Grand Cayman Update

[CrowleyFam]

Hi,

We are going on the 1/29 Western and I was wondering if anyone has an update on Grand Cayman.

My companies travel department has a "Travel Advisory" for Grand Cayman so I assume that they are still "Closed for Business".

I understand that the island was devistated by Ivan and I feel terrible for them. I hope the rebuilding is going well.

Anyone have an update?

 

[AnnMorin]

I wanted to see if they had made a decision if we would be going to grand cayman or costa maya on our 12/4/04 cruise. The CM assured me (much to my dismay as I really wanted to see costa maya) that we will indeed be going to grand cayman so certainly they will be going for your trip a month later.

 

[lbgraves]

Anne, did you see from the live thread that the front desk on the Magic doesn't think that they will be going back until probably January? We probably wont know until we get on the ship the way things are going back & forth with information.

 

[AnnMorin]

Friends of mine that just got off another cruiseline said they won't be going back until January, that the island has been really ravaged. Don't get me wrong I loved Grand Cayman, I will be there next Thanksgiving (2005) but I don't want to go there when things are still limping along. I DO feel bad for the people who live there but thought this could be such a great chance to see new ruins from Costa Maya. I don't know what I would do in Grand Cayman at this point, maybe ust hang out on the ship.The CM on the phone last night was adament though that the ship is indeed going there on our cruise. That is the one thing I find distasteful about all this. I have no idea what the truth is.

 

[jel0511]

A poster on the 11/6 meet thread posted that they just spoke to a DCL CM and they indicated that it's VERY unlikely the 11/6 cruise is going to GC. The CM indicated it didn't have anything to do with damage to the island, as the port will be open. It has to do with the tenders being damaged or lost. They have to be replaced, and until they are all replaced, GC has to limit the number of ships that can dock.

 

[Hans Solo]

Here's a link that a heard about that shows the result of Hurricane Ivan. It would appear that it will be a few months before the cruise industry will be making port calls.

http://www.terrafutan.net/

 

[AnnMorin]

I for one don't want to go to an island that is devistated, I do feel for the people who live there but what the heck are we suppossed to do if it is still in shambles?

 

[MarkRG]

I really don't know, Ann.

I think a good part of the push to get the island back open to tourism is at the insistance of the British government who is trying to protect the offshore banking industry that is there. It is their primary place for that. Don't think they really care as much to the physical condition of the island. There are parts that still don't even have water/power at this time.

The Atlantis Adventures excursion group has reported they are out of the picture until February 2005 for sure.

The Turtle Farm is out of commission for a while, the report below says November.

A lot of other watercraft are damaged/gone as well so other excursions may not be running.

Keep in mind that GC is also tender only, and there are reports some of those are gone too.

Only positive I've seen is Cpt. Marvin's who reported only one boat sunk and they were going to raise and repair it, but they are otherwise operational.

There is a HUGE update that outlines current conditions posted at this link right now: http://www.stormcarib.com/reports/2004/cayman.shtml


I put this on the last thread discussing GC and I'll paste it here:

Considering all of this:
http://www.davidolson.com/

http://66.135.34.197/ivan/

http://gallery.shorelinx.ky/main.php/view/ivan/?g2_page=1

And all the reports that most resorts are not going to be ready until November at the earliest, and some of the big ones(Hyatt) saying they won't reopen until next year sometime, I really don't know if I'd be all that eager to go back this soon.

That said I hope those of you who go have a good time, the islanders need it VERY badly.

They need our support; those of us not going can express it in other ways:

http://www.hurricaneivan.ky/

And these people are still taking donations:

Tortuga Imports Inc.
website: www.tortugarums.com