Top Mistakes Tourists Make in the Caribbean (and How to Avoid Them)

Hey there, fellow travelers. Mark here with Walters World, and today we're here in the Cayman Islands. Today we're going to talk about are some of the common tourist mistakes that tourists make when they come to the Caribbean, whether here in the Cayman Islands, they're going to Jamaica, or maybe they're heading to Turks and Caicos, or Trinidad and Tobago. There's some mistakes that tend to happen for first time travelers here, and I want to make sure you don't make those mistakes, so you can have a great time when you're here. And I think one thing, I just need to get it out of the way first, the elephant in the room. Look, one of the mistakes people make when they're thinking about coming to the Caribbean is thinking they're going to find a budget Caribbean island. There is no budget Caribbean island. You talk to the locals, they will tell you there is no budget Caribbean island. It is expensive. You're an island, everything has to be brought in. So the food, the drink, that's expensive. Accommodation, the flights here, because it's a tourist destination for the Caribbean, those things are gonna be more expensive. So don't think you're going to find a budget trip here. They're all ways you can save money, you know, finding a good deal, maybe doing the all inclusive, maybe coming in the shoulder season or off season. But in general, it's going to cost you money, just accept it. And once you accept that, it's a lot easier to kind of enjoy your trip, because then you're not like, oh my gosh, everything's so expensive. Yes, just accept it and move on. Now another mistake I want to talk about really at the beginning is about cruise ship and cruise travelers. And this is kind of a safety mistake that a lot of cruisers make when they go cruising the Caribbean, they think, oh, the cruise port's gonna be totally fine. I'm not gonna worry about anything because all the tourists come there. So the locals are gonna look out for us, the police are gonna look out for us, everything will be fine. No, that is not the case. The cruise port is the perfect spot to pickpocket, three monty, you know, the little card shuffle kind of thing. Those kind of things, you need to pay the most attention actually in the cruise ports, when you're getting off your cruise, getting on your buses and stuff to go to your excursions, or going to explore, or going to walk into the little shops, because, dude, those shops, they're probably ripping you up more than anybody else will, right? So you want to think about that and pay attention when you're getting off your cruises. Also, I think a mistake people make when they come and they're cruising here in, uh, in the Caribbean, is not finding out what is the, uh, what's the situation to get off the boat? Is it a tender, like you get on the boat, you get from the boat to another boat to go in, like here in the Cayman Islands? Or is it one of those places where you can just walk right off and you're in the city? And that's one of those things, if you have limited mobility, or you got a lot of kids, that might be something to kind of think about. So don't make the mistake, check those out beforehand, okay, before you go. Another mistake I see tourists make when they come to the Caribbean is they don't do their research on what the right island is for them. I'll be honest, if you're worried about your safety, you're like, look, I don't want to, I want to be safe, I don't have to worry about anything. You come to the Caymans, you go to Turks and Caicos, that's gonna be a lot safer, a lot more chill, a lot more, hey, it's just tourists, mind your own business kind of stuff. If you want some of this more, I want more culture, I want to meet the people and feel alive, then you're gonna go to Jamaica, or maybe go to Puerto Rico, you're gonna have that. And when people don't do that research, you just think, oh, all-inclusive resort, who cares? No, it does make a difference. So do the research to find the right island for you, because believe me, it will pay off, because some of them, you'll fall in love with, like, we love the Cayman Islands, we love Jamaica. Turks and Caicos, that relax and repeat and do nothing thing drove me crazy, but Jocelyn loved it, but that's something you got to think about. I think another mistake, since we're here on the beach, I got to tell you this. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that, oh, I'm going to the Caribbean, all it is, is a beach vacation. No, no, no, my friends, here in the Cayman Islands. So what have we done so far while we've been here? Oh, I don't know. We wrangled starfish, we got to hold stingrays, we got to swing, swing, we got to swim with turtles. Yeah, we got to do that. When we were in Jamaica, we got to go to the natural slides and jump off things in the, in the holes and do all kinds of adventure tourism stuff. In Puerto Rico, we got to see the history that was there. I mean, you have so much more than just beaches. Now, don't get me wrong, beaches can be awesome. But eventually, you might want to do something. That's why it's important to find those things, because it's not just beaches here. Go and explore, because you can do some really great cultural adventures when you're in the Caribbean. Whether it is a cultural thing, maybe you learn local dances, or maybe you learn how to cook local food, or you do tours to understand