TravelCayman in political no man’s land
(CNS): Government has created a new team to manage and clear the arrival of all categories of people allowed to return or enter the Cayman Islands, but it is not clear which ministry is now responsible. For the last six months the Ministry of International Trade, Aviation and Maritime Affairs has been working outside of its remit to manage TravelTime but will no longer be doing so. However, who will now oversee the unit, renamed TravelCayman, remains a mystery.
The MITAMA managed the COVID-19 lockdown and later the return and repatriation of residents through TravelTime. But this unit has now transitioned into TravelCayman and officials in that ministry say they are no longer managing the process surrounding returning residents and others allowed in.
Chief officer in the MITAMA, Eric Bush, told CNS this week that Cayman Airways would be supervising the new team, though that does not appear to be the case, because when we made enquiries the government-owned airline referred us back to the ministry.
TravelCayman now facilitates arrivals into Cayman on British Airways and private jets as well as Cayman Airways, making the decisions as to who will be admitted and then making the arrangements for their isolation. CNS has asked who will be responsible for this unit and we have not received a response.
Since the TravelCayman team will include staff from several ministries, the public might expect that the overarching responsible authority would be either the arm of the premier’s ministry which deals with border control or the tourism ministry. However, that question has not been answered despite repeated efforts by CNS to find out.
In a press release MITAMA officials said they will no longer handle the process. But Chief Officer Bush, who is returning to his regular duties advancing the reputation of the Cayman Islands, did not say who will be taking over.
“The ministry is now resuming its normal business,” he said. “We are looking forward to building on our success this year and last to achieve our strategic objectives that revolve around bringing Cayman to the world, and the world to Cayman. That work, with a focus on international trade and investments into the Cayman Islands, is now more important than ever before as we begin a journey to rebuild our economy after the negative impact of the pandemic,” Bush added.
Bush commended the TravelTime team, which processed thousands of travel requests, seven days a week, and for the crucial role that it has played in keeping the Cayman Islands safe during the unfolding of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
To contact TravelCayman, email TravelCayman@gov.ky
Or call: (345) 649-6913
Category: Local News, Transport
TravelCayman is sending out automated emails that read:
“October has reached capacity and unfortunately we cannot accept new applications.
If you would like to do a new booking for November and beyond, please wait until the last week of October before applying as a new application system is planned for introduction at that time.”
Can someone please tell me when I can vacation again in Cayman? I am an ex resident of the island but now reside in the U.K. I have been tested for COVID but the results were negative.
In 2 years after the new vaccine you can come back.
Alternatively, make application to become a resident through various mechanisms available and come in through quarantine in November.
It will 2 years or after the next election in May – depending on whether sanity reins or not.
Being tested once for Covid19 is meaningless. No point you putting that into your statement.
Rather than add to unhelpful comments I would prefer to share some useful tips that got me home to Cayman this week.
As far as I am concerned the process was clear to me (yes you need to put effort in and call a few times on the week of travel).
Remember no test before arrival.
Official guide is here:
https://www.exploregov.ky/faqs/covid-19-inbound-travel
My unofficial guide to return to Cayman:
October is full now so plan for November.
1. Make sure you are a frequent flier account with Cayman Airways (see ** below it helps about ticket notifications) (if not then join first : https://www.caymanairways.com/become-a-member). Call Cayman Airways on their 345 949 2311 number checked out the schedule and they will tell you about availability on each flight.
2. Decide on a date based on what Cayman Airways tells you.
3. Then ask Cayman Airways to go ahead and make a reservation for you (its only a held reservation and they do not ask for payment) on the available flight (yes they do it) and give them your frequent flier number, very important, so you will get email updates about your ticket.
4. **If you are set up with your frequent flier you will get an email with a ticket that needs to be purchased once travel Cayman authorizes your return.
5. Decide if you have a suitable residence, easy to do:
– Will it be vacant when you arrive and is it accessed via a outside access way: YES then good most likely suitable
– It must be accessed with elevator only (no stairs) NOT good then plan B quarantine facility.
-someone will be living there when I arrive: NOT good then plan B quarantine facility.
I am sure there are more requirements than that but that is what I gather is required as a basic minimum.
6. Email info to travelcayman@gov.ky:
A. your intended travel dates and explain you have made a reservation already with booking code from the email (this really helps).
