A ‘reberth’ of the cruise debate
Michelle Clark writes: It seems that the debate regarding cruise piers has opened once again. This is an emotive issue; there are many varied and nuanced sides to this, and I hope that any referendum question, and inevitably campaigning, addresses this.
As a founding member of the Cruise Port Referendum movement, my intention was only ever to ask questions and challenge the assumptions that the sitting government of the time had about what cruise berthing would offer the Cayman Islands, including the negatives.
There will be negatives no matter how shiny the deal is from the cruise lines. We are just asking: Do the positives outweigh the negatives?
I’m sure no one needs a rehash of the cruise berthing debate that was at its height in 2019. Before I go too far, I want to be clear that I am, of course, for any Caymanian-owned and run businesses making money. At the heart of the pro-port debate are businesses that need to compete and continue to attract cruise passengers for their businesses to remain viable, and more than that, profitable. This is a stance I will always take.
The Cayman Islands has an opportunity to establish what is acceptable for us as we continue to develop and the player that we want to be in the tourism market, long and short stay. In 1969, Mr A.C.E. Long, in a Legislative Assembly meeting, noted that the government should be in the driver’s seat for these development matters:
“We do not wish to be controlled by commercial enterprises, big developers or other people interested in developing the Island[s]… Our duty, Honourable Members, is not to make money; our duty is to be responsible and protect the 10,000 people who live in these Islands who will not be aware in detail of what is happening, who rely on us here to see that they are not exploited and that their land is not used wrongly…”
It is now 2024, with a population seven times what it was then, and unfortunately, the governments since that time never took heed of this warning, and we can clearly see what has happened on our islands. Seven Mile Beach should have been developed with access to the beach and then the road, with the hotels developed on the other side of the road. This would have allowed the hotels to see the beautiful beaches but still left access and views easily available for the local population, much like what Australia has done.
We continue to hold our heads in the sand about the development on this island until we must deal with it in a reactive way. Arguably, anything done reactively is never done well. Roads are built around developments; infrastructure is an afterthought. If we are going to debate and send the registered voting population to decide on whether the Cayman Islands should build piers, then the government needs to answer a lot of questions about infrastructure and, for me more importantly, who we are allowing to influence these decisions.
My fear is that we are getting too caught up in the numbers — quantity over quality. As I have said, this is an emotional issue, so it is very easy to use numbers in a heated manner. Even before the pandemic, cruise lines have proven to be self-serving. The wages and conditions that their staff are offered are appalling. The lack of concern or care for their clientele is atrocious. Women have been sexually assaulted and offered no form of remorse or ownership from the cruise lines other than an offer of another cruise.
The international waters in which cruise lines operate open them up to their own rules and laws. And to be clear, none of what I write is exaggerated. Read How Major Cruise Ship Companies Are Failing Victims of Sexual Assault. You can also view Hassan Minaj’s Netflix show, The Patriot Act (Volume 4, episode 4), on cruise ships to see exactly how far-reaching their selfishness is. This only got worse during the pandemic.
Now, I understand why cruise ships are so attractive to a traveller. They offer good value for money, inclusive meals, lots of shopping and activities on board, and multiple destinations. There is nothing against the idea of cruise ships, but I just write this to illustrate how they are self-serving and, ultimately, a commercial enterprise content to squeeze what they can out of our small island economy.
Not only can you see how cruise ships don’t care about their staff and passengers, but you can also see how they do not care about the destinations that they visit. As I have understood the relationship between cruise lines and tour operators on island, the cruise lines ask for a certain price for an excursion and then add their upselling price point over that. The problem with this is that the premium that the cruise lines add is quite significantly over what is paid to the tour operator.
If a tour operator offers a stingray city trip for US$20 per person (yes, at one point it was even lower than that), the cruise line will upsell it for US$100, making US$80 per person on an excursion. No wonder tour operators want more tourists; they are only trying to make ends meet. If tour operators don’t feel they can ask for what is fair for their excursions to the cruise lines, then the only way to make money is to get more tourists.
Now, my main issue with building piers for cruise lines is this: what guarantees are there that building the piers will make anything better for the businesses in Central George Town and the tour operators? Would having more tourists solve the problem? Or will it simply frustrate the wider population of the Cayman Islands, which currently has enough issues with traffic and lack of infrastructure planning with the immense surge of population growth?
There is an argument to be made for fewer tourists who would pay premium prices directly to the tour operators, resulting in a small and curated experience that ends up being more enjoyable to the tourist, tour operator and the population that live and work near Central George Town.
