While tourists did not leave in droves as the Cayman Islands prepared for the arrival of Hurricane Rafael, some stayover visitors opted to postpone or cancel their vacations here this week, and at least three cruise ships skipped Grand Cayman.
The MCS Seascape and Disney Fantasy, which can carry more than 9,600 passengers between them, sailed onto their next destinations, bypassing Cayman on Tuesday.
However, three of the four ships scheduled to arrive in George Town on Wednesday, as of noon on Tuesday, have not cancelled their calls. Just one, Brilliance of the Seas, has opted not to stop here.
Troy Leacock, president of the Cayman islands Tourism Association, and owner of water-sports company Crazy Crab, said while he had no specific numbers, anecdotally it appeared the tourists who were on island already chose to stay.
However, he has seen a number of cancellations from visitors who decided not to make the trip to Cayman because of the weather forecast.
“We certainly had visitors that cancelled, that were due to fly in today or yesterday,” he told the Compass on Tuesday morning. “So, definitely, the financial impact could be significant.
“Some visitors may have left early, but I know, from my business, I had trips booked for this week, when the visitors were supposed to fly on island on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, and they cancelled their whole vacation.”
Marc Langevin, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, told the Compass that the hotel had some cancellations ahead of the storm, but some guests have already rebooked for next week.
At the Grand Cayman Marriott Resort, some guests departed ahead of the storm while others are staying put, according to Hermes Cuello, general manager of the hotel.
“We have [a] few guests that left and others that have chosen to extend so they can leave after the storm,” he said.
Impacts on business
Leacock noted that visitor cancellations from the cruise ships had also impacted water-sports operators, and pointed out that getting tender boats and the vessels of those businesses in place in time for any ships that return on Wednesday or Thursday can be a challenge.
“You have this situation where you have a shutdown procedure, you have the [weather] event, and then you have the opening-up procedure,” he said. “So, even if the event doesn’t happen, it still affects your business for a period of time. It could be anywhere from three, four, five days.”
He added, “We’re really thankful for near misses, but they still have an impact.”
Ironically, Leacock noted that the weather on Tuesday morning was some of the best he’d seen in the past two weeks.
“We haven’t really been able to operate for almost two weeks because the winds have been so high, and it’s [been] choppy out in the North Sound, at Stingray City. We woke up this morning, and the winds were literally the lowest in almost two weeks,” he said.
But, despite the deceptively calm weather, Leacock says Cayman’s water-sports operators “went very much all-out preparing for the worst, because we really do not know what to expect”.
Over the weekend and Monday, boat operators were taking their vessels out of the water or mooring them in safe harbour in preparation for the passage of Rafael.
“Hopefully, tomorrow we get the all-clear and we can get back to business,” Leacock said. “We’d certainly rather spend the effort and be properly prepared than not do it and regret it.”
On an optimistic noted, he added, “I also know that some guests did arrive yesterday, so some people didn’t cancel their vacations, which is really great.”
Little Cayman prepares
Over on Little Cayman, most tourists opted to stay on the island, according to Sister Islands Tourism Association president Peter Quilliam.
He says the rapidity with which the system ramped up over the past 48 hours had surprised many on the island. “It looked like it was going to be an afternoon of heavy winds and rain, and then back to normal operating procedure. It changed very quickly, so people didn’t really have an opportunity to really do an evacuation.”
He said he was unaware of anyone staying at the Southern Cross Club or Little Cayman Beach Resort opting to fly off island before the storm.
An internet outage on the island overnight on Monday/Tuesday, he said, had left many wondering what to expect.
“We had the worrying forecast last night, just before the internet went out on the island, so people were left worrying overnight, was it going to form into a hurricane before it hit us? That was just before everything went dark on the communication side of things. That was the last image we had on our screens,” he said.
He said Little Cayman was prepared, with shutters in place on buildings and the hurricane shelter open.
“The majority of people who live on this island have been here a while, and know what the deal is,” he said.
He added, “As per our normal operating procedure, we just assume the worst-case scenario, and just make sure everything is buttoned up.”
For the latest information on Hurricane Rafael, visit Storm Centre.
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