how the history of the island is. You can get so much more out of it than just a beautiful town. And when you're at the beaches, or you're at the sites, when you're going around, I think another mistake people make is they think all the people that are trying to sell them the little tchotchkes, the little souvenir stuff at the beaches, at the port, they think, oh, they're all trying to rip you off. They're not. That is how people make a living. You're in Jamaica, there's not a safety net there. If they don't sell something, their family doesn't eat, okay? So you want to be, like, taking that seriously, like, hey, you know what? I don't need anything, but I respect your product. Thank you. Good luck. Boom, fist bump. I've gotten so much respect that way, and no problems. But I have seen other tourists get really upset with us. Why don't they leave me alone? I'm here on vacation. They should leave me alone, because I want a vacation here. No, no, they're trying to make a living, and just realize that. Once you realize that, it's like, hey, yo, man, I respect you trying to do this. I don't need it, all right? I- what I always say is, like, I already got all my souvenirs, but I respect you. Thanks, man. Fist bump, and we're all good. Like, I've had that all over the Caribbean, we've been traveling around. So do be aware of that, okay? Now, another mistake I see tourists make is they come to the Caribbean, they go to all-inclusives, which is totally cool, but they think everything is included in the all-inclusive. That is not true. Those cool excursions that they show you on the website? Yeah, those are usually extra. Oh, you want to go to the fancy dinner, like the specialty restaurant? Yeah, that's usually not included, and then you have to pay more for that. So make sure when you're picking your own inclusive, see what actually is included, or isn't included, and check at the newest pictures, okay? Because I will say, another mistake people make is they trust Instagram. They trust those pictures in the TripAdvisor and other things. You got to realize, a lot of those are staged. Those influencers, they make it look really good, and you might see that, oh, that beach actually got washed away at our hotel, so it's actually not there anymore, and, oh, that part of the restaurant actually closed down. I didn't know that. So you do want to check those things out. And whether you're staying at an all-inclusive, or you're doing your own accommodation stuff, another mistake I think people make is they wait until they get to a destination to book excursions, and you got to be careful, because you're coming at spring break, Christmas time, Thanksgiving, when there's tons of tourists in the Caribbean, those things book out. You might not get to go to Stingray City and hook up with the stingrays when you're out there. You might not get to go to some of the things in Jamaica, because, hey, we're all booked out, there's nothing left for us. So you got to be careful with that. So to recommend is look and see what you want to do beforehand and pre-book. You know, talk to your hotel about booking there, look online, find respectable, you know, tour agencies, and then book with them, so it's already taken care of. If you're on a cruise, they might already have their excursions, you get those things set up. But if you want to do one on your own, because remember, if you're on a cruise, you do the cruise excursions, everyone's problem is your problem, right? So you might want to be careful with that. So maybe you can book your own. I mean, I think that's a mistake is not booking your own excursions from your port, so you can have that already set up. So they're holding a sign saying, Walter's family, and then we can go. So be aware of that. Now let's get back to the water. And when I talk about the water, I think one mistake people make is they drink the tap water. Yeah, most of the places in the Caribbean, you cannot drink the tap water, you got to be careful with that. Also, some places you can't throw your toilet paper down the toilet, it'll stop it up. So you got to put it in the bin next to it. Some place you can, some places you can't, make sure you know that beforehand. But a real safety thing with the water is tourists don't notice the signs like, hey, there's no lifeguards on the beach here in the Caymans. Okay, they're there, people are just here having a good time, but it's at your own risk, or they're not, you know, they're ignoring the signs for hey, rip tides here or here, like when you're the Caymans, you don't swim past the reef because it literally drops off 6000 feet, and it becomes very unsafe very quickly. So be safe around the water, whether you're drinking it or swimming in it. And if you're coming to the Caribbean, one of the things that really kind of scares people off of the Caribbean is kind of the safety issues. Like people are worried, can I leave, you know, the property like we're in the Dominican Republic, people like, hey, are you going to leave the property go explore like we did, but I made sure I knew what we could do what we couldn't do. Other places, it's totally fine to leave the resort. And I think that's one of the things you have to realize you can't be silly with your safety when you come to the Caribbean. Some place like the Cayman, you know, the Caymans, Aruba, pretty safe place, you're gonna be okay going around. Other places, yo, you need to be