I think that we could be better served by a minister of tourism who would be a mediator between the cruise lines and Caymanian businesses and tour operators to make a fair and just deal for the offerings of the Cayman Islands.
Cruise travellers largely choose their cruises based on destination, and we have all seen that we are one of the most luxurious destinations. It’s something that we pride ourselves on (as we should). Let’s not lose our allure to the cattle wrangling of too many cruise passengers. Let’s curate our experiences and ensure that this means a price that is fair and just for our tour operators. More importantly, let’s note that we are in the driver’s seat when it comes to what we want and need, and not the cruise lines.
Mr Long understood this in 1969, and some 55 years later, we have ignored this, and the population of the Cayman Islands has, dare I say, been exploited for the last 50 years. How have Caymanians (remember, now just 30% of the population) benefitted from the deals that the governments have brokered for us since Mr Long’s caution? Do we have easy access to our beaches? Are our children better educated or offered better jobs? Is it easier to own our own homes and businesses?
There are many more points to make on this argument, and if the government approves a referendum, I am sure you will hear more from me and others. But before the argument becomes too emotional, I wanted to ask a few clear questions:
Who are we doing business with? Are the cruise lines offering not only Caymanian businesses in the tourism field but the wider Cayman Islands the best deal? If they do not take care of their staff and clientele, then why do we think the deal we were offered in 2019 was the best? Is that the deal we are talking about for this potential referendum?
If anything, there are more questions to be asked before this really makes it to the poll.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
As the number of vehicles on the roads seems to grow weekly, Seafarers Way is simply not large enough for both traffic and thousands of cruise ship tourists at the same time.
Quality of life for many residents or median income for cruise ship tourism workers
Port schedule shows 6 ships tomorrow with 17k passengers.
Enjoy that gridlock!
Dear Mr. Clarke thank you for your coherente thoughts on this e motive subject.
To cut through the chase as long as Mckeeva Bush has breath and is able to breathe it into the nostrils of the UPM Cruise Piers will be a subject of discussion adinfinitum. Where the @@@$$$&&&& the Zacapa as is will flow there he and others of his ilk past as nd present in x government will follow, To be fair it’s not just him but also that frothing at the mouth group calledPPM are also foliares of the @$$&&well not Zacapa neccesarily but mixture of wine, scotch beer and maybe champagne ; a bit more sophisticated palates I would say.
So let us all ensure as you have said missa Clarke ask the right questions publicly not in the tv room or the bar room , when you see them in church? Supermarlket or wherever.
Remember people they are Servants of the People, they must answer to the people for it is the people who elect them, who pay them and who expect value for money for their oerformance and actions to improve not worsen our quality of life.
Tutashinda bila shaka
( we shall conger without a doubt) Swahili!
Most first world countries understand the concept of having a port.
Some first world countries got wise about the cruise ship industry and told them to bugger off.
50 Bucks says that DART gets the port project and builds it at the old Royal Palms site. There is no other reason for the tunnels/overpass to Camana Bay.
The tunnels/overpass is to add land to his portfolio. Cayman shores (the Dart development company) plans to build on those bridges.
That was obvious 9.07, despite the pretty picture “crosswalk” deception attempted at the time.
It’s a disgusting lump removing the sky, so that more eyesore can be piled on top of it.
with Darts investment in stayover tourists i doubt very much if they wantvthe dock
That’s not true. The plans for Camana Bay, the tunnels, Royal Palms and his old house were shown to thousands of people years ago. Nothing to do with a cruise port. More to do with turning the planned hotel sideways to the beach leaving room for a park/landscaping where RP is now, rather than just going length ways along the road like everything else.
Turning it sideways, well then that makes it all alright then… who’s a clever boy..?
Until you change the voting pool, the depth of pool of politicians and influence of developers and ‘interested’ parties, you aren’t going to change a thing. I’ll check back in 20 years when the population is 100k+ and Cayman is no longer a desirable destination and is just Blackpool but with more sun.
Caymanians are incapable of self-government. Expats should be allow to both vote and stand for election. Four examples of incompetence/corruption demonstrating this fact:
https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/03/premier-admits-widening-of-caymans-economic-success-gap/#comment-587383
Also:
https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/05/ministers-want-to-lock-gate-on-cabinet-status-grants/comment-page-2/#comment-598659
https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/04/lawyer-urges-govt-not-to-stop-pr-process/#comment-590489
And never forget Wendy’s superb editorial here: https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/09/donkeys-developers-and-deaf-ears
Please remember: expats like me whinging about this do so because we actually give a f**k. It would be easier to do as most people do, and just look and laugh, and then leave Cayman when we retire. Who does that help?
