Tourism
Royal Caribbean ship crashes into Falmouth dock
(CNS): Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas crashed into part of the dock while arriving at Falmouth Port, Jamaica, Thursday morning, just before the Carnival Freedom caught fire at a dock in Grand Turk. On what appears to have been a bad day for the two major cruise lines, the damage to the third largest […]
Carnival cruise ship catches fire in Grand Turk
(CNS) A smokestack funnel on a Carnival cruise ship was engulfed in flames on Thursday morning after a fire broke out while the vessel was at the dock in Grand Turk. The Carnival Freedom was on the final stop of a five-night cruise with 2,504 guests and 972 crew aboard when the blaze started in […]
Tourism stipend phases out with $106M pricetag
(CNS): Today the government issued what is likely to be the penultimate payment to displaced workers who were registered for the tourism stipend programme, as it transitions those who have still not returned to jobs in the sector onto different grants or other support initiatives through the Needs Assessment Unit. By the end of June […]
Cruise deal to help Cayman relay new policies
(CNS): A new “tailored strategic agreement” between Cayman’s tourism ministry and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association will improve channels of communication and help promote the destination as it shapes a new cruise policy. Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan explained that opening better channels of communication with the regional body that represents the cruise lines ahead of the […]
NCB says locals buying into GT boutique hotel
(CNS): NCB, the developers of a new hotel under construction on North Church Street, says that half of the residencies have already been sold and that three-quarters of them were purchased by local residents rather than offshore buyers. While many realtors in the Cayman Islands market depend on overseas investors to snap up their high-end […]
Westin to dump ‘Beach Closed’ signs
(CNS): The manager of the Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa has said that the facility will no longer be deploying its “Beach Closed” signs after pictures of them circulated on social media on Wednesday, stirring up significant public controversy.
Data exposé uncovers tourism stipend fraud
(CNS): An embarrassing error for the Ministry of Labour last month, when around 3,000 names and email addresses of tourism stipend recipients were accidentally made public by staff at the ministry for border control, exposed a number of fraudulent claims, Labour Minister Chris Saunders has said. The data breach will lead to several people being […]
Cruise number limits lifted as Phase 2 rolled out
(CNS): Cabinet has granted approval for the COVID-related restrictions on cruise ship calls and passengers to be lifted in what officials described as a seamless transition to Phase two of the cruise tourism opening plan, which starts on Monday, 18 April. The Ministry of Tourism said in a release Wednesday that the decision was based […]
Ministry finds extra $4.9M to prop up tour operators
(CNS): The government is continuing to prop up tourism-related businesses until visitor numbers return to more sustainable levels, according to a release from the Ministry of Investment, Innovation and Social Development. As well as maintaining the direct stipend payments to over 2,000 displaced workers, the ministry has found money from the current budget to keep […]
Over 8,000 cruisers flood into George Town
(CNS): Three Carnival ships carrying 8,238 passengers docked in George Town Harbour on Wednesday, making it the busiest day since the cruise ship ban was lifted last month and a welcome surge of customers for the waterfront retailers and trip operators.
Mega cruise ship arrives with reduced passenger load
(CNS): The biggest ship to visit George Town since the Cayman Islands reopened to cruising last week, MSC Seashore, arrived Tuesday with just 1,770 passengers, even though it can carry more than 5,600. It was followed a few hours later by the Disney Fantasy, which can carry up to 4,000 but had 2,420 passengers.