B. Also attached your passport copy to that email together with evidence as to your residency status and ask in the email if they can book you on the flight you have selected based on the information from Cayman Airways.
C. Include whether you would like to quarantine at home explaining that you believe that your residence is suitable as no-one is residing there and it has outside access with your address and apt number. Or if you would need the hotel.
D. Explain fully why you need to be on that flight and why you now need to be back on Islands.
7. Starting 7 Days before your flight call 345 649 6913 – be sure to call right on 830 am Cayman Islands time until they start taking calls it may take a few call backs and you will be 1st or 2nd on hold it took 2 minutes to get answered every morning I did that (yes they get busy but there are 1,800 people waiting to come back I have been informed) – this is a necessary step to get your ticket so it can be purchased and you are good to go – the accommodation situation will resolve itself, they will either approve your residence or put you in a hotel. They will most likely advise they will call you back or email you back as I believe they are verifying your information with immigration etc. All of the staff I spoke to were friendly and efficient.
8. ***After they approve you, if you are set up with your frequent flier account you will get an email with a ticket that needs to be purchased this means that they have approved you to return and they ask you to call Cayman Airways to make the purchase OR Cayman Airways may call you on the number in your frequent flier account to complete the purchase (you can use a prior canceled ticket also).
9. DAY OF TRAVEL: No online checkin. The checkin was fine although a long line went quickly and staff were friendly. They board the plane from the back.
10. ARRIVAL IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS: Please be nice to these front-line staff.
• Airport arrival in the Cayman Islands was organized and clear as to what happened next (they check your name was on the list of arrivals that day (TOP Tip ask you number on the list), they ask where you will quarantine give you the color coded sticker on your passport as to which route to follow (orange hotel isolation or blue at home) you follow your color to immigration.
• After immigration someone else meets you and asks your name and its quicker to give them the number on the list. Then you get your COVID 19 test, very quick and efficient.
• You collect your bag as normal, you then clear customs.
• Walk out into arrivals area and another person asks your name (give them your number again).
• They then direct you to transport for hotels or verify you have your at home kit and out you walk (escorted to the hotel bus).
11. WHAT TO EXPECT AT HOTEL: Arrive at the hotel, they take you one by one outside collect your welcome package (clearly gives you all you need to know) and enter via the fire exit to your room then relax.
12. Next day you get your COVID 19 status email.
FOOD TIP: order food and water delivery (to your hotel or residence) for the day after you arrive with a shopping list and your credit card number to this email address: Delivery@kirkmarket.ky don’t worry if you want to wait until on Island as they do next day they expedite it for quarantine persons.
Cayman now has good food delivery for the first night: “lets eat” app and a website https://islandgrub.ky/
Follow the above and I am sure you will get home just fine. Best of luck and I hope this helps. I am sure there will be comments but I am trying to help here so be nice….
Thank you for taking time to sum it up.
except if you try to do this you can’t!
Happy to provide my details it is 100% what happened to me and how I got back
PS I have the time I am in quarantine!
I have nothing but time in quarantine!
Very informative post , very positive . Nice to read for a change. Will give lots of travelers a positive outlook . Which is what people need right now.
If only it were true!
very true want my number to call me to verify?
…where is all of this information available if you don’t happen to run across this post.
I can’t see it on any of the Gov’t websites.
The Cayman Airways agent I just spoke with says that they can’t take reservations for inbound flights.
I would say the system is broken but that is giving credit for a system in the first place.
Oh and for good measure I have emailed TravelCayman and await a response. I waited for over an hour on hold with them only to be told that there was a system issue and they could not answer my call at this time.
They need to address this in short order but I doubt that will happen.
So I posted the above info and they absolutely can book you on an available flight as they did for me. Did you check which flight has available seats in November and request that they hold it for you? If they refuse ask for a supervisor also you can email them on: gcmressupervisors@caymanairways.net please let me know how you get on
I literally called them this morning and they said it has to go through TravelCayman.
It may depend on who you get but that is the issue this is not a system.
I really appreciated your post and was hopeful it could work.
I will try again tomorrow as there doesn’t seem to be anything else you can do. I will try my luck again and then ask for a supervisor if I get no joy.
