Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa

What an outstanding property. The staff and management are top notch. Highly recommend staying here.

This is my second time at the Kimpton Seafire and I absolutely love this slice of heaven. The resort is quiet and elegant and every spot you look at is instagramable! The staff bends over backwards to help you an anything you want or need is achievable. From the valet to the concierge and front desk but the stand out star on this trip is Susan from housekeeping. She had our room and you can tell she loves this room and takes her job seriously. She is sweet and kind and my bf and I were so appreciative for her. This is a great resort and I would come back again and again.

The Kimpton Seafire is a comfortable, sunny beach resort with friendly service, stunning sea views, and the best cocktail bar in at least the Western Hemisphere. Check-in, after a brief taxi ride from the airport, was seamless. The hotel is large, with another sister property next door, and during our stay it seemed to be popular with families and shareholder meetings for vague Caymanian corporations alike. Despite the bustle, we rarely had to wait for service either in our room or at the restaurants. Our seaview room was clean and spacious, with a balcony overlooking the beach (with the restaurant in between) and all the required amenities. On to the beach: the Seafire's beachfront on Grand Cayman's Seven Mile Beach, which is rightfully known for both exquisite sunsets and global tourism. Going up the beach in either direction will lead you to more beach bars, for-rent cabanas, and mooring stations for novelty-themed jet skis than you can shake a towel at. This is not the place to go for that secluded, lost island feel, but it is undeniably beautiful and the liveliness is, for the most part, fun and friendly. It compared favorably in our mind to the beachfront at the Ritz in Miami: fewer hawkers and jaded partiers, more young people having a good time and families making memories. There is even a public beach leading from a park a few hundred feet down, which is a very nice and necessary reminder of local life. The Seafire beach experience opens at 8 am, and the 'good seats' in the front row do fall prey to the age-old tactic of leaving a magazine or a towel out to claim a seat before going back in to apply sunscreen or have breakfast, but we came out between 8:30 and 9:30 every morning and managed to get into the second row pretty consistently. Beachfront service begins at 11 and was fairly efficient, although it did take until the last day for us to learn that you could order not only from the beach bar menu, but also from the newly-established pool cabana bar. This was a shame, because we had been leaving our spot to go up to the pool for lunch. The pool itself looked nice and was certainly popular with visitors, although we preferred the beach for swimming and sunbathing. Seafire also offers a broad array of water activities, including paddleboard, jet ski, and even boat rentals, which we did not attempt. Besides the beach bar and the pool bar, both of which had decent lunch and snack options and plenty of fun beach-y cocktails and mocktails, the dining options at the Seafire itself are somewhat limited. The two restaurant concepts contained in the single restaurant space, Ave and Avecita, are both fine, not great. The prices are steep for what is, essentially, some alright Med-inspired menus; you might do better looking elsewhere on the island. The Seafire is walking-distance from an area with a few nicer restaurants, including Door Number Four, which we enjoyed. The Seafire Pantry concept, essentially a little cafe-style breakfast setup, is very nice for getting a quick pastry (or fruit bowl) and coffee on the way to the beach. The bar in the hotel, the Library by the Sea, is so remarkable that it made the entire trip worth it, and will be the subject of a separate review. Staying at the Seafire without giving this bar its full due is a crime against taste.

We returned to the Kimpton Seafire three years after our first visit and the property and service were still outstanding. The resort is immaculately maintained by the staff. They seem to anticipate every need and are diligent in their efforts. They are constantly cleaning and keeping things refreshed, including housekeeping in the rooms. We rented a day bed on the beach two of the days we were there. The dining options are top notch. We enjoyed the tasting menu at Ave and were blown away. We had an oceanfront suite on the third floor with spectacular views. Every need was attended to with professionalism and genuine care. I hope to return to enjoy this wonderful property again.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: expect a million KIDS under age 5. Dinner at 8 p.m. with kids running around tables or crying was not ideal. It was hard to find a peaceful nook. Even the Library Bar had kids sitting on bar stools. The happy hour from 5-6p: also a ton of kids, coming in from the pool/beach with wet bathing suits, sitting on the couches, grabbing hors d'oeuvres by the handful. LOCATION: the beach is "nice". But far from the best stretch of beach as it claims to be. (Walked the beach and discovered that the Westin has a much nicer beachfront). KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: the SEAFIRE allows only half of their beach chairs front row access (plan to get up and out there by 7:30 a.m to get a front row chair). The other half only allows front row chairs IF you RENT A CABANA/clamshell lounger for the day. Sort of rude to request guests to spend MORE money? Those "paid" chairs were unoccupied for most of our stay. (the Westin has many more chairs and does not force you to rent a cabana to have front row chairs). FOOD: The restaurants are amazing. Ave is top notch. But KNOW you will likely share tables or sit directly next to families with small children. Also, the happy hour from 5-6p includes red and white wine and minimal hors d'oeuvres - miniature fried egg rolls one night, miniature fried empanadas another - so the snacks are not worth carving out time for - or to share wet couches with children grabbing them by the handful. ROOMS: Beautiful. Service was amazing. We had a beautiful view of the beach. STAFF: AMAZING! So accommodating and lovely!! 5 STAR SERVICE! OVERALL: Find another hotel if you are going as a couple and come for dinner one night.