TravelCayman struggling with demand
(CNS): The transition to the new system handling those wishing to return or visit Cayman has not gone smoothly. TravelCayman is also struggling to cope with the increase in demand from property owners and others with connections to the island who want to visit. CNS has heard numerous complaints from people who have spent hours in phones queues or who have only learned on the eve of their hoped-for departure they have been cleared to come.
Premier Alden McLaughlin has confirmed that inbound travel for this month is already at capacity and travellers will now have to wait until November for the next availability.
But people dealing with medical emergencies, those worried about reconnecting with family and other challenges have told CNS that their experience with TravelCayman has added to their anxieties.
They described being on hold on the phone for hours repeatedly without speaking to anyone and having to try for days on end. Others have also been left wondering what to do when the day before their proposed journey they had still not heard back, only to be told hours before their flight that they were cleared.
However, at the press briefing on Friday the premier took aim at those who “expect perfection”, in response to queries by CNS about the situation in regards to the new system and how many people are employed to deal with property owners, workers, residents, family members and others who are now permitted to come to Cayman in the first phase of the border reopening, which began this month.
McLaughlin said the team was trying its best to address the applications but the return capacity for October was full.
“No matter how hard we work, no matter how much we do, there are going to be occasions when operations… or something falls short of the mark. That’s just the way it is,” the premier said, as he asked for continued patience during these trying times.
The premier also explained that government was comfortable with Cayman Airways being the competent authority for Travel Cayman, despite the need to manage border control and quarantine issues as well as clearing people to travel on British Airways and private jets.
McLaughlin said he had been given assurances that CAL could manage this and they have plenty of experience dealing with travel arrangements.
He said that while the tourism ministry and the deputy premier will have ultimate control of the team, his chief officer, Eric Bush, will also be part of the oversight, despite a press release last week indicating that the premier’s ministry of international trade would no longer have any responsibility for this area.
Despite the confusion surrounding who is managing TravelCayman, the premier said Cayman Airways had the “bandwidth” and capacity to handle the project and it had been a struggle to find and deploy staff from elsewhere during the crisis.
“We have got to utilize staff that have the bandwidth, space and time to do it,” he said, adding that, after some negotiations with the national airline, TravelCayman has fallen to them. He said he had been “given the necessary assurances” that CAL was the appropriate agency.
McLaughlin confirmed that the inbound travel has reached capacity for October and no new applications will be accepted. Applications already received are in the system and travellers will be contacted regarding the status of those applications.
He explained that applications are prioritised on a weekly basis for the next week’s travel. He said that another new portal is being developed to speed up the application and approval system and will be launched in the coming weeks.
Travellers who are planning travel in November and beyond who have not already applied are asked not to apply yet to allow October travellers to be processed and get their information to them.
See here for the most up to date information on travel requirements to the Cayman Islands.
You need to change somethings like expecting that people without experience took the job of someone with proper qualifications.This is something that a friend told me, they wanted to safety return of some employees and the government don’t approve and sending person that are not suitable for the job ,but the government insist just because they’re Caymanian.
That is slowing the economy, you need to help the local business,if they say that they need someone just aprovecha it.
Cayman is a place that cannot survive without expatriate.
About those who want to return for business or pleasure or security let them return without hesitation, just follow the security protocol ,because that is important too.
The irony of someone ranting about Caymannians’ lack of experience and qualifications but cannot even structure their statements without grammatical errors and misspellings. Speaks volumes to the type of “quality” expatriates the islands are now attracting.
It’s perhaps possible that English is not the author’s native language. The point is well taken however. Expatriates and guest workers fill a need in this society, as in most others.
headline should be:
civil service still struggling with basic competency
Celebrating Mediocrity !!
Have you quantified the economic cost of having a Covid 19 outbreak with hospitals full?
It has cost the US trillions of dollars, up to 90% of their GDP. What would a similar outbreak cost Cayman?
In the US, where ‘everyone’ says the virus is running rampant… THE. HOSPITALS. ARE. NOT. FULL. And never have been. Quit panicking Cayman! You can get through this!
