An announcement on when the first cruise ships will begin returning to Cayman is expected to be made imminently, after a Thursday afternoon press conference was cancelled.
The government was due to hold a press conference at 2pm on Thursday, where Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan was expected to reveal the latest developments in discussions with the cruise industry on how and when passengers will disembark in Grand Cayman again.
In a post on his Facebook page, Premier Wayne Panton announced the briefing had been cancelled, but promised “an update on Cruise Tourism will be issued on Friday 25 February 2022”.
Back in December 2021, it seemed as though cruise tourism in Cayman was on the verge of resuming, with the government announcing a trial run of a single ship – Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam carrying 1,600 passengers – which was scheduled for 28 Dec. However, less than a week before the ship was due to arrive, as the more contagious Omicron variant took hold worldwide, the Cayman Islands government reversed that decision.
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 detected in Cayman – and the first virus-related death – involved a 68-year-old Italian passenger who was taken by ambulance from the Costa Luminosa cruise ship to Health City on 29 Feb. after suffering two heart attacks. He died on 14 March.
The government officially introduced a ban on cruise ships on 16 March 2020, although the last ships stopped here on 12 March 2020.
Since then, the many bus drivers, taxi drivers, tour guides and boat operators that catered almost exclusively to cruise passengers have been without work or have moved into other industries, and have been relying on a government stipend to make ends meet.
Tourism Minister Bryan, at a press briefing last week, said the return of cruise ships to Cayman was imminent, and he urged businesses to start gearing up.
“For those in the cruise sector, it is time for you to start getting ready,” he said. “If you need to bring back staff to work, start contacting them now, and if you need to hire new employees, please, please, focus on hiring Caymanians first.”
For cruise tourists making a return visit to Cayman, they will find the place changed compared to pre-pandemic, after the collapse of the islands’ tourism industry led to the closure of several businesses.
Popular Seven Mile Beach hangouts, Calico Jack’s, Royal Palms and Tiki Beach are no longer in operation; Rum Point in North Side is currently closed, although its owners have said it will reopen as tourist figures increase; Crystal Caves in Old Man Bay, North Side, is also temporarily closed; and Atlantis Submarine Tours, which took passengers on 100-foot-deep trips off George Town, went into liquidation.
Before COVID decimated tourism in Cayman, the islands had been seeing record visitor numbers. Stayover tourism hit an all-time high of 502,739 in 2019, with cruise tourism bringing in 1.83 million passengers.
The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, which represents 22 cruise lines, says it is ready and willing to start bringing ships back to Cayman, and for several weeks now has been working with the government to come to a consensus on how to do so safely.
The association’s president Michele Paige, and representatives of a number of cruise lines, visited Cayman earlier this month to hold discussions with government officials on the protocols that will be need to be in place to enable cruise passengers to land here.
Paige had ruled out lateral flow testing for passengers immediately before disembarking here, saying they are all tested before boarding the ships, and making them undergo testing on the cruise, or when they come ashore on excursions, would be impractical.
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North Church St is already jammed with traffic most of the day, not just at the rush hours. We have thousands more vehicles on the roads since Covid arrived, just wait and see what happens when Govt unleashes all these cruise passengers. It is essential that arrivals be substantially reduced from pre- covid levels.
Is closure reason incorrect? Didn’t Calico Jack’s, Royal Palms and Tiki Beach close because they were purchased by Dart group?
The sooner this government moves away from reliance on mass cruise tourism the more economically secure this country will become . The priority should not be to bring cruises back so a small percentage of our population can continue with their jobs and businesses, but rather it should be to diversify our economy and retrain these people to start and work in businesses of the future. It is not a stretch to think that the next pandemic, or financial crisis, or war, or a multitude of other global issues that will impact cruise tourism is right around the corner. Going back to the way we did things is the “easy” way, but it is shortsighted and will not serve this us well. Nor will it serve the workers and business that support cruise tourism. Another major interruption to the cruise industry is inevitable and will likely come sooner than later.
Will be interesting if Cayman Compass removed the thumbs up or down button again to try and suppress support or discontent for comments or if its a “glitch”. 😀
Hi Brian,
There are currently some functionality issues with the plug-in that supports the like/dislike button.
Thank you for your patience while the team is working to find a substitute plug-in that will support this function.
There is also the FB ‘like’ button on the bottom of each article as well, so you can click on that to express your opinion on the article.
Many thanks.
Let’s cut your job out.let’s find out how you feel after your big percentage can’t feed yourself or your family