careful when you're going out. Sometimes, Jamaica, I don't drive Jamaica by myself, we hire a driver, a local driver to drive us around and make sure everything like is copacetic. And I will say if you do run a car when you come to the Caribbean, one, don't forget to get all the insurance, because yeah, just just make sure you don't forget that. But I would say this is, if you feel like you're going in the wrong direction, don't be afraid to turn around, like, oh, but I have to go back on the tollway, go back on the tollway, pay it again, get out where you don't need to be. Because there are parts that you shouldn't be in. And I think that's the thing people forget is that they think they come to the Caribbean, they come, if you're coming from the US, it's so close. I mean, for me, it's faster for me to get the Caribbean than get to California, right? So it's like people are like, oh, I'm so close to home, it's gonna be like home. Yeah, that's a mistake people make, they think it's gonna be like home, you do have to adjust. There's different cultures in all these islands, different food, different situations, you do, you need to do that research to be ready for that. Just be open minded to it, but also be smart about what you're doing. When I think about being smart with what you're doing, I think one, one thing is you have to realize you're coming here to the Caribbean, look, you don't usually want to come between June and November, because that's hurricane season, right? Usually, you know, June, June to like middle of November, that's when it's there. So if you are going to come at that time, well, one realize in the summer, it's super hot, September, October is like when it's the rainiest, probably like here in the Caymans, that's when it's rainiest. But hurricanes can come at any of those times. Okay, so if you're going to come at those times, make sure you don't make the mistake of not getting the travel insurance, in case you have to cancel. Otherwise, you could be out a lot of money. And speaking of timing, not just the year time, but also mistake tourists make is timing when you come to the Caribbean, and realizing that island time is not the time you're used to. If you're from the US, you're from Germany, you're from the UK, you're used to like, yes, eight o'clock is eight o'clock. No, island time, things take longer. And you need to have that patience. When you're going out to eat, when you're waiting for your excursions, when you're doing things, it just takes a little bit longer. If you have that patience in your mind, you're going to be okay. Don't like don't have anything last minute, you got to rush, rush, rush. Because in the Caribbean, there is no such thing as rush, rush, rush, because island time is a thing. Okay. And so we're on the islands. And I think another thing I want to talk about in terms of mistake is paying for the sun. You have to realize is some places like in the Caymans, you have public beaches you can go to for free. Other islands, the good beaches are private beaches, you might have to pay for it. So maybe what you want to look for is the accommodation you have, see if they have beach access that's included, because then it can save you 20 bucks or 10 bucks a person to get there, or something, because that's one of those things to realize is, oh, some of the things you thought were going to be free won't be free. You know, if you're going to, like, it's not just the all inclusive that, oh, wait, you want to use a snorkel, it's another five bucks. But it could be, oh, you want to sit on the beach, hey, that's gonna be a little bit extra. And if we're gonna talk about laying in the sun, I think a mistake a lot of tourists make, and I see this every time I come to the Caribbean, the purple tourists. Look, if you're like me, you're from the northern US, or you're from Europe, look, the sun you have in Europe, even in Spain and Portugal, is nowhere near as intense as what you have in the Caribbean. So if you come down here, and you're here for your Christmas break, you're, you're pasty white like this, you're gonna fry. You need to make sure you don't just have like sunblock, you have like 50 sunblock, you're reapplying, have the hat, have the shirts to go down. Look, maybe you look like a dork when you're swimming around, but do you want to look purple? Because then you look like a fool. So be safe with the sun when you do come. And that kind of leads into another thing, I think a mistake tourists make is they don't bring the little things with them for the beach, they don't bring the sunblock, they don't bring the bug spray, they don't bring the sandals, and they end up buying it in the Caribbean. And when you get in the Caribbean, whether you're in Cancun, you're in Caymans, or, you know, Barbados, or whatever, those things cost a lot more than back home. So if you're gonna check a bag, throw in that big bottle of 50 SPF, you know, if you're gonna throw that, you know, off bug spray in there, have those things there, so you bring it with you, so you don't have to pay extra. So if you're going to go swimming with the turtles, have that bag that's going to go over your phone, so you can take the pictures underwater, or bring that underwater cam you got back in the 90s, bring it back to life, do that, because you try to do when you're here, you're going to pay a lot more for it. So that's a mistake I see people make is you can end up spending