Please let us know how you get on! I have a family member waiting too, any tips are much appreciated.
Thank you! Did you really not have to take a covid test before flying? Where were you flying from?
Thanks for the detailed info, its very helpful!
I have a suitable residence, and my wife who is in Cayman works from home and is fine with isolating together with me. Is that doable, or do I have to book a hotel?
Great info thanks!!
Typical Caymanian run slow train wreck, dysfunctional, and time consuming. Maybe next year after the uK takes over from the Bankrupt CIG they will let Expats run it for expats. Until then we have the best they have working on it. (from home).
rubbish – I managed to get back last week
7:30 AM, look you got freedom of speech anonymously, it’s a pity that you can’t use it with your name attached isn’t it. Where ya from, why did you come by here, do you not like it here, are there no problems where you come from?
Want to meet up and talk about it. Meet me at the town clock on Wednesday at 11:30 am I’ll have on the a white shirt and khaki shorts and a brown paper bag in my right hand. Till them I will remain anonymous too. See ya I hope.
Govt need to identify clearly and boldly whois in charge of this. Listening to the weak rambling statement that cayman airways is in charge is a shambolic heads up as to what is about to happen and will happen.
Get your masks on folks
I listened to Alden’s comments yesterday about being patient and expecting perfection when CIG are doing a really good job and got really angry at this!
They’ve literally had months and months to put in proper protocols and infrastructure for this and have failed… repeatedly.
Back in July we were told that when they opened on September 1st it would be with pre flight testing and testing at the airport before home quarantining. In the big picture not a lot has changed. They still need to test on arrival and they still need to test at the end of a quarantine period. They still need to be able to approve someone’s residence as suitable before quarantining starts.
So they’ve had over 3 months to get this right and they still cant answer the phone in less than 30 minutes or give you a confirmation to fly more than a few days out.
I have friends coming back to Cayman on the 15th October and they still haven’t heard anything back from Travel Cayman and their residence hasn’t been checked. On the grapevine i heard DEH were checking houses the day of flights arriving!! Why? It doesn’t need to be this way! This is typical no plan chaos…….. The Governor needs to step in and sort them out otherwise opening up to tourists won’t happen until 2022!
there are reasons for day of arrival accommodation checks, the property has to be vacant – read post above about how to get back. Seems like you are in the category of complaining for complaining sake. Your friends need to be active for their own travel arrangements instead of sitting back. Understand it from the Travel Cayman point of view they are prioritizing on needs basis if they don’t know your friends reasons and position then how can they authorize them .. they need to get on the phone at 830 and like I did it was answered within 2 minutes and the person dealing was very helpful and kept their promise to call me back. So instead of complaining about give your friends some advice to look at the above post and spend your and their energy on getting themselves back – bad attitudes ends with bad results.
Why am I complaining for complaining’s sake when our ability as a country to function depends on something which is clearly being managed so badly? We live on an Island. The only way on and off, for most people, is by a scheduled flight.
My friends are active. I know they have been reaching out to travel time weekly and in some cases daily. But the question is why should they? If you order online shopping from Fosters do you need to call them every hour to make sure it arrives on time? If you renew your insurance online or via email do you expect to have to chase the insurance company for days and days to get your insurance certificate? So why should any of us have to chase TravelCayman to get something relatively simply done.
The issue for the quarantine at home for my friends is simply that they need to know whether the government will approve the property or not. If not they need to make alternative arrangements. You cannot do this on the day! There is no reason why Travel Cayman (travel time or whoever) cannot pre-approve residences with a list of conditions (Like no one else apart from those listed can be at the property). This isn’t rocket science but seems that it is being made a lot more complicated than it needs to be!
‘relatively simple’ ok not so simple:
check the numbers in the hotel,
or verify whether they can self isolate,
verify immigration status,
ensure that there are testing resources,
has all the priority cases been processed (medical and educational travel)
x 7,000 = a lot of manual time consuming steps with current pending cases of 1,800 – which they cannot get wrong once
you are not buying a donut online from fosters hardly a good comparison
We keep saying the Governor should step in everywhere. So much easier if we just have direct rule.
Le’me splain you a likkle sum’ting…. If the UK does not open it’s borders with the US, Cayman cannot open up to to the US (or Miami). The UK is just giving a control freak power…..
