uk_grenada

Gordon Barlow

This is a recent article by a well respected former President of the Cayman Chamber of Commerce - well respected compared with our ruling politicians and their backers of the proposed $250-500-million port, anyway...Is there bribery afoot? There are many voices answering "yes" to that question, I'm sorry to say.
https://caymannewsservice.com/2019/0...erendum-facts/

Gordon Barlow

According to this report from Nassau, Bahamas, there is the same degree of dissatisfaction being expressed there as here, at the prospect of a new cruise-ships facility. Probably, bribery is a factor there, too. What a shame for our fellow West Indians. My wife and I spent three and a half very happy years in Nassau when we were young and newly married, and we have warm memories of the place.
https://www.caymancompass.com/2019/0...other-protest/

(I know the Bahamas are not in the Caribbean, technically, but we can stretch a point, I think.)

uk_grenada

Jamesy5008

https://www.caymancompass.com/2019/0...fy-signatures/

Wow! Just wow!

Gordon Barlow

I'd forgotten about this thread! But with the Virus being responsible for the absence of all cruise ships here in Cayman - and I presume the rest of the Caribbean - the whole discussion is moot. Any ideas when the cruise industry will be back?

Cayman's population is going to plummet during the next few months. (It's not just the cruises who aren't coming, it's tourists in general. Our Islands are self-immolating (or do I mean self-isolating? One of them. As if there's any difference, these days...), and there are no flights in or out, except for the very occasional mercy flight.

What a shambles it all is!

Jamesy5008

Numbers I have heard recently are that over 12 thousand left on the last weekend the airport was open and 4 thousand came back. If there are more 'mercy flights' as seem planned then I can see another few thousand leaving. The tourist industry is over this year. Higher end restaurants like Copper Falls are closing for good. Resident dollars are what is going to keep some places afloat for the foreseeable future. US tourists, with their inherent fear of whatever their gov tells them is bad, aren't coming back for a year anyway. They are 75% of the islands tourist income. BIG changes ahead for the islands.

Rete

I was scheduled to go to Bermuda at May 30th on Royal Caribbean. My mate is going if the ship is going but I will not. It is certainly not because the US government tells me it is bad to do so. It is myself telling me it is not safe to do so. Knowing that the islands have very limited medical resources and that by the end of May, even if the curve is flattened, I truly believe it would be unwise to venture to any of the islands as a tourist.

Jerseygirl

For the last few years we have spent 3-4 months cruising per year. Needless to say we will not be doing so anytime soon, Certainly not this year and perhaps not next year.

Gordon Barlow

I think one would have to be reckless, to go on a cruise-ship at this time! Even if the ports-of-call all had adequate hospitals, it wouldn't make sense to risk being isolated in a strange place.

Gordon Barlow

Yes, those are the figures being quoted, Jamesy, and they're probably accurate. The 12,000 would have been mainly visitors, and the 4,000 all Caymanians. The people really in a bind at the moment, in Cayman especially, are the hourly-paid expats here on Work Permits. They would have been sending all their spare money home to their families (in Jamaica, Philippines, India, Central America), and unless they were in their final (seventh) year of the Permits would not have had enough money to fly home. And those from India and the Philippines aren't allowed to transit the USA at any time, usually.

You're absolutely right that our economy is set to take a hell of a whack - first, from the absence of tourists and business visitors, and second, from the unemployment of the Work Permit expats who serviced those visitors. And, as businesses close down, one by one, Caymanians too become unemployed - beginning with the least skilled. Rents will go unpaid, and the landlords' mortgages, and the banks' depositors. As one of the depositors, all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope that my bank doesn't bounce my cheques!

Unhappy times are just around the corner...

scot47

I think coronavirus may end the recent craze for cruiseships. It might end mass air-travel too.

uk_grenada

Not quite i think, cruising will become less popular, and may well go into decline, flying will be more expensive and for sure there will be provider and route rationalisation, which isnt necessarily a bad thing, but its a fools / eco warriors paradise to think its going away.

Trends in holidays are being hotly debated, i think holidaying in your country will be a brief trend, but not for long.

More interesting - as the concept of a covid immmune visa emerges, it will change travellers and destinations in favour, preferring the US and Europe who by then will have assured real herd immunity.

Jerseygirl

i think there maybe more health checks and travel insurance will be much more expensive, especially for the elderly. Last year when we disembarked in Hong Kong, the temperature of all passengers were scanned before we entered HK immigration. This should be routine for anyone embarking/disembarking a ship or plane IMO.

Mallory

We were on a cruise that stopped in the Cayman Islands two years ago. We took a taxi to the beach. We had an overpriced lunch. We walked a long way up seven mile beach, and took a swim. We crossed the road and took the bus back to the port. You are welcome! (Beach is beautiful).