hundreds of dollars to make up with things like in Jamaica, make sure you bring your water shoes from home, because next thing you know, you're going to be going to like the blue hole, and then you got to pay 20 bucks a person to get the water shoes. Now another thing I think is a mistake tourists make is they don't bring US dollars. Look, I don't care where you come from in the world, when you come to the Caribbean, pretty much everywhere will take US dollars, and the local currency. Yes, maybe the exchange rate is not the best for you, but they'll take it and you can use it, always have small bills, it makes your life easier. My cruise friends, mistake is not having ones, fives, and tens. When you go to those cruise ports, because some of those little souvenirs you want to get cash makes it faster, you don't have to worry about it. Okay, so have that, but it's US dollars. And if you're going to be getting money out the ATM, don't make the mistake of doing it in the street, always going to a bank to do it just because it's a little bit safer. Because that's a safety thing I want you to kind of think about. And another thing where you feel like you really get ripped off is a mistake is not looking at resort fees. Because sometimes you go to an all inclusive, you go to a hotel, and you're like, oh, it's perfect, everything's there. They told me the price, and then you get there, there's an extra like $400 on your bill, you're like, wait, where'd this come from? Oh, that's our $35 a day resort fee. That's not on our listed thing. That's just for every day you're here, you know, for the right to use the pool and the right to have the Wi Fi. What? Yeah, so make sure you don't make the mistake of just booking. Make sure there's a way they can select put all the prices in. So all the taxes, all the fees, everything's in there. So you know you're really gonna pay because otherwise you might have a sticker shock at the end when you check out. Oh, also mistake is thinking you can get any resorts early here in the Caribbean, just know you might be paying or you might leave your stuff, they'll call you back. But that's one of those issues I see people have. They get here, that early morning flight, they're here at like 10 in the morning, hey, can we get in early? No, check-ins at four. So be aware of that. Now something else you should do, because a mistake if you didn't do it before you came is arranging your airport transport. I mean, getting from the airport, to your resort, to your hotel, to your Airbnb, wherever you're staying. Because I'll be honest with you, no matter where you fly into the Caribbean, it seems like there's a horde of taxi people going, hey, you need a ride, need a ride, need a ride, need a ride, need a ride, you're like, ah, and it kind of can be overwhelming. It's easy to get ripped off. So what I recommend is have your transport already set up. So you walk out, you see that sign saying Mark Walters, look, you're going to use a taxi anyway. And if you do a driver's service, some are cheaper than the taxis, especially if a taxi rips you off. But also, in the end, that like, peace of mind, knowing that someone's there that's going to get you there, makes things so much easier. And some of them can actually meet you, like before security. So they're there taking you through security, getting you out of the airport even faster. And for some ti- some vacations, that's worth more than anything. Now a big thing, and I've talked about this before, but I just want to really repeat this is really mistake people make is thinking that every Caribbean island is the same. No, language, culture, food, people, they are different in the different islands. That's why it's cool to explore the different islands. Because I'll tell you, Cayman Islands is close to Jamaica, but they're totally different. You know, Puerto Rico is near Turks and Caicos-ish, but it's not really anything alike. Like you have such differences when you go around, that's really important. So if you want your kind of beach or relaxed vacation, like I said, Turks and Caicos, you want your culture, you go to Jamaica, you want to feel like, hey, I don't want to go like I'm, I live in New England, I want to feel like it's New England. In the Caribbean, you go to Aruba, right? And you have these things that are there that can be really great for you. But it's really important to know that the islands are different and doing the research makes a huge difference to it. But I think one of the things I got to tell you is making a mistake of realize there is one thing that's the same all over the Caribbean, great weather, fun people and a fun time. All right, so what are some of the mistakes you've seen tourists make on their first or 31st vacations to the Caribbean? Let us know in the comments below so we can have other travelers not make these mistakes. Just think of a great time when they're here, because I'll be honest, we've traveled all over the Caribbean, and every island we fall more in love with it. So if you want to see more stuff, we got videos on Jamaica, Aruba, Turks, San- San Juan, Cayman Islands, and other places around the Caribbean. Check those out at Wolters World. I want to say a special thank you to all of our members on YouTube, our patrons on Patreon to help us make videos like this we get up travelers like you have a great time traveling and I'll say bye from here in the Cayman Islands.