Um, US residents can go to the UK and back.
What ever you do CIG don’t give it to Jon-Jon, the dump healthcare, garbage collection need I say more…
This is so unorganized and have no guidelines set or the staff don’t know. I have spoken to 3 different staff and they have all said different procedures costing me a spot on an incoming flight!!! They are arrogant and clueless
If you want good customer service you must go with the expat. Right now if you want to come back to Cayman you must deal with the Caymanian. Part of paying the Taxes they don’t call taxes here.
travel time and travel cayman staff were excellent when they dealt with me not once were they arrogant nor clueless. They always called me back when promised. I suppose if you approach with a bad attitude wanting them to resolve all of your travel arrangements what do you expect. Live in the real world and take responsibility for yourself and your family and be active with your own travel arrangements. I got myself back last week. If you don’t like Caymanians why come to Cayman? My best friends are Caymanian and they are by far the best humans I have ever met, so don’t paint them all with the same brush.
I emailed TravelTime many times and never got a reply. Terrible.
I managed to get back last week you need to put a bit of effort into your own travel it is own your responsibility
Sure, our responsibility but is it too much to ask for a reasonable process to be in place.
So much of what we have had to deal with is frankly just plain bullspit!
Or pure unadulterated crockery!
There seems to be no problem leaving Cayman, but I have no idea as of Sat Oct 10th whether I will be allowed to return on the Oct 15th BA flight. There seems to be confusion about quarantine arrangements and I am stressed out not knowing if I spend 5 hours on the train to Heathrow, having to overnight in a hotel at the airport, whether I can travel back home. The system needs to be changed, it is unfair on passengers waiting until the last minute to issue travel authorisation letters.
Common sense dictates that people should not even be allowed to book a seat on a flight until ALL necessary approvals have taken place. That goes for travel both to/from Cayman.
If you’re traveling OFF the island, don’t leave without already having approval and a booked flight for a specified date to come back ON the island.
32 in the queue, got to 3 and it rung dead. Tried later, 44 in the queue, answered, and hung up immediately. There is a pattern here all the way along. And no response to e-mails.
Communication was lacking with Travel Time and seriously lacking with Travel Cayman. Obviously, staffing levels are nowhere near where they should be..Being number 42 in the queue, is simply ridiculous.
A simple response to an email would be good too. These reminds me of trying to get a response from the Pension companies.
Staffing levels are more than fine, trust me.
Yes it is actual work that is lacking
read other comments below, you need to get on the phone as soon as they open and I was answered in 2 minutes. Its hardly their fault there is high demand. They did a great job for me.
Eric Bush is totally incompetent and needs to be removed from Government completely.
And this flim flan ministry that he currently heads up needs to be closed down.
Save money and give the responsibilities to people who know what they’re doing.
I think that is an unfair assessment. There are serious issues, but they are often elsewhere in government.
Everybody, have your questions good and ready. Politicians performance review coming up in 7 months. Let them hear it!!
Right now, my whole life hinges on whether I return home or not. I have so many decisions to make that are contingent upon the government making up their minds as to whether they will let me on island. I first applied at the end of July to return in August. I filled out the form and then I was instructed not to email. There was no acknowledgment to my application. So I emailed every month. No response. I read the Compass online this morning and noticed a phone number to call and an email for Travel Cayman. I emailed first. At 8:30 this morning I was the 13th caller in the queue. 35 minutes later I was the 4th caller in the queue. The line went dead! I had just spend USD20 for that one phone call with not even anyone at the other end knowing I was calling. Sorrowful! So I spent another USD17 calling Cayman Airways. To find out if there were flights and for guidance on how to navigate through this, what seems to me, non-existent organization. I was told that Travel Cayman operates on a first come, first serve. Well great! I applied in July, so I must be high on the list, right? I asked the Cayman Airways representative, who is the minister in charge of Cayman Airways…. Apparently that was a trick question. She did not know. So I asked another trick question. Is Cayman Airways flying inbound to Cayman? The response was the schedule of the outbound flights, every Tuesday. Obviously the child working for the national carrier is not Caymanian. Hmmm…. Let me not go off on that!! I sat bewildered, bewitched and bemused. What was my next step? Hmmm. Cayman is my only home. I have owned my own house along SMB for 25 years. It’s not like I am investor wanting to protect my second home. I only have one home! So you know what??? I have a roof over my head, even though it is not home. I have cash and I can afford to