Here’s a graphic from mid-August for Florida, with ICU bed availability by County. Most of the state is RED=0 Beds, ORANGE<10, and YELLOW<20 Beds. This is months after the onset of COVID-19 in the USA, after emergency COVID-response capacity was added. In some cases, hospitals were retrofitting the pediatrics area of the hospital to add even more ICU capacity and were still full. Did you not see the freezer trucks in NYC? What planet have you been living on?!?
https://www.wpbf.com/article/icu-beds-florida-coronavirus/33562716
Many of those tiny Florida counties have no ICU capacity to begin with. In addition, being full does not necessarily equate to full of COVID cases. Freezer trucks in NY at the beginning of the outbreak likewise does not equate to current data. Whether you like it or not, Cayman will have to deal with this sooner or later. And you will be shocked when nothing of consequence happens.
Actually, the hospitals in my very red state have been full and aren’t doing any better in every county.
They are full. Full of backlogged patients with non covid related issues. Notice when the media says hospitals are full, they do not clarify the reasons why!
Fear mongering.
Be careful where you get your water from. This entitled dingbat also calls teenage girls retarded.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/24/fox-news-greta-thunberg-mentally-ill-michael-knowles/
Today’s episode was brought to you by the letter P for propaganda.
Follow your own advice.
15 days in quarantine is moronic!
You sound familiar
Where u been?
It’s 16
Worst
Lockdowns caused 2mm global deaths compared to 1mm COVID-19 deaths of which the CDC has estimated 90% would have happened regardless of COVID-19. The British scientist Neil Furgerson is the moron that produced the models that got us into this mess, the Royal should immediately remove his OBE title.
People are going to want and need to travel over the holidays. I have been waiting months for normal flights to resume. If they can’t handle things now, just wait until December. Utter incompetence, get your act together, this is embarrassing and yet one more stressor to a trying year.
You are free to leave! That part’s really easy!
“something falls short of the mark. That’s just the way it is”
Someone would actually admit this!!! – 3rd world springs to mind.
There appears to be no priority for Caymanians to return.
This is a fact. I am one of them and have had no response by way of follow up other than an email saying I would be contacted
Why should rich visitors get priority?
NONE. The govt should be asked to provide stats at end of October 2020. How many of 800 passengers were residents/Caymanian vs homeowners/visitors. You cant book November now till last minute yet guaranteed half the spots are already reserved by VIP. Like everything in Cayman, its who you know.
Here’s the outlook for private jet travelers this fall, including the Caribbean
https://privatejetcardcomparisons.com/2020/09/23/new-survey-provides-bullish-outlook-for-fall-private-jet-travel/
I don’t blame traveltime, they have been charged to run an unworkable system. It really was doomed to fail.
The entire plan/no-plan is wrong.
Time to open up. Wear your mask when you can’t be socially distant, wash your hands often, get tested and move on. We can’t continue like this. We simply can’t.
This is not working out well. British Airways are still selling seats for Thursday’s flight from London and as far as I am aware people are buying them and hoping for the best because they can’t contact Travel Cayman. All the students are going to start arriving at the end of November and the web site gives no information as to how to apply for permission. And what about people trying to make plans for December and Christmas? When will we know about the December timetable? Come on – sort this mess out!
Completely agree. People here need to speak out like they are doing in the rest of the world.
Giving prizes to Dr Lee for parroting WHO and flawed UK lockdown rules?
Bermuda is doing fine with open borders for over 3 months.
Wake up Alden before Cayman goes over the cliff .
Consider the fact that Cayman does not have a Treaty with the US on air travel?
This Treaty is between the US and UK.
There is a much larger picture than Alden and Eric.
The last paragraph was unnecessary. Stop telling people what to do. Unsolicited advices aren’t welcome. We were already taught to wash our hands by our mothers. Testing achieves nothing other than giving temporary peace of mind to a virus obsessed person. Masks are optional. Start living, stop worrying.
Agree with the rest “ We can’t continue like this. We simply can’t.”
TravelTime, Travel Cayman, whatever, are creations of a delusional person (s). It is really silly, absolutely ridiculous, total nonsense.
No sane person would believe the virus, any virus could be eliminated or eradicated by exercising controls. The «»controller» would probably be the last to die if the virus was to decimate human race. We overestimate our abilities.
