A pro-cruise pier campaign group, the Advancement of Cruise Tourism, held a public meeting in West Bay last week, where they alleged that the public is being misled about the importance of the sector and the need to expand infrastructure.

Anti-pier campaigners, meanwhile, have questioned the absence of a wider strategy for the industry, emphasising that many would prefer to see quality over quantity, and asking whether the likely cost of several hundred million dollars of any cruise infrastructure was an investment worth making.

The issue of Cayman’s cruise future is back in the public discourse, after government published a referendum bill last month, paving the way for a question to be on the ballot alongside the general election, asking “Should the Cayman Islands develop cruise berthing infrastructure?”.

But the future of that vote remains uncertain, as government would need the support of at least three opposition MPs to have a sufficient majority to get the bills passed in parliament.

With the future of the referendum – and the industry itself – up in the air, members of the pro-cruise lobby set out their stall at last week’s meeting.

‘We need a proper cruise port’

Kattina Anglin, who was at the 14 Jan. meeting, worked as a tourism ambassador at the port from 2016 to 2018. She recalled watching a deluge come down and a long line of cruise ship passengers stretching down the road waiting to board a tender.

“They were trying to hold off the water with their towels and packages. These were women, children and even people in wheelchairs,” Anglin said.

“What sort of first and last impression are we giving the people who visit the Cayman Islands? … We need a proper cruise port.”

ACT representative Ellio Solomon, who spoke to a crowd numbering over 130 people, said cruise arrivals had declined 45% when comparing January to November 2018 to the same period in 2024.

“Three thousand families in the Cayman Islands depend on the cruise industry to pay their mortgages, put food on the table and put shoes on their children’s feet,” Solomon said.

Solomon said many others, including businesses, local artisans and people who rent out apartments to industry workers, will be impacted if the island doesn’t support the cruise industry with piers.

ACT says that the claims from the ‘no’ camp, opposing cruise piers,  about potential damage to the environment are exaggerated.

“Their arguments about damage to the environment are simply designed to create fear and confusion, when in fact the opposite is true,” Solomon said.

“Over the years, the lack of a pier has resulted in enormous damage to our reefs from anchors, and in 2014 one ship alone [Maasdam] struck the reef, causing over 16,000 square feet of coral damage,” Solomon said. “If we build the pier, we could reduce the damage from incidents like that.”

Cayman Compass reported in the aftermath of the Maasdam incident that damage had been done to nearly 12,000 square feet of coral reef.

“Obviously we have been witnessing the erosion of the beach occurring without the cruise pier being built, and the fact of the matter is that the piers would be built on pylons, which would allow for the free flow of water and sand under the dock,” Solomon added.

Regarding the issue of pollution from the ships, Solomon said, “If the ships are not constantly using thrusters to stay in position offshore, they will use far less energy and emit less pollution.”

“It is scare tactics,” he added. “Everyone in Cayman knows that the wind typically blows offshore in the harbour area, so the smoke rising from the ships goes out to sea, and if the ships are at the pier, you would also have less underwater noise pollution from the loud engines, which the fish don’t like.”

Fewer cruise visitors also means government collects less money for the environmental protection fund, he said, suggesting Caymanians need that money to help protect the environment and preserve lands for future generations.

Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan, who called for a referendum on the cruise pier issue last year, showed one of the videos that he said he will start releasing one by one of interviews he conducted with the bosses of the cruise lines at a conference in St. Martin.

“They clearly stated that without piers, our cruise industry will decline by over 4.3% per year,” he said.

“The cruise lines are moving to larger ships that will not stop in Cayman. Larger ships plying the western Caribbean route [that includes Cayman] will replace the current fleet of smaller ships coming our way,” he said.

“There are going to be hungry bellies and businesses will shut down. It is that simple. It is not like we can pretend we don’t know anymore. … Please call your representatives and let them know they need to support the cruise piers.”

He also appealed directly to André Ebanks and Joey Hew, both of whom were in the audience.

“Let the cruise ship referendum proceed,” Bryan said.

As the UPM government no longer holds a majority in Parliament, Bryan said the decision is in the hands of opposition lawmakers.

“If they don’t vote in favour and put it on the agenda, then you don’t get to have your say,” he said.

Solomon said that without a thriving cruise sector, a lot of the things Caymanians enjoy today could disappear. He pointed to the Hard Rock Café going under and said it is likely that many others, including the people selling arts and crafts, will not make enough money to get by.

“Those jobs will go, and you will notice that the ‘no’ camp has not offered any solutions about what these people are going to do when our people are out of work,” Solomon said.

Michael Lemay, a tour bus operator, rose to speak from the audience and challenged the members of Parliament to walk down to the port and see what is going on.

“It is a complete mess. Any reasonable person would see that and know we have to build the cruise piers,” he said.

“If you could see what these tourists and the local operators are having to endure, the lines and the waiting around in the hot sun — is this really the sort of impression you want to give the world? Is this really a safe and comfortable experience? Are these people going away loving Cayman and wanting to come back again?”

Pushback to ACT messaging

A spokesperson for Sustainable Cayman, Katrina Jurn, said that the ACT group is ignoring several issues.

“Obviously expanding the port and building piers will require a significant amount of dredging, which will damage coral. The ships will also create turbidity when they pull back out to sea, and that will affect corals, especially around Eden Rock,” Jurn said.

She also disagreed regarding the link between a cruise pier and the decline in cruise numbers.

“That is a phenomenon that has been happening across the Caribbean, not just in the Cayman Islands. The trend for the newer, larger ships is that they offer a shorter cruise of three days, and they tend to visit their own privately owned islands and stay out at sea longer to increase revenue,” she said.

She also said that both Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean are building smaller ships to cater to the higher-end cruise market, so the suggestion that cruise ships will stop coming is exaggerated.

She agreed government should invest more to improve port facilities.

“Overall, the cruise sector is the largest user of the port, and yet almost nothing is invested to improve the experience and facilities. The port should raise fees. They are simply not charging enough,” she said.

“All the of the cruise jurisdictions have issues. We never push back or effectively negotiate with the cruise lines.”

She said many people would prefer to see quality over quantity in the tourism sector.

“There are people here that don’t want to see the Cayman Islands get overrun by mass tourism and at a certain point, we know it impacts the stay-over visitor experience and creates traffic jams for residents,” Jurn said.

“We haven’t seen a plan. We need to know that government is thinking strategically, and not just burdening us with another $400 million of unnecessary debt.”

In terms of the impact on jobs in the cruise sector due the declining numbers, she said, “The cruise lines have repeatedly called for us to improve the visitor experience and that could involve building ferry terminals for the tenders in West Bay and perhaps Morgan’s Harbour and improving public transport, thus creating jobs.”

She also said politicians have previously spoken about the need to diversify the economy and decrease reliance on the cruise sector.

The Cayman Compass reached out to campaign group CPR Cayman but did not receive a response by press time.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the Sustainable Cayman stance is anti-pier, pro-cruise.