Almost 20,000 passengers to hit George Town

| 29/11/2017 | 15 Comments

(CNS Business): The cruise sector will be enjoying a bumper day Wednesday as more than 19,700 people will be arriving in George Town on six ships in the busiest day of the year. Cruise arrival numbers had been down for this year at the end of October, as rough weather had impacted the calls, but the diversion of ships since major hurricanes hit other ports of calls this season has seen the numbers begin to rise. By the end of the year what could have been a significant decline on last year’s arrival numbers is very likely to have caught up. Although the numbers for November have not yet been confirmed, an estimated 200,000 passengers had been scheduled to arrive this month and as many as 300,000 could pass through in December, weather permitting.

Despite the claims that the cruise sector would collapse without cruise ship piers, last year was only marginally down on 2015, when more than 1.7 million passengers arrived in George Town, the best numbers since 2007. If 2017 turns around as well as expected, it will still match the last two years, reflecting the continued strength of the industry without the controversial and costly berthing facilities.

For more details of the cruise ship schedules visit Cayman Port here.

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Category: Cruise Tourism, Tourism

Comments (15)

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  1. Abner McLaughlin says:

    Building a mega dock and spending hundreds of millions of dollars is insane!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Fake news & figures, no one seems to know or tell how many actually come ashore.

  3. Sir Turtle says:

    It would be good to know how much money was made from these 20,000 plus passengers verses a one week stay over tourist of a family of 4. Also, where did they go? Far as I am aware, there are no beaches for them to enjoy. I cannot see 20,000 plus tourist enjoying public beach, sting ray city and turtle farm.

    I hope before the government waste anymore our money on consultant fees, they take note of the disaster from just 20,000 people coming of those ships.

    Also what the heck is going on with the traffic? Are we going to get any relief any time soon?

  4. Anonymous says:

    And all they had to do was look in duty free shops selling the same watches and jewellery and cheap tatty souvenir shops.
    Of course they could go to the turtle slaughter house, be shoulder to shoulder pushing and barging at stingray city or sit getting hassled by uninsured unlicensed vendors at public beach.
    Not quite the carribean paradise of beauty. This island has one unique attraction and quite a nice beach that is unless you go down to the Marriott end and sit amongst the sand bags iron poles and plastic conduit where the beach got washed away. But that’s thoughtless development for you.

    • West bay Premier says:

      What I think that some people want for Cayman is a new cruise ship dock with tunnels leading into all major stores in George town on taxpayers money.

  5. Beaumont Zodecloun says:

    Wonderful. 10,000+ people standing in line, not knowing what the line leads to, but hoping there is a bathroom and a beer involved. Another 5K on various tours to beaches and other parts; they are the lucky ones, because there are services away from George Town.

    I am happy for the businesses that benefit — tourism is paramount. If we are going to continue to court multiple ship landings, we are going to have to REALLY step up our game, and provide immediate services for those coming off the ships.

    I have always wondered if the tendering process might have been a blessing in disguise in that people came ashore in smaller groups. Imagine, if you will, after the finger piers are built, 15-20,000 people coming into George Town all at once. WHOOF!

    Either way, better build many, many more “hospitality” huts PDQ.

    Keep pushin’ Cayman. We come from a long line of innovative people. Surely that integrity and hard-working push hasn’t been bred out of us.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Cayman is lucky to benefit from the fact that cruises can’t go to the Eastern islands. Once they are back up and running though Cayman will lose out a lot from no dock.

    • West bay Premier says:

      Anonymous 3:34pm , you have half of your comment right and the other half wrong . I agree with the first sentence . The
      last sentence after the other Islands are up and running again, what makes you think that if we had a dock that the cruise ship would come then ? Quite obviously that the cruise ships don’t need a dock to operate when they can dump almost 20 thousands passengers on one Island in one day without having a dock . All that the cruise ships need to operate are DESTINATIONS .

      I said before that CI Government should have taken advantage of this opportunity renegotiated a new Contract for these cruise ship to come and land in Cayman Islands because these Cruise Lines are just taking advantage of the Cayman Island because of the other Islands being down at this time . Doing a new contract with the Cruise Lines would have been more beneficial to Cayman than a cruise ship dock .

  7. Anonymous says:

    We need those piers like I need a hole in my head

  8. Anonymous says:

    On days when there are more than 3 ships vsiting, I suggest that the traffice flow be altered to create a 1-way circular flow of vehicles around GT business area. Yes we would all travel a bit further but at least movement would be easier and smoother.
    Persons who moan about congestion should look to see what they are doing to assist. Carpooling! Bus riding! etc. If we insist on government building more & more roads then be prepared to pay more & more fees for your vehicle(s).

  9. Anonymous says:

    More evidence that a cruise ship dock is not needed!

  10. Anonymous says:

    Drive through town right now and tell me we need more cruise ship passengers! What a mess!

  11. Anonymous says:

    Just had a walk through town. Traffic is chaos taxis blocking the roads despite the best efforts of the RCIPS.
    Tourists milling around because there is nothing too do.
    Not quite the jewel in the Caribbean

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