Ever missed port of Grand Cayman?

[Jason Martin]

On the Fantasy now and we are schedule to be in GC tomorrow. I have cruises enough to know that GC is a tender port but have never missed it. Any experience on the max winds that they can safely tender? They are talking 25-35 mph winds all day. If it is cancelled anybody know what type of activities they schedule for a sea day?

 

[Capt_BJ]

while wind speed is a factor, wind direction is also

the Georgetown anchorage is 'open' to the west so wind from the west usually causes a good swell into the anchorage and tendering becomes an issue

what I see in the forecast for tomorrow is 20 knots from the east .... so the anchorage is rather protected by the land .... is this a sure bet? No .... but if this same wind was from the west I'd be saying 'no way'

btw

port schedule says two cruise ships should visit today, but reviewing several webcam and MarineTraffic.com it appears there are non there .... and looking at the beach at Royal Palm .. when you can see any surf it is acting up in the deeper water IME

 

[FindingTheMouse]

We were in GC a couple of years ago on a Carnival cruise and the winds were bad that we couldn't anchor at Georgetown. We did anchor on the other side of the island at Spotts Beach. It is first come first serve for the ships and there can only be 3 at a time. This is what we were told. There's nothing to do at GC at that particular location but there were masses of taxis and vans waiting to take people wherever they wanted to go.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

We missed it in April on the Fantasy. The Magic was due to be there as well, so we had a good horn battle as both ships were leaving the area.

 

[Smittycait]

We were on the Fantasy in 2013 (our first cruise) and we had to miss Grand Cayman. I had been sea sick so I was very upset to not be on dry land. However, Disney did make it up to us. The port fee and excursion fee was returned, and they opened up a whole bunch of activities to do during the day. Aside from my 15 minute "I wanna be on land" hissy fit.....I was fine (the spa helped ;-)). It did not ruin our trip at all, and we are taking our 4th Disney cruise Feb 2020. Wind was not a factor on us missing Grand Cayman....there was a storm near by and the swells were pretty gnarly. I watched a small boat with people from the island try to come to the boat and it was getting tossed around pretty good. Good luck...I hope you make it onto the island. If you don't...do try to enjoy the day.

 

[Erica1016]

We missed Grand Cayman on our Fantasy cruise in December because of high winds/storm. Within about 10-15 minutes of making the official announcement, staff came around to activities with updated navigators with additional activities. While we were disappointed to miss our adventures at GC, we had a lovely day at sea. Because, hey, we were still on a Disney cruise!

 

[Cheerio]

We haven't missed it but in Feb 2016 - the morning of GC we found out we wouldn't be tendering from the regular location on the west side of the island but rather from the south side, with a 15-20 minute ride via shuttle to Georgetown, we'd be sharing the shuttle with the two other ships anchored there and to expect delays. We ended up staying on the ship, but many were glad we stopped vs a sea day.

 

[Capt_BJ]

7:45 and Marine Traffic shows 2 ships (incl Disny M) off Georgetown with one more in bound.

wind is 20 knots out of the east north east

Royal Palms webcam shows 1 ship and a calm waterline on 7 Mile Beach

 

[Jason Martin]

7:45 and Marine Traffic shows 2 ships (incl Disny M) off Georgetown with one more in bound.

wind is 20 knots out of the east north east

Royal Palms webcam shows 1 ship and a calm waterline on 7 Mile Beach

Thanks Capt. we are a couple
Hours away. No announcement made yet however as of yesterday evening they did cancel some of the excursions involving catamarans. Also we were two hours late arriving to Cozumel due to winds which caused them to cancel the ruins tours due to time constraints. But that was a planned day on the ship for us so NBD.