likelihood of missing Cayman port in December?

[monlyba]

hi, I am trying to plan a wedding during a cruise in December 2008. one of my options is a Norwegian cruise that will be at Cayman on the day we want to get married. I have heard that you have to tender to get there and there is always the possibility of high winds, storms, etc that could cause the ship to skip that port. this would obviously be disastrous if we'd planned a beach wedding there that day! I'm trying to figure out what is the realistic likelihood that we'd have to skip that port in early December. if it's an extremely rare occurrence, I probably wouldn't worry about it. but if it happens quite often, I'll look for somewhere else to marry. thanks for your advice!

[lvtotrvl1]

Unfortunatly it happens quite often...I would pick another island or have alternate plans to have the ceremony on the ship.

[firefly333]

Dec 2008???!! Anything can happen between now and more than a year from now. Grand Cayman was pretty far north of the hurricane's path if you are worried about Dean....most damage will be fixed but who can predict the future or next year's hurricane season??

 

Here is a thread showing two cruise ships sitting in the port today. It is a tender port. Are you going to tender in for your wedding? I dont know about that aspect.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=614403

[monlyba]

well I know that no one can accurately predict what will happen over a year from now... DUH! but I was wondering if skipping there is something that happens frequently enough for me to want to rule the location out for my plans.

 

thanks for your responses, I think it would be wise for me to look elsewhere.

[firefly333]

duhh!!! how rude??

 

I was just about to post the link to a better cam.

 

http://www.cmlor.com/tools/grandcaymanwebcam.aspx

 

I was saying that I dont think the likeyhood is great that you would miss the port, but with it being a wedding, you need to know for sure you would get into port? Im still not sure Id trust a tender...but duuh back at ya.

 

My point which seems to have been missed was that since this is a wedding, Im not sure I would want to take a chance.

[Jade13]

well I know that no one can accurately predict what will happen over a year from now... DUH! but I was wondering if skipping there is something that happens frequently enough for me to want to rule the location out for my plans.

 

thanks for your responses, I think it would be wise for me to look elsewhere.

 

I wouldn't plan a wedding based on a specific port (ports can change) unless you have an alternative plan (can get married on the ship or back home) and cann live with that. There is someone else posting to asked the same exact question in the past week. He bought wedding "insurance" and I believe will just get married later if it doesn't work out.

[monlyba]

duhh!!! how rude??

 

I was just about to post the link to a better cam.

 

http://www.cmlor.com/tools/grandcaymanwebcam.aspx

 

I was saying that I dont think the likeyhood is great that you would miss the port, but with it being a wedding, you need to know for sure you would get into port? Im still not sure Id trust a tender...but duuh back at ya.

 

My point which seems to have been missed was that since this is a wedding, Im not sure I would want to take a chance.

 

i'm sorry, i totally didn't mean that in a rude way! i guess i should have put a wink or smiley after it. i meant it more like "duh" towards myself, actually! sorry for the confusion.

 

and i agree, i think i should just plan it for a more "stable" location.

[jdybnsn]

I think it may be me that Jade13 is refering to as we are due to marry in Feb.2008 and I had the same question.

 

We know there is a risk of not tendering so we have built that into our expectations for the day, and have made an alternative plan B. (ie. to fly out at a later date and get wed. then - what better excuse for another holiday :) )

 

However, this has been easy for us to do, as our wedding party is only 2 adults 2 children, and so we don't have any other guests to consider....and I think that aspect alone would be a critical factor in any plans to wed on the island when relying on a cruise ship arrival.

 

We have been looking at covering ourselves by taking out wedding insurance but quite honestly I don't think we will even bother with this, as the place we have booked (Grand Old House) and the photographer, have been more than accommodating about postponing the booking and/or returning a proportion of the deposit if we fail to tender.....and we are not even talking big $$$ deposit fees in any case.

 

Alternatively, I have heard that some cruise ship will organise your wedding there, and if you fail to tender they will then arrange an alternative marriage on board the ship...not possible (or desirable ) in our case but could be something that may be of interest to yourselves.

[monlyba]

thanks... i have learned a lot about a cruise wedding from online searching as well as the wedding cruise section here on cruise critic! we wouldn't have too many people with us, either, but the only issue we have is that we really want to get married on a specific day (so that our wedding anniversary will be the same as our current - when we started dating - anniversary) so i really don't want to risk not getting it done on that day, you know? i wouldn't mind if things had to be changed if it wasn't for that. so i can't even consider cruises that are at sea that day, or are docked in a city with residency requirements (for instance to get married in Jamaica you have to have been on the island for a day or two before you can legally get married). the Caymans look gorgeous but i guess it's just not conducive to solid wedding plans during a cruise. i wish you the best of luck with your wedding and thank you everyone for your advice!

[SqueakyDust]

My Brother & Sister in law married on the Cayman Islands (about 12 years ago!) and there wedding date was postponed due to adverse weather.

Here was us all sitting at home celebrating in their honour when we got a call to say it would be the next day.

They were not on a cruise, but a land based holiday and I'm sure they had to reside on the island a few days before they were permitted to marry there. But we are Brits, so maybe the rules are different for us.

 

We watched a couple marry on the beach in Barbados whilst we were on our Honeymoon. The bride was in full wedding dress but her bridesmaid/witness was in a peach hotpant suit!! :eek:

 

Best of luck with your plans.

[jdybnsn]

They were not on a cruise, but a land based holiday and I'm sure they had to reside on the island a few days before they were permitted to marry there. But we are Brits, so maybe the rules are different for us.

 

.

 

There's no residency required now as far as I'm aware, even if you are from the UK (......but hey, Scottish law can occasionally be different to England & Wales, as you know :confused: )

 

- hence its popularity for cruise weddings...even if it is a somewhat risky option ! :)

[drew sailbum]

In Cayman the residency rules are different for island residents versus tourists. Effectively it takes about a month or so for island residents to go through all the paperwork. An exemption must be applied for, and is readily granted, to accomodate tourists wishing to wed.

 

In the first half of December, typically there is little chance of missing a port call in Cayman. No more so than throughout the rest of the fall. Perhaps a 5% or less chance of missing the port.

 

The winds start to change in mid to late December, and what the locals call the Christmas Winds come in for a week or two during this transition. Particularly strong Christmas Winds can shut the port for a week! On average, for the last two weeks of December the chance of missing the port could be closer to 20%.