Cayman could never become any worse than any provincial part of the UK. London, Edinburgh, okay, anywhere else, give me a break.
at 8:12, beg to differ because size, geographical here, does matter
Debunking the lie: Cruise ships plans are regulated to include exit and entry doors placed at specific international Coast Guard intervals and standardized height levels above the sea. Post-Titanic, even the White Star Line had to install adequate lifeboats, with space for their passengers, crew, including menfolk. Evacuation drills are to be regularly rehearsed to ensure passengers and crew know what to do. Most of the Pacific, many of the European and South American ports of call are tender-access only. It is rubbish for liners to continue to suggest they cannot tender. They must. Forever. They might prefer not to at this time, but that’s on them for this port of call – the midpoint gem of western Caribbean itineraries. We are in charge of managing the CI Port, not the FCCA. We need to take a new approach in our dealings with them, removing any corrupt officials that are unwilling to transparently convey our reality as a popular top-ranked diving destination in a rapidly declining world. If our side isn’t playing for our home team, then they shouldn’t be wearing our jersey, or have access to the pitch. Call security and have them removed.
Focus on small exclusive high end cruise ships who have no problem spending money instead of large cheap cattle class cruise ships who spend nothing. Let them go elsewhere.
Problem solved.
Rember Kenny is cheap so it suits him perfectly.
Stop Carnival cruises from coming. About 50% of the passengers with about 5% of the on island spend
Regent, Silverseas, Seabourne, Ritz all have small ships packed with wealthy spenders.
It’s time Cayman says no to the trailer park trash spilling off the Carnival ships .
Someone can correct me here if I’m wrong, but from what I understand that around 80% of tourist that visit the island are from cruise ships, but they only account for 20% of the revenue from tourism on island.
They don’t really spend on the island like the stay over tourists.
What they do bring is money directly to the government, which is what I believe any government will be looking at. Every time a tourist visits this island (by sea or air) they profit. This to me is why this is coming back up. They need the money to fund themselves. A drastic change is required, but as many fear that we shall always be reliant on cruise ships until a major change happens up top to get away from the ‘tourism tax’ that this brings in.
What we really need is a better cargo port….. but that will always be tied into the cruise ship debate sadly. That infrastructure is in desperate need of an upgrade.
Where do you get 20% of revenue figure from? Tourism, as the second pillar of the economy contributes perhaps 20% of CIG General Revenue in a good year. That accounting stat is documented and generally agreed. The subratio of cruise to stay over revenue is a particle of that figure. CI Port Authority landing fees are KYD$5.74 per fee (if not waived by Cabinet and that Authority still looses money somehow). Direct CIG Government taxes are charged per passenger:
New for 2024: For seasonal ships (per passenger) $3.20 (Epf Tax) + $6.00(Cruise Ship Tax)
For both yearly ships (per passenger) $1.60 (Epf Tax) + $6.00(Cruise Ship Tax)
Best year ever was 1.83mln arrivals. 2022 was 743,394.
If we generously add all the Stingray Tour licenses, it still doesn’t get anywhere near 20% of the Tourism Sector revenue.
https://www.caymanport.com/fee-structure/
As stated, I may be wrong but what I was trying to say is that revenue generated on island by this tourism product just counts for 20% of the total tourism revenue. The rest is generated by stay over tourists. Therefore the 20% of tourists that visit here to stay over actually account for more revenue around the island than the cruise ship passengers.
This number was given to me over a drink or two around 2018 so it could all be rubbish. Just thought it was interesting.
CIG coffers will be fine. It is that so many owner/operators depend on the constant flow of cruise tourists. It is relatively cheap to buy a taxi van, or a snorkle boat, or a few jet skis, or a stack of beach chairs, and be your own boss providing tourism services to cruise ship tourists. Whereas the stay-overs generally target a different level of service provider – even if its the same taxi you need a website so they can find your number not just a laminated sign on the sidewalk by the dock. The necessary transition away from mass CruiseShip over-tourism needs to be managed so that these owner/operators can continue to flourish. It should be doable, but may require some vision & leadership by the industry and from the Minister/Ministry/Department of Tourism.
“The necessary transition away from mass CruiseShip over-tourism needs to” happen.
