George Town welcomes passengers from five cruise ships on New Year’s Day

By Christopher Tobutt

Walking from the Paradise Restaurant into the heart of George Town’s Waterfront – past the Bayshore Mall, the museum, and Sharky’s - you could see that the five cruise ships which dropped anchor on New Year’s Day had filled the waterfront with tourists. The estimate of around 15,000 passengers was not the record of seven ships and 20,000 passengers set in 2018, but it was close.  There they were, on both sides of South Church Street going into Seafarers Way. In family and friend groups, couples or singles, they were looking all around in the bright sunlight of a new day, and a new year.

Despite being New Year’s Day, nearly all the stores were open; stores selling high-end jewelry and watches, souvenirs and t-shirts whiule the bars and restaurants sold drinks snacks and meals. Nobody wanted to miss out on this large number of customers. Most would return a “Happy New Year!” if spoken to, but not many wanted to stop and talk or make eye contact. They were too busy deciding where they wanted to go.

Tour representatives with big colourful placards called out tours for Seven Mile Beach, or Crystal Caves, or Sting Ray City. One man standing in the shade outside a waterfront T-shirt and souvenir shop said his visit to Grand Cayman hadn’t started very well. It was midday already and his tour – all the way over to Crystal Caves at North Side, was half an hour late, although it arrived while we were still speaking, but it had been a worry.  The delay had come on top of waiting for a tender from the side of the cruise ship, and a ride into the Royal Watler Terminal. Yes, of course, he would prefer it if his ship had docked alongside a permanently built dock. “But at the same time I understand a small island like this must protect its coastline,” he said.

It was the same story for many others. They had come from other destinations with nice cruise piers and so having to board a tender was a hassle and a delay which cut down the time they could spend ashore. Some said they didn’t really mind. They were just glad to be here, but for most of them It was a concern. One lady, Beth, who had come with her family, was terrified of the water and said had seen tenders capsize. So although it wasn’t a dealbreaker (she had visited many times before) it was a big worry. “Its Lovely, its pretty. The water’s beautiful. It’s just very expensive,” she said. “Everything’s more expensive here but we love the people. We’ve always had great tour guides here, and we’ve always had great experiences.”

Another group were stay-over tourists but had started visiting Cayman as cruise tourists – part of the one or two per-cent who make the transition. “Last time we came was in 2019 and it seems to have changed since then. I am not sure how, but I think it has changed – lost something,” was the opinion of Marie, one of the ladies in the group. “We come from Tennessee which is really cold at this time of year, so it is lovely to come here into the sunshine.”

“Its great here and I love it,” said Lewis from New York. “I don’t mind getting on and off the boats. Yeah, it would be great to have permanent ports here but they don’t have the space here, and I understand that, so I don’t mind.”

His group had been busy chatting with two friendly police officers, PC Bradley Bregani  AC Simone Barrett. The passengers were asking about healthcare here, which PC Bregani said was very well-provided for, and they also talked about crime and safety.  PC Bregani said he was very proud because he believed the Cayman Islands is still one of the safest destinations in the Caribbean: ‘Very very safe,” he assured..

When I asked him what he felt about the large numbers of tourists, he replied: “Its great. The more the merrier.” But he feels it would have been a different story – much more chaotic - if the ships had arrived on an ordinary working day, when the streets would be more congested.

Even so, on the New Year’s Day holiday it still became a bit of a challenge to drive through that section of the waterfront. Many tourists were walking across the road in front of slow-moving traffic, or being led in groups by tour operators. There are some proper crossing places, true, but if you are new to a place you don’t always know where they are. They seemed safe enough, but it was clear that picking your way through slow-moving traffic while trying to make sure all your family has kept up and is close to you isn’t the easiest thing to do.

On the other hand, the visitors walking around the pedestrianised Cardinal Avenue didn’t have that problem..

One of the waitresses at a busy waterfront bar agreed that the large number of visitors was good for business. But she felt that if it had fallen on a normal working (or ‘office’) day, it would have been much worse.

Another couple from Florida who are frequesnt visitors to Cayman were clear that they would prefer the ships to come at a pier. “A dock would be much better because it would be quick and you you have much more time to walk around. All the other places have docks.”