When I took my very first cruise many years ago, I was disappointed to miss out on visiting one of the ports of call on my cruise itinerary due to rough sea conditions.
My experience with this cruise destination was not uncommon—cruise ships tend to miss this particular port more often than others.
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Because the port doesn’t have a pier that can accommodate cruise ships, it requires ships to anchor offshore and shuttle passengers to the island via tender boats. Poor weather conditions make tendering unsafe so cruise ships are forced to skip this port when winds and waves pick up.
Cruise ports that don’t rely on tendering and can accommodate cruise ships at their docks provide more reliable access to a destination. Visits to these ports are less likely to be canceled due to weather than tender ports.
As cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival build larger ships, cruise destinations that haven’t yet built berthing facilities for large cruise ships are no longer just risking weather conditions. Cruise lines have made it clear that tender ports may soon be bypassed completely.
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Creating a dock that can handle larger ships is key for many ports. Image source: Matthew Frankel/Come Cruise With Me
Larger cruise ships won’t call to tender ports like Grand Cayman
With today’s giant ships carrying more than 5,000 passengers, tendering passengers to shore from large cruise ships can be an operational nightmare. Cruise lines need to ensure an easy way for passengers to disembark from the ship, spend more time in port, and not wait in long lines to board a tender to get back to the ship.
Because of this, the tender port that my Carnival cruise ship missed so long ago, Grand Cayman, is already seeing a decline in cruise ship arrivals.
At the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Tourism Industry Conference held in Grand Cayman in September, cruise line executives from Carnival and MSC Cruises warned that ships may stop calling on Grand Cayman altogether if a berthing pier is not built.
Related: Norwegian Cruise Line places order for its largest ships yet
Cayman Islands leaders have been grappling with this issue for some time. A government-backed plan to build a new Cayman Islands cruise port facility was shelved back in 2020 following a battle with an activist group that opposed the project.
Over the last several months, the debate over the country’s cruise port future has ignited again as the Cayman Islands government initiated a new referendum effort to gauge public interest in the cruise industry.
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Cayman Islands’ cruise port future to come to a vote
Caymanian lawmakers have now reached an agreement to move forward with a public referendum on cruise berthing infrastructure in the upcoming election cycle.
The question “Should the Cayman Islands develop cruise berthing infrastructure?” will now be put to voters in the Cayman Islands general elections on April 30.
The Association for Cruise Tourism (ACT) in the Cayman Islands has been a leading force in the effort to bring the issue directly to the Caymanian people.
Related: MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean skip popular port for clear reason
“This is exactly the outcome ACT has worked tirelessly to achieve,” said ACT’s Executive Program Manager Ellio Solomon. “It is a major step toward aligning Cayman’s cruise berthing infrastructure with modern standards, and we are proud that our efforts have ensured the voices of Caymanians will be heard on this critical issue.”
Cruise Port Referendum (CPR) Cayman activists against the construction of a new port facility believe that cruise berthing in Grand Cayman would be damaging to the island and its people. The group wants to ensure the country focuses on sustainable community-centered tourism.
“CPR Cayman champions a future for the Cayman Islands where sustainable tourism and community well-being take precedence over short-term economic gains,” the group said in a recent press release.
“CPR Cayman believes that a sustainable tourism model that invests in overnight tourism and nurtures a boutique cruise tourism sector will yield higher long-term returns for the local economy, while minimising negative impacts on our overall community well-being,” the press release continued.
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