“It […] may require some vision & leadership by […] from the Minister/Ministry/Department of Tourism”
^ Then you’re doomed. CIG and World Clown Civil Service (with the “social hiring” Wayne gratifying admitted to) are oxygen thieves.
The owner/operators will lose their jobs. That’s sad, but the blunt reality. The alterative is to [continue] to trash the islands for the benefit of a tiny minority.
High end, low end no one will really spend on the island when every thing can be bought much cheaper elsewhere. Just because people are wealthy, they aren’t stupid. No one is going to be buying jewelry at 5- 10x the cost they can purchase it at home. Cayman needs to realize their base is families, professionals, wedding crowds and repeat guests. Stop the madness with high end guests.
While the Cayman Islands are a luxury destination for stayover tourists there are NO luxury cruise lines visiting.
No Silverseas, Seabourne etc.
This should be our focus.
Cruise tourists are pests, who further clog up the island, and make life for residents a nightmare. The industry can’t collapse fast enough.
There’s also no business case for either long haul tourist flights from anywhere else to bring in more stay over tourists because:
1. Those flights will be more expensive than existing warm weather options, so tourists won’t be interested.
2. Cayman is already too expensive for most tourists, in large part because a bloated, incompetent and corrupt CIG and civil service/de facto welfare scheme are funded by 20%/22% import taxes on everything entering.
3. Cayman is now a [far] more expensive version of Miami. If tourists want that, they can go to Miami; if they want undeveloped islands, there are cheaper options. Cayman should forget tourism, and focus on increasing offshore work. The government hasn’t screwed that up yet (but with the increases in fees, beneficial ownership changes, and lack of competitiveness with Singapore, it’s on track to do so).
Much of the same applies to luxury cruise lines. Why bother with Cayman? There are less overdeveloped islands which are far more attractive. In large part, that’s because of the corruption and incompetence of the goverment in failing to develop a public transport system, so tourists here (whether cruise pests, so-called “high end stayover”, or “luxury cruise”) are stuck in traffic.
Even BANGLADESH has a metro rail system! https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/dhaka-metro-mass-rapid-transit-system. But that’s because Bangaldeshi politicians are recruited almost exclusively from drugs dealers, god-botherers, drink drivers, and rapists…
“The Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) created a 20-year strategic transport plan (STP) in 2005 to transform and develop a more integrated transit system for the rapidly growing capital.”
^ Would never happen in Cayman, because we’re run by corrupt bottom-feeders.
Bangladesh: 8th most populous country
Cayman: tied for 185th
Just because prices are high does not mean we are a luxury destination. We have a long way to go in that regard
Correct 6.09
Too crowded and too many unkept taxi drivers and Jamaicans waving signs.
Alden Mclaughlin scuppered the referendum because it was going to inveitably show that Caymanians did not want the piers and he would lose the vote and eventually lose the elections. We should press ahead with the referendum and end this argument once and for all. Add it to the ballots for the 2025 elections and get it over and done with please. I am voting NO!
If we build the port for the trashy tourists, then we might as well allow trailer parks for trashy locals.
You mean in addition to Saunders and Seymour’s Kingdoms of trashy Jamaican Bodden town..?
What do Caymanians most need? We need to stop being poor. And how can that be done, on a mass scale, except by an economy that creates vastly more wealth? Yet the activists have a remarkable lack of interest in how wealth is created. As far as they are concerned, wealth exists somehow and the only interesting part is how to redistribute it. With that being said, let’s upgrade the cargo port first
We dont need a cruise pier
Should have said
“We don’t need no stinkin’ cruise pier”
in your best Mexican accent.
Cruise ship tourist is the main source of income for Caymanians and the average person who work in the hospitality industry.
Fortunately, Minister Bryan now sees what others do not see. Rich and greedy people do not want to do business with cruise ship passengers who spend less than $100 per visit. They can earn $750 an hour and more from the Financial Industry and $1,000’s in the real estate industry.
If the cruise ship industry was as evil as the writer makes it out to be I am sure there would be even more passengers making these claims than the handful that do so.
Put the vote to the people by referendum Minister Bryan.
I don’t think it’s fair to say only a handful do. Watch the Netflix special that is referred to. Check out Facebook pages set up against the greed of cruise lines. Google it. It’s not hard to find when you start to look.
Please look at actual data before you start stating your opinion as fact.
