to open in December 2004, but its opening was pushed back a year due to damage brought by Hurricane Ivan in the fall of 2004.

More than 750 employees, selected from a pool of 14,000 applicants, will staff the hotel.