Grand Cayman frequently 'skipped'?

[josask]

I was warned in another thread that the stop at Grand Cayman is frequently skipped due to weather. Stopping there is one of the main reason we are looking at the itinerary we are.

 

I'd love to know others experiences/opinions on this.

[drew sailbum]

Grand Cayman is a tender port. Ships anchor off George Town shore and you transfer to shore using a smaller boat. If the sea conditions become too rough to safely make the transfers then change is in order.

 

The first alternative option is to have the cruise ships and tender boats move around to a different part of the island. There is an alternate site in Spotts for just such occasions. Of course this exact sort of flexibility is not possible in ports where the cruise ships berth. If the berthing site is too rough, the ship must move on.

 

Unfortunately the alternate site at Spotts is only able to handle three ships at a time. If more than three ships are scheduled on a day when this alternate site will be used then some of the ships must skip the stop in Cayman and continue onward.

 

And in some circumstances it is possible for both the George Town Harbour and Spotts sites to be unusable due to sea conditions. This is unusual, but weather conditions which cause such diversions are more common in the peak crusing season - the winter months.

 

Overall, cruise lines want reliable ports of call. They do not want disappointed customers. The rule of thumb I have heard is that they want the port facilities to be usable at least 95% of the days. By that guideline, expect that no more than 18 days per year would a given port be skipped due to weather. In my estimation, Grand Cayman is well within those guidelines.

[lovevacadays]

Drew Sailbum, thanks for putting it into perspective. I saw the same thread as the OP. I have been to GC once in 1999 and am sailing there again in November and really hope to be in port.

[josask]

Thanks for the response. I was a little concerned when another poster said Grand Cayman was 'quite often' skipped.

[jkjmt]

Sometimes the port is not skipped, but some excursions are cancelled. Especially the stingray excursions. Two years ago, we rented a private zodiak boat with 6 other cruise critic people. There were 7 cruise ships in port that day....all of the cruise ships excursions to stingray city were cancelled including people who used outside vendors. The 10 of us where the only people to make it out and swim with the stingray on our cruise. Our captain said we'd try and if it was to dangerous we'd skip the stingray. Well we made it, then went to starfish beach (which was great....we found about 15-20 starfish), and stopped at a restaurant and had a great day. We had heard approximately 35 people from all 7 cruise ships had made it......:D

[nybumpkin]

If you're sailing during hurricane season, you'll need to be flexible. On our second cruise in 2005, we skipped Grand Cayman to get out of the way of Hurricane Dennis. I've seen other cruises where Western itineraries are changed to Eastern due to hurricanes. BTW, we finally made it to Grand Cayman last year, and it is well worth the visit.:)

[Delta Dear]

How are the conditions during the month of Feb.?

[repogirl49]

I was there around the 24th of Feb. last year- tenders okay only short 5 minute ride. Carnival had cancelled most of the water excursions but we went with Captain Marvin's - water was choppy- weater warm water a little cool but you get use to it. We still swam with stingrays, and I saw other boats doing the same. I think Carnival just being extra careful... Julie G.

[Smoke_1]

As long as we're on it, how's the weather and water in early Jan. Thanks in advance.

John

[abracabubble]

Hey Josask,

We were on Carnival Cruise Right after Hurricane Katrina. Then while we were on our cruise, Hurrican Rita came along. We still went to Grand Caymen, still went to our tour at stingray city, but getting back on the ship was a bit trickier. 20 foot waves made it a bit hard to get back to the ship for a while, however, we still got to go to that port, and we ended up getting another port free (not on our itinerary) because we couldn't go back to the US yet. It was very intersting.

[CaribQween]

Do they substitute an alternative port if they know about impending bad weather a day in advance? If so, which port do they usually substitute for Grand Cayman? When we were on our first cruise this past February on NCL, the Captain came on the day before we were due to go to the private island and said the weather was supposed to be too bad so they had decided to take us to Nassau, Bahamas. We loved it.