Put Gina from CAL on Cayman Brac in charge! On no, we can’t lose her. Best agent ever with private travel industry experience.
I’m absolutely fine with the policy of keeping the avoidable disease out, bars and restaurants open, groups and boating…and all our old folk safe. We enjoy one of the highest standards of life anywhere on the planet right now. Who would want to change that, and why?!? To sell a burger? Ride a dolphin? Sit down. Nobody is traveling right now. AA and United just laid-off 32,000. You guys are getting your news from some other planet, or inter-dimensional reality.
“Its alden’s fault for every issue in 2020! He needs to go”………
Why dont you people get a life?
I hope he is voted back in 😉
Get these people some awards!
Perhaps Alden should give N.P. status and promote her to the head of Travel Cayman. She single handedly ran circles around Travel Time. She got paid nothing while those in government got bonuses!
Who is N.P.?
We have qualified locals in need of jobs.
Many worked in tourism and are already here but hotels are closed.
Top up their stipends with a “travel agency type” commission and run 24-7-365 on a 3-shift system.
These persons are used to working this way.
Don’t expect civil servants to get this done – there is just not enough experience in this area in that government administration building.
Any one of the Caymanians you speak of were free to do what N.P. did. The difference is they would have got paid. So while you tout their qualifications, they had ZERO initiative.
No problems with N.P.
Just tell us and we will give her status
👌
Please keep posting this every day for six months. Cayman May catch on by then. Basically every event involving children was voluntarily cancelled after the Red Bay school event and before any proper news was published. It is incredibly embarrassing how naive the Cayman population is.
Expatriates outnumber generational Caymanian’s two to one since the population surge in the 1980’s so that must explain your theory on the naiveness of the society?
Man 2020 is just something else. What a year. Gonna be in the history books for sure! 😭😭
I am Caymanian living in Cayman.
When will travel be available for me to leave and come back? Not bothered about quarantine-happy to comply. I just need to see an elderly relative while she still kickin’.
Exactly. Same issue for anyone that needs medical treatment overseas. We can leave no problem, but once our treatment is over, sometimes the next day, why can’t we make plans for our return? Are we supposed to be stuck overseas indefinitely? We are happy to quarantine – but cannot even make plans. It’s not like this is a new issue. We have had months to make arrangements.
I’m a Caymanian who is temporarily resident overseas but really keen to come home to visit. I had been holding off trying to do that for a few months given that travel was being discouraged and is a covid risk anyway, and in the hope that the quarantine requirements might be relaxed a bit. That doesn’t look like happening any time soon (which I do understand – Cayman’s situation has been hard fought and I realize the level of concern in the community about relaxing the restrictions). What I can’t cope with though is this inability to plan ahead – my personal circumstances don’t allow me to just drop everything and get on a flight if permission comes through for me to travel the following day or even a week ahead of time. I need to work a bunch of stuff out first. I hope this new platform they are working on allows some future planning.
Once you stop using words like “keen” you can come back.
Yes, the inability to plan travel is maddening. More than happy to comply with public health mandates.
I totally agree. I am ready for a much needed break myself, off the rock. Please can someone in the current sitting Government give us the info, your citizens are asking.
Thank you kindly.
The right to return has a solid foundation in international law. Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”.
And you do have the right of return. There’s just a logistical bottleneck on how many can return at one time. – Whether there should be or not doesn’t mean that your right has been infringed. (Think of other small places with limited bus/train/plane connectivity. The right to return there doesn’t mean the right to get there on your schedule.)
This isn’t entirely fair. People can now quarantine at home so in theory there is no longer any real justification for the limit as long as the travelers agree to comply with the 14 day quarantine.
We have had ample time to get ready for this and it’s not going to change before December at minimum and more likely 2021.
Capacity… they are not prepared for the volume.
“The right to return there doesn’t mean the right to get there on your schedule”…. Er, yes it does!!!
When the government has had over 6 months to prepare for this and when comparable jurisdictions have found ways of allowing their citizens to return home when they want then the governments ongoing inability to handle even just a few flights a week (not a day but a week!) become a real legal problem.
I could understand your comment being valid if we were one or two months into Covid BUT we are here over 6 months later. The government cannot hide behind a veil of inefficiency and incompetence for any longer.