stay in fancy hotels in NYC for all the upcoming holidays. Too bad the money I have spent since last March and will be spending until I can travel to my home freely will not be going into the Cayman economy. So I have decided I am not going to go home until the airport is open and I can travel freely without the government have immense control over my life! This disease will be around for a long time. It is everyone responsibility to protect everyone! The disease affects people who are on medication continually. Well that is most of the Cayman population on “tablets”. Trump beat the virus. So can everyone else! There was one death in the Cayman Islands from COVID and thankfully it was not a Caymanian! If you are susceptible to catching the virus, isolate yourself, protect you family and wear your mask! The mask does not protect you, it protects everyone else. And another little tidbit, N95 masks are not allowed to be used on planes. I had mine on and was told I needed another type of mask. The planes within the US are not as sanitized as everyone thinks, if at all. When you board the plane, you are required to wear a face covering. Many people are wearing dirty bandanas. You are served water and a snack. You are allowed to remove the face covering to drink and eat. In my seat, I found wrappers from the previous passenger. Fortunately, I carry alcohol in a small spray bottle and was able to spray all around me. All I can say is there are many medications being used to treat COVID. There is no definitive cure with the flu or any virus. You just have to ride it out. Just keep yourself healthy and safe from others germs.
This sounds fictional.
It’s all factual. Caymanians would say “If it don’t go so, it nearly go so!”
Which Caymanians?
that’s what Jamaicans say, not Caymanians..
Until you step in someone else’s shoes troubles of others would appear as fictional to you.
This is one of the worst human traits- judge others on assumptions.
How do you know she was not caymanian? There are plenty of caymanians that do not know their MLA and nothing is wrong with that. Some people just don’t see the necessity in remembering facts when the information serve little purpose in their life.
Look at this. VisitCaymanIslands.com
COVID-19 NEWS ALERT
As of October 1, 2020, the Cayman Islands commenced the phased opening of its international borders. Leisure travel is not allowed in this phase which focuses on repatriation flights and returning residents/homeowners. For the latest information on how to travel safely and responsibly to the Cayman Islands, please click HERE. Anyone who is interested should ask Freedom of Information who is travelling on these repatriation flights since March. I seem to remember that work permit holders new to island have been allowed to travel. How can they be considered returning residents? So is this a manipulation by the government that if revenue is gained for government, anyone can travel? Say if the government is getting revenue from work permits, or from quarantine? A point to ponder….
I woke with the light on! There will be no travel between the US and Cayman until the UK allows transAtlantic flights between the US and the UK. Alden thinks he is in control, but no he is not. So for example, I can fly on my British passport to the UK and then to Cayman. We all need to become more savvy.
you can get back it takes some effort – I did it last week
Applied a month ago. No reply. Chased. No reply. Chased again. No reply.
World class.
I firmly believe THIS is why the responsibility is being taken away from Eric.
If you are his friend then you get 1st class treatment and they process the application right away. I had to wait and wait and wait as well. But I know of a friend of his that got his application processed within hours.
Too much nepotism going on, so it was taken away and now they trying to find another donkey to saddle.
Thank heaven the complaints commissioner does not need to get their staff back here from Canada. That would cause an awkward conversation.
Eric and his team did a great job they got me home…
I managed to get back last week you need to put a bit of effort into your own travel – do not sit back
Come on people!!! Civil Servants have lives too including bills to pay. Their work must come secondary to all else. When they do work, they do a great job. :))
They pay their bills by doing the work. The point to which you have completely disregarded.
I’m pretty sure the comment to which you’re responding is sarcastic!
I think you missed the point he was making. I had to read it a few extra times to catch it – a real zinger.
travel time worked for me no complaints… I suppose its all to do with attitude … bad attitudes never get anywhere
I am just shaking my head, as numerous friends whom have applied to do the home quarantine, have told me that their accommodations were not even approved of until the day before they arrived!
So we just add more stress to people already in a stressful situation by making them wait until one day before they arrive, to know if their accommodations are approved of or not????? Happily my friends accommodations were approved, yet I question what would they have done if they were not??? WITH ONE DAYS NOTICE!!!!! Is it hoping too much that the Department gets their act together and try to have some consideration for the folks trying to get back home eh~ Answering an email or phone is a good place to start!