[2112]

Myself, I've been on 3 cruises that were going to Grand Cayman. Twice we got into port and once we missed out. It all has to do with wind direction. Winds from the west and north make it more likely that the port will be missed. The cruise where Grand Cayman was skipped had what appeared to be beautiful weather. I talked to the captain later in the cruise and he said it was a port decision, not his. He said there were 4 ships scheduled that day and and the port allowed only 1 ship to tender that day, and that was only because they started tendering early and had passengers already in port before the wind kicked up. I also asked him about the "other" dock outside of Georgetown and he told me that he wouldn't use it because there are too many passenger complaints when they used it in the past (this was a RCCL ship).

 

I believe Grand Cayman is skipped mostly in cruises in the winter months (December to March). I also had a week long vacation in Grand Cayman in February one year and ships couldn't tender in passengers on 3 of the 6 days I was there.

 

As to whether a different port may be substituted, most likely no. If you look on a map you will see the Grand Cayman sits out by itself and most captains will try to get in if they can. If there is a hurricane, then yes they most likely will reroute the entire cruise and you will get a substitute port, but the typical "Grand Cayman getting skipped" story usually is not due to a hurricane but rather typical winter weather pattern. If they do miss Grand Cayman you will usually get a few extra hours in the next port (in my case we got to Cozumel several hours early).

 

I love Grand Cayman and hope you get in. I have a cruise next month where Grand Cayman is a port and I'm hoping we get in, especially since it is the last port.

[bklsmom]

I've been to GC 8 or 9 times on cruises, and we've had to skip the port stop only 2X, due to weather conditions and seas too rough for safe tendering. This decision is not made by the cruise ships, but rather the port authority in GC. Both times we have had to skip this stop has been in the winter. Cold fronts that push this far south, usually stir up the seas and make it very rough, you will also notice this on the ship with the increased rocking. Last Dec. we went to GC and although we were allowed to tender ashore, I would have preferred we not stop at all. It was so rough out that it was taking forever to get people onto the tenders saftely. The line to get off the ship was from the bottom level up to the Riviera deck and down the hall to the back of the ship. We decided to wait to get off and went back up to the Lido to hang out. Our cruise director kept coming over the intercom to tell us how the line was doing. It was another 3 hours before we were able to get off the ship, and then even then, we waited in line for another 1/2 hour. We had so little time in port that we just walked around shopped a bit, and went to drink in Margaritaville for a bit and then it was time to get back on board. The tenders were all lined up waiting to get us up to the side of the ship to get back on...it took just as long to get us back on safely as it did to get us off. The 2X we missed this port due to weather, there were no other stops substituted. This is very hard to do, since most ports have each day accounted for as far as ships in port and any deviation has got to be worked out in advance. We did get a refund of $20pp on our sail n sign cards, both times. This is your refunded port charge that was not used due to the stop being cancelled. These are just some of the risks that can happen when traveling by ship. Just as in airlines having cancelations or delays due to weather. I don't mind, having my schedule interupted...I'm still on a ship, still on vacation!!

[Moeve]

We on the other hand have been very unlucky with GC we had to go there 5 times to get in just once!!

[lazydayz]

We have been very lucky then. Three cruises planned to stop at GC and all three made it. Twice in September, don't remember when the other one was.

[zuggie]

We've also been to GC 8 or 9 times on cruises - mostly in the winter - and have never missed the stop. Luck of the draw, I guess. Wish we could be so lucky in the ship's casino!

[Tabbymom]

I've been watching a couple of web cams (Port Authority and Royal Palms) for GC the last few days; apparently there's been a front going through. On Monday the Enchantment was supposed to be in but there were no ships visible. Yesterday there were two ships (which was correct) but it looked like no one was ashore and never saw tenders on the port webcam. Today there are supposed to be three ships - I can see two on the camera - and people are ashore. It's nice to finally see people on the beach (no ships were scheduled over the weekend so I've been waiting for days!).

 

http://www.caymanport.com/webcams.php

 

http://www.reefgrill.net/netcam/index.html

[NutsAboutGolf]

Was on the Carnival liberty last week...The day before we were suppose to arrive at GC, they had an announcement at 10am that they may have to skip GC and that there will final announcement at noon. They then announced we were good to go. Unsure why they bothered with the 10am announcement...