If Citizens wish to go off island and come back that is their business and has nothing to do with what the government says, as long as the citizen complies with REASONABLE quarantine restrictions.
Right now the government is trying to stop international travel by its citizens by stopping airlift capacity into Cayman and then restricting the number of people who can come in per month. This isn’t right. It doesn’t matter whether it is intentional or incompetence that is driving this, it’s still ultimately illegal.
Nothings going to change until theres a vaccination. Alden wont risk making any wrong decisions. Hes happy letting others like Dr Lee make decisions or just not making any decisions at all….procrastination at its best.
The government should be ashamed of itself. The only good news is that this is the perfect intro to anyone wishing to visit what life here will be like. The incompetency, the corruption, the painstaking stupidity at every level that you will have to deal with on a day to day basis. Do yourself the favour and just save yourself the trouble of coming here. We have an incompetent government and matching civil service, welcome to Cayman.
I truly wish all these Entitled Elites would leave Cayman permanently and take up residence in countries which are competently managing everything, from finances to the Covid19 pandemic. Lots of such places abound, near and far. USA, Jamaica,UK,Spain,Sweden and Canada standout. Just leave folks, Cayman does not deserve you. Take your talents, wealth and good nature where it will be properly appreciated.
We will, and all that will be left is… well, enough said.
I will pay for your ticket. Meet me under the rubber tree tomorrow.
You think your money means everything I guess and we the dumb little monkey locals should be grateful for your superior presence and should bow down right. Lol
I am local…
Sadly the majority of the time it’s not “their” money. We have been brainwashed and miseducated to believe so to remain indulgent and receptive, for those that put money first. Appearances can be so deceptive.
GET A SYSTEM CAYMAN!
I hope all of you on that island jail realise that most other places are open and travel is defiantly possible.
Yes you may have to go through multiple tests and apply for a online travel permit BUT it is easy done in many countries and territories.
Cayman is the joke of the Caribbean at the moment and the government needs to get a better plan.
Joke of the Carribean? Then why so
Many want to come ? Try our closest neighbors and see how they’re doing , ungrateful bastards
I’m not sure many people really do want to come, other than relatives and residents. The Compass reported an interview with the Cayman Villas owner who said her property owners are not keen to travel when the situation is so uncertain and they don’t have the time to quarantine for 14 days.
You can argue separately about the quarantine requirements – that’s not my point in this post – but it is surely the case that the high net worth travelers that are Cayman’s target demographic will go elsewhere in the Caribbean where they can plan their travel ahead and then go through a testing/shorter quarantine regime.
The advantage Cayman had when so many islands were suffering from catastrophic hurricane damage and Cayman tourism increased will surely now be lost. I think the fact Cayman is essentially covid free (recent positive test excepted) is a tremendous accomplishment and CIG deserves kudos for that, but it comes at an economic cost which cannot yet be quantified. I honestly don’t think any tourists are looking at Cayman and thinking how amazing its covid policy is and how keen, as a result, they are to visit when it is over.
We are home owners on Cayman Brac and would love to come back, with quarantine is fine. Is it possible to maybe get a direct flight from US for a bunch of us?
15 days in quarantine is moronic!
True. My cousin lives in Europe. He took his family to seaside resorts in 2 different countries twice already. Some friends flew to/from Miami without problems. No quarantines anywhere. They were only required to complete an information form and were checked for symptoms. No one got sick while traveling.
Entering the US is not as easy as you may think. Basically you can’t travel from Europe, including the UK, and other countries, unless you are a US citizen or have various close ties.
You also have to differentiate between ability to enter and quarantine.
AS far as Europe is concerned there are numerous restrictions in place for re-entry and quarantine. It’s obviously a lot more free over there but there are numerous restrictions, and they are tightening up again unfortunately. All except Sweden, gotta love the Swedes.
Such an ungrateful bunch, just a few months ago these same entitled complainers were thanking the government for the hard decisions that had to be made to keep the population safe. Now that they can’t get their way, here comes an onslaught of insults and self-centered opinions. Govt should shut the program down altogether to go work on the “suggestions” from the experts!
Isn’t that why we pay millions to consultants for and still get nothing done? Oh, wait.