For which Caymanians is Cruise ship tourism the main source of income? please provide examples and reference your sources. then you will sound more credible. Right now it sounds like you are spewing hearsay.
re Anonymous04/012/2024 @7.36 am
As you would know, there are very few locals employed at the hotels and restaurants.I have no numbers and there are not many stats available on that. Most of the large hotels have staff on work permits from USA, Canada, UK, India, the Philippines. Most of the people who work in the cruise industry are locals, the bus drivers, the boat captains, and the stores. if you can dispute that with your statistics, then show them please. until then keep your head in the sand.
Less than 5%
“…while offshore fees dominate government’s earnings, providing around 64% of coercive revenue, import duty was the other big earner, as well as stamp duty and work permit fees.”
(CIG rakes in near $447 million in just the first quarter
Cayman News | 12/05/2022 |)
Just vote out Kenneth, that will be clarity enough for anyone else entertaining this cruise port idea. People of George Town do yourself and the country a solid and drop him.
We get Carnival 3 times a week, the Dept of Tourism need to give their passengers exit interviews and they would be amazed at how little they spend on shore – a pepsi and a postcard and that’s about it.
Given the cost of everything here are you surprised. Their food on board is included in the fare and the cost of booze onboard even on a rip off cruise ship with a captive audience way cheaper than the bars in SMB. And the tours – well if they can afford them, 70% of the ticket price goes back to the cruise line. So we get these masses of people for very little return beyond their landing tax, but a small group of people seem to think the world would end without them. If Kenny and DOT really wanted to make money off cruise they would sponsor discount tickets for food and drink for landers, and either force the cruise lines to pay a higher percentage of allow the water sports and tour operators to market direct to the cruisies on DOTs website and allow direct pick up at the dock. But Kenny isn’t going to bite the hand that really feeds him.
The cruise lines scare their passengers into buying the on-island tours from them and then they pay the Cayman boat owner less than $18 a head.
well said Michelle bravo!!!
we have been taken advantage of for the last 50 years and Im afraid we will be haven this discussion for the next 50 because our representatives dont give a damn about the average citizen.
No – because our voters keep electing the crooked and the incompetent.
Why in the world is this being revisited? The people already have spoken, but the greedy politicians and developers just want to ignore them.
It’s obvious that the politicians don’t care about the average person, and the voters aren’t willing to make the changes necessary to stop this madness.
No, the people were never given the opportunity to speak. As I recall:
1) CPA created a PIR in which people signed a petition, and they reached the threshold numbers to cause a Referendum.
2)The PPM government spent beaucoup bucks of government money and challenged those results, causing CPA to have to go back and recertify ALL those signatures, a daunting process.
3)The signatures were successfully recertified, and a date was set for the People’s Initiated Referendum. Most of thought it would be a slam-dunk against the proposed cruise port. Logic would suggest that if there were threshold numbers enough to establish the PIR, that the vote would remain consistent with “NO Cruise Port”.
4) PPM moved up the vote date of the general election, which caused all those running against the PPM to have little time to campaign, and also killed the PIR.
We didn’t get the chance to speak/vote. Still, I am confident that the people would speak against the cruise port, given a chance, particularly in light of some of the countries who paid for cruise ports and were extremely sorry for it.
One of the biggest mistakes the CPR group made was not pursuing a Judicial review of the Government’s conduct following the certification of the signatures – the constitution says that the government SHALL ‘make provision to hold a referendum amongst persons registered as electors in accordance with section 90’ once the threshold of 25% of registered voters is met
The CPR group allowed the government to weasel out of the vote when by all means the PPM acted unconstitutionally by simply deciding to drop the project (for the time being) and try to sidestep a definitive vote – and now we are back in the same place again except
The constitution says SHALL it does not say the government gets to dither and refuse- the PPM ignored it and CPR instead of pushing with victory in sight decided to sit on their laurels
You should now take up the lead since you have all the answers.
Did you help the CPR group or just sat on the sidelines and complained like most people of these islands?
There’s always one person that did nothing yet complains about how it should have been done
I must have missed something. Did we have a referendum on this matter?
It is certainly needed to either go through with a cruise project or put the situation to bed once and for all.
This article gives you the view of an individual but we need to see and discuss all sides of cruise ports.
I think that’s the point of the article. All points need to be fairly presented before any referendum is set.
We triggered a referendum with the number of signatures that were collected, however, the downfall was we never actually got down to the vote. Covid happened. The cruise ships tied up at their home ports and we (possibly naively) thought the issue was done and dusted. Because it was never triggered our gutless politicians think they can sneak it back onto the table. If we had voted I believe the answer would have been a resounding “NO” and that opinion still holds. I say we should still do the referendum and put this nonsense to bed permanently.
The referendum never happened.