This should not come as a surprise to anyone. The complete confusion and incompetence is the only that that is normal and consistent.
On hold on the phone to these jokers for 2 hrs yesterday, and when they answered, they hung up!. Getting through the second time around would not take any enquiries about travel in November as the said the policy would change at the end of October, but they have no idea of what it will change to, so are not dealing with enquiries for travel beyond October!
11:28. You can always stay where you are. Won’t that be a joke on you. Coming to paradise ….stand in line and wait your turn. Cayman is worth the wait.
You are a proper tw@t. I hope you know that. What an absolutely ludicrous thing to say. My missus is more Caymanian than most caymanians on this island and she’s struggling to get home. So where exactly does your comment stand in that context?
Travel time is a joke – that isn’t up for debate. Regardless of your bigoted, probably xenophobic, egregiously unfounded elitist view.
do what I did call right in 830 and until the switchboard is on and you wait like 2 minutes max
If they are expecting the current increasing travel from heavily infected countries and a less than perfect home isolation process to bring disaster to Cayman is it any wonder that no politician or senior civil servant is willing to be responsible?
As typical – utter chaos and no professional leadership from CIG. How shocking…
Just release Eric Bush, and find new head of MITAMA, or better yet, dissolve the useless agency that failed to keep us off the OECD blacklist. We aren’t done, and this isn’t over. Cayman needs leaders, not more salary-grubbing slackers with self-importance ego complexes.
Its impossible to get through to these guys. Yesterday and this morning I called and was number 38 and then 44 in the queue! I emailed too earlier in the week and no response.
call right on 830 until they start taking calls and you will get through 1st or 2nd
Let the record show Cayman was literally blacklisted while Eric Bush felt he was doing a swell job working full time promoting our fantastic international reputation. Talk about delusion.
I’m no fan of Eric but that is firmly on Tara’s shoulders.
Another Cayman cockup. It is not the time to be changing from CIG to a defunct airline.
What can go wrong.
remember Ivan only KX flew no other airline its here to stay I hope
give a man enough rope and he will hang himself
CIG really likes the role of Covid19 gendarme in a virus free territory.
classic civil service… and its only people lives and livelyhoods at stake!…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
if its important to you tell them on the phone or email they are human too and they actually did a good job listening to me and getting me back, don’t approach them with a bad attitude that will get you stuck overseas
All in all, Bush and his team did an excellent job. What is about to happen fills me with dread.
i agree they got me home no problem
Someone needs to teach them how to respond to emails before they go any further. Hint, there is a little button which says “reply”. #worldclass
I find that people are being way too critical and not understanding that this is a new process. People need to understand that things are by no means “back to normal”. Do you know of a special “reply” button that replies to thousands of different types of inquiries at once?
The time you took to make excuses for your ineptitude on here, could have been used to give two or three persons the courtesy of a reply.
You just insulted someone whom you do not know at all.. because your arrogance causes you to believe that you are all knowing. I was only expressing that I can imagine how overwhelmed they must be, especially if the transition between teams was last minute. These issues usually come from higher up and are not necessarily the fault of the workers. I do ofcourse also understand how frustrating it can be for the people who are trying to enter, especially if it is an urgent matter. But the fact that I pointed out also is that the airport is by no means completely open in the way that the Government gave the impression that it would be. This is probably causing a mass income of applications and enquiries. But thank you for giving me a job at Travel Cayman 🙂 lol
The old system showed some semblance of functioning. The new one, none whatsoever. There is not even an interface through which to log requests anymore.
A new application system is being introduced very soon. They are asking that people who are applying for November and beyond to wait. They now have an auto reply informing people of this.
So why stop the old system before the new system is ready to pick up where the old left off?
Eric Bush got tired of it, that’s why..
You are correct. But the problem is that the mouthpieces (Eric Bush, etc.) need to start speaking truthfully and plainly about how the process is to work and is working. Even if it is only ‘max end of month approval, only final-issued 24hrs before Travel Time’. Then we can talk about what the service levels should be, not what the service levels are not.
i agree I was in the crossover period so the email changed and the website was pulled but they worked hard to get me home: good attitude = good results