Cat has already been let out of that bag long time child!!
If you know anything about this government and “plans”, it just need to look good enough to get re-elected and ensure it “soon come” for everything else.
Everyone likes private jets until they have to pay for fuel.
Wherever there is obvious incompetence, you will find Eric Bush. Look for him hard enough and he is there, in charge of ‘implementation and delivery of policy’, completely screwing it up scratching his damn goatee about everything and making every judgement call incorrectly. In all his years pretending to be a genuine senior civil servant instead of a legacy adoptee by the political establishment because of his father’s career, he has not once been associated with a success on which any of his supposed skills rested. The best one can say for him is that some of the jobs he has had, he has been no net positive or negative. That’s it. And yet he will probably become Deputy Governor in 10-15 years because that is how corrupt our system is. He’ll remember how the current Deputy Governor approved extended unpaid leave for senior civil servants under his supposed supervision again and again and again, and extend the same largesse he benefited from, because those approvals (followed by the confidential payouts) hid the Ministry’s misdirection of, neglect of, and/or and illegitimate interference with its subordinate entities and thus benefited him as Chief Officer as well. Alden had to invent a ministry for Eric just for him to briefly do a passable job as one of its appointees; now that he is back in overall charge, everything is going off the rails. When will the civil service learn: Eric Bush is not a competent leader or manager! He was promoted beyond his competence many years ago. He cannot intellectually or temperamentally handle being in charge. He must be a subordinate, and then and only then can do good work.
I’m amazed you have so much to say, yet hide from not giving your name. Somehow this shows your own character.
Or knowledge of the system. Indeed, you (and I) have followed suit.
No, it shows this poster knows exactly how our system works, especially if you’re on the wrong side of things. If you don’t realise that I shudder at your naivety.
This is the same Alden Government that got us on the EU blacklist – why should we expect anything better?
Also got us off the blacklist in less than a year. You idiot!
No need to call names or is that the extent to your debating skills?
If Alden had done what he was meant to do in the first place Cayman would never have been on the black list. Somehow Cayman managed to be the only offshore center to be listed … does that tell you anything?
Anybody got a private plane going miami? I need a ride. I need to go shopoing bad. Bet private planes not having any issues?
Alden and his troop HAVE TO GO NOW. We cannot wait until an election!
Its easy for people to castvstones at the hard workers of TravelCayman. Kudos for all the hard work!!
Oh yes, so proud of their utter failure. That’s cayman kind right- always praising for sub-par work. We should be so lucky to have anyone half work right?
Forgive us for expecting people to do a job efficiently. What were we thinking? All that has happened is the pressure is on and the onus is on Caymanians to perform. The “success” we brag about only came through fear. And what success really, after Red Bay, many things were cancelled and people driving around with masks in their cars. A man who doesn’t act, doesn’t make mistakes. But eventually is seen as a coward and a fool.
This reminds me of the private sector everytime I call a bank or other private sector entity. Except a law firm which is too happy to squeeze every red cent from me.
The only saving grace is that cayman Airways will get better and provide the high level of customer care that they are know for. Unfortunately the wacky private sector won’t get any better.
I presume you work for our “World Class” Civil Service?
I am a property owner that is looking forward to spend lots of money over the next 4-5 months in Cayman I applied on Sept 9 to come on Oct 20. On Sept 16 I got an email that said I would hear in a week. I am still waiting. There is something very wrong with this system. It is a week from tomorrow and I have no clue if I am allowed to come or not
This just sucks, I canna even believe this is so bad.
I waited on the phone for 2 hrs as I just needed to ask a question. I finally got to the end of the cue to hear a recording that there was a system error and my call could not be completed!!!!
What the he$@!! My father and mother are sick and need help but my young family is here. I just need to know that my Husband and children can get back If they travel with me. It ridiculous to put the intimate details of ones life in the hands of incompetent persons. How can people plan for life’s tragic events? It’s hard enough as it is and then to deal with this ridiculousness!
2:15 why are you calling the answer to all of your questions are on http://www.gov.ky. you must work for a bank.
And Alden thinks we should accept being treated like this? We are REAL HUMANS! This has got to stop. People need to end this insanity. Enough is enough!
