Cayman’s waterfront will be abuzz with activity Monday as the jurisdiction welcomes the first cruise ship to the island in two years.
Disney Magic, with a passenger capacity of 2,700, will be the first ship to call in Cayman and Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan will be at the port to welcome cruise shippers when it arrives at 7:30am.
Businesses, many of which had initially closed when borders were shut down two years ago, were busy at work Friday making preparations to welcome cruise shippers.
Warm welcome planned
“”It is extremely exciting,” said Natasha Gemmell, co-owner of the Turtle Bay souvenir shops which have been closed since March 2020.
Gemmell, taking a break from unpacking boxes and dusting off shelves, said it felt good to be back in business and preparing to welcome cruise shippers back to Cayman.
“It has been two years where the majority of people on George Town waterfront have been out of work and the Caymanian influx I have had for employees who want to come back to the tourism industry is beyond phenomenal. I have a hundred percent Caymanian staff in both stores and they’re all buzzing. They’re eager,” she said.
Although she said it has been a lot of hard work over the last few days to get the store up and running, Gemmell said seeing the industry restarting is uplifting.
“Everybody’s just super excited. It’s a really nice feeling downtown. It’s been tough. We thought it was never gonna happen at certain points in time,” she said.
She said Monday is just the start and she knows there’s more work to come as they prepare for the arrival of more ships but she’s excited as she now has her team in place.
“We’ve seen loads of people, whether it’s managers, business owners, team members… you become a family and to see everybody struggle so bad it wasn’t nice… [but] we pulled through it. It’s just nice to finally be coming back,” she said.
Gemmell said after spending two years out of the business it’s been hard getting back into the swing of things, though she brought staff in early to get a head start “because I knew as soon as we were given the go ahead it was gonna happen”.
She added, “Everybody’s gonna be hands on deck for me,” she said, adding she has to re-learn how to use their point of sales equipment.
Similarly, she said, the team has to be retrained as well.
However, she said she does not mind at all and she had a message for the incoming cruise shippers: “Welcome back, we’ve missed you and enjoy Cayman,” adding she’s putting decorations and balloons up to make it festive.
At the Royal Watler Cruise Terminal, some of the stores still had their shutters closed on their store fronts on Friday, but it is expected that won’t be for long.
Heart of the Souvenir, one of the stores there, was open on Friday and manager Heylis Cruz said she was looking forward to seeing ships back in port.
“I think almost all everybody is ready for that… [after] waiting for them for so long. It was kind of tough [the last two years] because… the business [had] to be closed down and some of the merchandise was spoiled. But we are where we’re trying to [get it] ready for now… We’re ready, we are waiting for them,” she said.
A return to normalcy
At Effy Jewelry on Fort Street the team was busy shining their showcases.
“We’ve been waiting anxiously every single day,” said floor manager Haresh Bhagwandass. “So we are glad that the government has been kind enough in every possible way to see how secure we feel, how safe our community is”, but also organise the cruise ship schedule to help local businesses and the downtown area.
“We are really excited to see the cruise ships back and…. it’s time to make some money,” he said.
Bhagwandass said while they are happy for cruise ships, they are even more grateful to the local community that has kept them going since the borders closed.
“With God’s blessings the local community has really been kind to us and… we would in fact like to show more support and gratitude towards them. We want them to come and shop with us even more, in spite of us having tourism back,” he said.
Bhagwandass added the store is planning a welcome reception for cruise shippers to show appreciation for their visit.
Over at The White Whale Pub and Ale at Guy Harvey’s Boathouse the team was also busy sanitising and preparing for the cruise tourists.
Jason Moir, Market Street Group operations manager, said the return of cruise is a welcomed sign and he’s glad to have ships back in port.
“We’re excited, very happy to finally see the ships after a couple of years not being in port. It has taken a beating in the downtown core so we’re all very excited. We’re getting ready, cleaning, painting, renovating,” he said.
Hope springs for tourism recovery
Initially Cayman’s first ship was expected back in December, but that plan was scrapped when COVID-19 cases surged.
However, after that false start, Moir said seeing Cayman’s tourism on its way to recovery is what those in the industry really want.
“It’ll be a feeling of relief when they actually get their feet on the ground. Until they start spending money there’s no relief, right?… It’s gonna be the first time we’ve had an influx of all these people in years so it’s gonna be interesting to see how that works first,” Moir said.
Uppermost in his mind, Moir said, is seeing how the cruise shippers will be treated by both the local businesses and residents outside of the downtown area.
“There’s a lot of that ‘Down with the cruise ships’, ‘Down with the cruise ships,’ but… there are thousands of people [who] rely on cruise ship passengers,” he said.
At Rocky’s Diamonds they were busy preparing to reopen their second store which was closed when the borders were shut down.
Rakesh Baxani, owner of Rocky’s Diamonds and Piranha Joe, said he welcomed being able to reopen his store.
“For a store that’s been closed for almost two years – I have a souvenir store that’s totally dependent on the cruise line business – so any business is better than no business. I’m excited. I think it’s a step in the right direction. At least now we see a light at the end of the tunnel… hopefully we can get back to what it was in 2019 or 2020 before we closed down. I’m happy and I hope we don’t get more bad news or anything that we have to slow down the progress again,” Baxani said.
While he welcomed cruise shippers, he had a simple request for them as they touch local shores.
“Cayman’s a beautiful place; we’ve been very lucky the last two years… the cases were pretty high in the rest of the world and we were lucky we didn’t even have a mask that we needed to wear. So welcome back, and please be respectful of the rules that are being laid down and enjoy your time and support the community,” he said.
Employees remain an issue
As for staffing, Moir said Market Street Group had been encountering challenges getting Caymanians to take up service jobs.
“Our employees are ready, but we’re short on staff. There’s a lot of people still on the stipends and we’re advertising every day… I know some places, they’re getting permits denied, but there’s a lot of people on island including Caymanians not looking for these jobs. Whether they want the service jobs or not, we’re always hiring, always training,” he said.
He urged Caymanians to make use of the opportunities.
Market Street Group, which runs 13 restaurants, is short “a couple hundred” employees, he said.
“So still [there’s] lots of employment opportunities out there. So anybody saying that there’s no employment in Cayman, they’re just looking in the wrong spots or they just don’t want to work,” he added.
For cruise ship schedule click here.
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