Grand Cayman cancels new cruise ship dock

[Boatdrill]

A referendum by residents has gotten the government's attention. Can't say that I blame them. 

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Cayman-Islands-may-dial-back-on-cruise-visits?utm_source=eNewsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=eltrcarib&ct=carib&oly_enc_id=0784C2292756F9E    

Edited March 2, 2021 by Boatdrill

[drowelf]

I'm not surprised by this development at all. The pandemic has shown them, and probably other islands, that they don't need the cruise industry tourism as much as they believed. 

[KirkNC]

I think one side effect of the pandemic is to show to many cruise ports what life looks like without cruise ships.  I think local populations have found they like what they see.  

[Florida_gal_50]

I’d be happy to never see this port again.  There are much better places.

[rkacruiser]

29 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’d be happy to never see this port again.  There are much better places.

 

I strongly disagree with your thoughts.  I have many pleasant memories of visits to Grand Cayman.

 

No question, however, that on those days when there are multiple large cruise ships at anchor, Georgetown becomes like Charlotte Amalie on such a busy day.  That does detract from the experience if one stays in Georgetown.  But, getting outside of the city:  it's different and enjoyable.  

 

The thinking of the good citizens of Grand Cayman mirror those of some of the good citizens of Key West.  

[ScoutDiver]

On my two trips to Grand Cayman,  I spent very little time in Georgetown.  Instead, I spent a huge amount of time observing the scenery underneath the surface or taking latec afternoon walks on the far end on of the island.

[sfaaa]

23 hours ago, drowelf said:

I'm not surprised by this development at all. The pandemic has shown them, and probably other islands, that they don't need the cruise industry tourism as much as they believed. 

Until they realize they can no longer rely on shady offshore banking and tax haven businesses to get them by. They will then have second thought about the importance of cruise ship tourism.   

[ScoutDiver]

Except for Georgetown,   they  probably get more tourist dollars from scuba divers etc.  Grand Cayman has the reefs.   If they were to lose those, then they might hurt.   Except for Stingray City, most of the cruise ship traffic gets no where near the scuba sights.  

[rkacruiser]

19 minutes ago, ScoutDiver said:

Except for Georgetown,   they  probably get more tourist dollars from scuba divers etc.  Grand Cayman has the reefs.

 

Prior to a hurricane that did much damage to the island, there was a company that offered a deep sea diving adventure in submarine type vehicle along the Cayman Wall.  Not inexpensive, but...a potential "wow"!  Particularly since I am not a scuba diver.  The hurricane destroyed the vehicle a few months after I had booked it.  The company never replaced it.  I think I missed a great experience.  

[nocl]

4 hours ago, sfaaa said:

Until they realize they can no longer rely on shady offshore banking and tax haven businesses to get them by. They will then have second thought about the importance of cruise ship tourism.   

Why do people think that cruise ships are the end all when it comes to tourist money?

 

Cruise ships dump a lot of people into a port, but the amount of revenue per passenger is pretty low.  One of the comments coming out of Grand Cayman is that they get far more of their tourist revenue from over night guests.

 

This parallels the data from Key West.  Cruising accounts for half of the key west tourists, but only 20% of key west tourist revenue.  

 

The list of places that are taking steps to limit the number of cruise passengers is growing. More places are deciding that cutting the number of visitors by 50% is worth a 20% loss of revenue.

[iancal]

I do not blame them.  Just look at the mess St. Thomas is in.  Who wants to stop there now?

 

 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

They did not want cruise ships .... they have ..BANKS 

[Himself]

Grand Cayman is one of my favorite stops.

[HxFx]

That's too bad. I was really looking forward to heading back there on our cancelled cruise. I've only been there on a land vacation and you can definitely get away from the cruise crowds. It was kind of cool seeing the ships anchored from my hotel beach but I was far enough away they didn't crowd us. We discovered a great out of the way place to snorkel/dive and we were planning to head back there on our own for the port stop. Stingray City does get a bunch of other groups but there was a lot of room to spread out and it didn't stop me from having fun with all the creatures!

[T8NCruise]

On 3/2/2021 at 3:46 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’d be happy to never see this port again.  There are much better places.

Well of course, we could probably all say that about every port.  Different strokes, and all that.  I quite liked Grand Cayman.  

[deliver42]

Good bye and good riddance. Been there too many times now.

[Mary229]

I think it is wise to adjust, they can always add it again later but in this current economic situation the money could likely be put to better use 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Mary229

[JeffElizabeth]

On 3/2/2021 at 3:23 PM, drowelf said:

I'm not surprised by this development at all. The pandemic has shown them, and probably other islands, that they don't need the cruise industry tourism as much as they believed. 

Interesting.  I read in the WSJ last year that tourism is 10% of the global economy.  Maybe it is like Barcelona.  They prefer people who visit for a week compared to overnight trips. 

[drowelf]

16 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

Interesting.  I read in the WSJ last year that tourism is 10% of the global economy.  Maybe it is like Barcelona.  They prefer people who visit for a week compared to overnight trips. 

Well sure, Key West is making the same argument, which I can understand. If you come to stay for a period of time, you tend to spend more money on Lodging, dining and other entertainment, then the day trippers off the cruise ships that only dock for a few hours.

[sfaaa]

Cruise ship passengers may be spending less per person but they come by the thousands on each ship.It all adds up.

[nocl]

3 hours ago, sfaaa said:

Cruise ship passengers may be spending less per person but they come by the thousands on each ship.It all adds up.

And that is the crux of the problem these days the number and size of ships means that they descend upon a port like a horde, making it uncomfortable for the people that live there and less attractive for the overnight travelers that make up more of the travel related revenue.

 

As Key West number show cruise ships make up 50% of the visitors but contribute only 20% of the revenue, land based tourists that make up the other 50% contribute 80% of the tourist revenue.  The cruise passengers have grown so much that it is negatively impacting the attraction of  land based tourists.

 

Lets see cut the 50% that contributes 20% to make sure of the 50% that contributes 80%.

 

The ports are not totally eliminating cruise ship visits, just limiting how many can be there at any given time.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by nocl