How can anyone plan for travel in November or beyond when there is no portal set up to do so? No one to assist at TravelCayman when you finally reach a live voice after many hours of waiting on hold, getting cut off and phoning back again. All we are told to do is wait weeks longer until the backlog of October is cleared up and they have a system up and functioning.
Can someone please remind me again why we took an existing and fully operating setup with Travel Time and handed it over to another department that has neither the personnel nor a working system to cope with the demand??
And they wonder why people are anxious and angry…..
If you email Cayman Travel you will receive this message back. They are saying they currently have no availability for any October flights but if you wish to travel in November please wait until the last of October to contact them. If you call there will be at least 30+ people in front of you.
You could not make this incompetence up!
Is this a surprise, are there not people with skill in reservations available to work and in some cases already getting a small stipend from Gov’t.
“Thank you for contacting Travel Cayman, your gateway to border entry approvals into the Cayman Islands. We are working diligently to help keep you and the people of the Cayman Islands safe. Please be mindful that we are still in the pilot phase of our programme and therefore you may experience delays or changes to procedures. All persons wishing to travel to the Cayman Islands must apply to the Travel Cayman team directly.
If you are intending to travel to the Cayman Islands in a private jet or charter, your aircraft operator must also contact the Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands at civil.aviation@caacayman.com for prior authorisation. The Civil Aviation Authority requires up to 6 days’ to provide authorisations. For further information please refer to the CAACI website.
This email acknowledges a successful receipt of your request to our team. Our intention is to respond to your email within 2 working days.
Below you will find some helpful information to guide you as you await a response:
• 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.
• Currently we prioritize responses weekly on the coming weeks travellers and flight clearances. We are busy finalizing next week’s details and will get back to those travellers first.
• There are three options for quarantine; to be placed in a Government run facility, to choose to stay at an approved privately run facility at your expense, or to be approved for quarantine at a private residence.
• Quarantine at residence locations require inspection and approval. Other household members will need to quarantine with you if they will remain in the house with you. If you have applied for residential quarantine and have not heard from us, proceed with your travel if all other requirements have been met, as you will be placed in either of the quarantine options on arrival.
• For the most up to date information on travel requirements to the Cayman Islands visit: http://www.exploregov.ky/travel
We ask for your patience as we are experiencing large volumes of email requests. If we need additional information, we will be in touch with you.
Thank you for your understanding and stay safe.
The Travel Cayman Team”
Beyond frustrating!
If I want to travel in December when should I contact them? How about if I wanted to travel in Feb? April?
I will need a Covid test 72 hours prior….and when should I think of buying ticket for the flight?
Ridiculous. Think when they say jump people are just gonna be able to jump?
People are going to go elsewhere.
Another day in Abdurdistan I suppose ! Our dear local .gov had months to assess IT needs to plan for proper infrastructure , reliability and resilience of service . What were they doing , aside hiding in a cave in the Brac ? I am sorry but the lack of responsiveness lies squarely on their shoulders . There was plenty of time to plan for such deployment , tell Datalink to “stuff it” regarding their pole access fees which range in our day and age to the extreme high end of “stoopid” and prevent proper deployment of high capacity links . But as usual the plans amount to no plans !
Genuine question here, “bandwidth”?
don’t ask awkward questions that caymanians can’t answer…
That’s unfair. I am Caymanian and proud to be, but I could never work for the Government!
Basically saying they have staff currently doing nothing and they could be doing other things.
I knew it wouldn’t be long to hear this foolishness!
This is totally unacceptable and for Alden to think otherwise or make excuses is pathetic.
usual childish response from alden….remember he is the guy who stopped cig press briefings because he didn’t want to be asked awkward questions
I fully agree, Alden’s arrogance and unwillingness to take responsibility for such a failure is just typical and listening to him makes you aware of the risk this country is facing with such incompetent leadership! I can understand why he insists that we shouldn’t expect perfection. We certainly should have learned by now not to expect that from him.
I have waited two hours in the cue. When I phoned in, I was assigned position number 39. I waited diligently until it counted down to position number 1 and then I was cut off without any explanation! I thought it was a mistake or some kind of fault in the line, so I tried again and again waited for almost another two hours, with the same result!
How can anyone plan to travel under those kind of circumstance? And how can we expect the economy to ever recover with such incompetent leadership.
To me it looks like Cayman’s Time is about to run out! Sad… I guess it must be our fault to expect planning from this government further ahead than one week!
This comment is spot on! This country is in shambles. It’s a disaster of unprecedented proportions, courtesy of the worst government we have ever had on a power craze. Breaking every constitutional and human right there is in the name of “covid” and having many people brainwashed into blind compliance by fear mongering. Also, we’ve just come to accept the corruption, the lies, the incompetence- it’s the way of life here.
Bodes well for all the students overseas right now who want to come back for the holidays. Those families surely want to be able to plan ahead. The truth is CIG doesn’t want to make it easy for anyone to travel and they should just say so.
THIS!!!
Frankly, those students should minimize travel and not come home for “holidays.” It’s a waste of resources and unnecessary incremental risk.
Students coming back en masse in December does present an increased risk, I agree. Maybe CIG is looking at new procedures for that time. But – while I do not have children under 18 at boarding school so this does not apply to me – I have tremendous sympathy for those who do, and now have this ongoing uncertainty hanging over them.
You need to include University students as well, our daughter is 18 and in her first year – we certainly want her home with her family for the holidays. Will it happen?
No. The paranoids would rather have families separated than take the minute risk of her bringing in covid. We only want people in hospital or funeral homes for other reasons, like automobile incidents. The paranoids would say you should never have sent her away. Never mind that you know this too should pass and it is important that your daughter be properly educated.
It was your decision to send your daughter back to university considering the state of the virus outside of the Cayman Islands. How does this become the government’s problem? Many Caymanians got caught overseas during the lockdown and had to patiently wait before they could return home.
Cayman in shambles. Everything Alden touches goes to hell. Disgrace. For nothing.
recipe for disaster…to be handled incompetent, under qualified, work-shy civil servants……thank you CIG!
But they all got awards for doing such a great job. Ohhhhhhh.
what could go wrong???….cig can’t even manage an airport car park ticketing machine properly!
ha…clear as mud.
people trying to get to cayman are getting a first hand experience of the never ending incompetence of the civil service…
No skill, no experience, and no idea how to get the job done. Normal CIG. Maybe you should give it over to the private sector?
I flew back last Wednesday night everything went as planed and my emails were always answered. I had nothing but a professional experience.
Lucky you
Your Name?
Plant, Robert Plant.
Lol. And he flew in on a Zeppelin!
That was TravelTime.
Alden – why shouldn’t we expect perfection?
If your Government doesn’t strive to offer perfection then it is going to fall a long way short and gives excuses for those engaged to offer services an excuse for providing poor service.
Just get organised!
So let me get this right. We have two main industries, financial services and tourism that both require extensive international links and contribute literally billions of $$ to our local economy. A third part of our economy, property development, construction and sales, is reliant on spending in the two main industries we have and is reliant on international travel in one way or another.
We have been closed off from the world for over 6 months while many of our geographic neighbours or similar territories (Bermuda) have already opened up with defined strategies around testing and short quarantines.
The government themselves set the opening date for September 1st back in May wasnt it? They then deferred it for a month.
Here we are less than 2 weeks in and they are completely unable to manage this properly!!
This isn’t difficult! This is simple operations which requires leadership and coordination. The lack of ability to prepare for THE most important thing we are going to do for the rest of 2020 is simply embarassing and shows either an intention to stop any real opening up of Cayman or complete mismanagement at an executive level.
The world class civil service strikes again. Full pay for crap service
The incompetence of Alden McLaughlin and civil servants in charge of this process is scary. Social distancing is important but CAL should be 2/3 full and focused on getting people back with connections to Cayman particularly property owners that will help the economy. Too much arrogance and excuses from the Premier and his government. Local businesses will fold and result in job losses because the Premier would rather lecture the media and any persons that ask questions. The reality is this government do not have any plan for anything in the recovery phase. God forbid if there is a second lockdown.
Maybe the Deputy Governor can tell us whether we can expect “World Class” service from Chief Officer Eric Bush.
Not holding my breath while waiting for an answer though.
Please sir, that is Eric Bush, OBE for the little people.
Travel Cayman struggling with competency.