What are my odds? Getting to see Grand Cayman

[shipper50]

I am wondering what the odds are of the Paradise on 2-14-18 getting to tender in Grand Cayman? Don't want to get an excursion and then have it cancelled.

[coevan]

don't worry, even private excursions are refundable if the ship does not port. About a week out check http://www.windguru.com best nautical weather app

[asalligo]

I have been there twice in 2017 and both times we anchored and tendered. I do not think it happens as often as people think.

[bury me at sea]

Don't know your odds. So far I have tendered 2 out of 2, once in March and once in August.

 

Stunningly beautiful colors in the water.

[crewsweeper]

Always plan on being in port. In Grand Cayman, it's the port authorities call whether ships can anchor and tender passengers. Most of the time ships do arrive.

 

But never sign up for an excursion that is not refundable, in any port, ship based or private vendor. That would include advanced deposits.

[Homosassa]

There are also times if the ship can not anchor due to wind in Grand Cayman, a ship may go to the leeward side of the island and tender in from that side.

[Retchiefcruiser]

I've had five Grand Cayman stops scheduled over the years. Missed port twice because of weather, April and January, and had two rainy days September and January! Just not my port, although it is beautiful!

[salty dingo]

Three stops in GC, never missed the port. I think you have very good chances to get there. Don't worry about your excursion, not a problem.

[sid_9169]

I've cruised to Grand Cayman 4 times. The first time, on the Breeze, we were anchored in the bay while the tenders were circling waiting to bring passengers ashore. The Captain came over the intercom and announced that "we would not be visiting GC today, and will begin our journey back to Miami..." About that time, a darn near riot broke out at Guest Services. Security was called in to try and quell the angry passengers. It was quite a sight to see from my bar stool at the Atrium Bar. The second time was a few months later on the Glory. Things weren't looking good, and they decided to try the alternate port at Spotts Bay. Everything went alright there, and my private excursion was aware of the situation. It was a pretty treacherous jet ski ride out to stingray city that day. The next couple of times, everything went as planned, and we safely tendered into Georgetown. Moral of the story, my personal record is 75% success in visiting GC...

[Tapi]

3 visits. First time. we didn’t make it [emoji35]. The second time, we made it but had to tender to Spot’s Bay (the alternate site, on the south side of the island) [emoji52]. All water based excursions were canceled though.

Our third time was last November and we finally made it and tendered right into Georgetown! [emoji2] But even then, it started storming shortly after we made it ashore, so we hunkered down at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (the last thing I probably wanted to do). It rained for 2-3 hours which killed our sightseeing time. Thankfully, the skies cleared just in time for our 2:30pm snorkeling excursion so we had a great afternoon!

 

But to this day, I haven’t had a picture perfect stop in Grand Cayman, but that hasn’t stopped me from ranking this island at the top of Western Caribbean destinations.

 

 

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[salty dingo]

Just don't be like the unfortunate girl who came on here once and said she had made plans to get married on Grand Cayman during the cruise ship port stop.

 

I just about guarantee you, based on Murphy's Law, if you try that your ship will miss the port.

[MMastell]

I've been there seven times, in the last fifteen years, and never missed the port. The last three times we didn't get off the ship. After four times we saw all we wanted to.

 

YMMV

 

Take care,

Mike

[Athankfulheart]

We have done GC twice and made it in both times. Once was early December and once was beginning of February.

[coevan]

I will never understand this attitude. This happened to us in St. Martin and all I heard were these ridiculous conspiracy theories. There is only one reason the Captain makes the decision to not port, safety of the guests and crew.

 

"About that time, a darn near riot broke out at Guest Services"

[marshhawk]

I've gone twice, no problem (knock on wood, I say the same thing about HMC- 5 times). The mountain that you see as you sail closer to the island is the trash heap. Kind of kills the romance of the island, but to the east of the city, it's quite pretty. Found a dive flag up the street, and since no one owns the water, they let us snorkel there and we had a blast, great little fish in the dock area. I am not that great a swimmer, so when DH and a friend went further out and came back I asked them if they saw different fish. Nope, same fish, just way bigger away from the entrance ladder.:o

[amydresh]

We docked last Jan without a problem. It was a beautiful sunny day.

[ray98]

We are 2 for 3.

[A&Jfamily]

I'm running 50/50 in March. Have missed twice and visited twice if I recall properly. The key to GC is just knowing that it can be missed so you won't be too disappointed if it happens, and knowing not to take the trip simply for the stop there.

[shipper50]

Thanks for all the replies. I will take it as it comes I guess. I have this thing that is called the GC factor, which are my initials. Now they are talking big snow next week for the Indy area which I live near.:o

[evandbob]

Hopefully, shipper50 gets to the seaport with time to spare and w/o any weather issues. For what it's worth. I've been on maybe 15 sailings that had GC scheduled and we made it every time.

 

Ironically, the only land vacation i booked on GC at the Westin had to be cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The island was under a 20' storm surge and been totally devastated.

[Chickenlover8]

don't worry, even private excursions are refundable if the ship does not port. About a week out check www.windguru.com best nautical weather app

 

This is interesting...how do you interpret the results?

[cruzeluver]

Grand Cayman has been on our schedule itinerary four times.

 

Twice we skipped due to rough seas making tendering too dangerous.

 

Once we made it but had to tender into Spots Bay (the alternate location).

 

And once we were able to tender into Georgetown without issue.

 

Those who would riot or become belligerent over a missed port should be disembarked without refund. Idiots.

[coevan]

This is interesting...how do you interpret the results?

 

 

I'm sorry, interpret what?

[pghsteelerfan]

We've been on two cruises in which Grand Cayman was a scheduled stop and we're 1 for 2 in getting there (50/50). In March 2006, beautiful weather and we made it, no issues. In April 2014, high winds/large swells forced the cancellation of our stop. The Grand Cayman port authority closed both Georgetown and back up at Spots Bay. We sailed right past GC and it would have been a crappy day weather wise, so might as well dry & comfortable on the ship.

[Rogueperson]

I think i've missed Grand Cayman once in the three times I've stopped there as a port of call. It was interesting because we had a day at sea instead, and made an unscheduled stop at Key West to make up for the lost port day. We passed through immigration at Key West where we all had to get in line and show passports to immigration officers as if we were disembarking (but the lines were in the ship). Once that was done, we were able to disembark.

 

When we returned to Miami, it was the easiest disembarkation ever. We walked right through and picked up our luggage and handed a guard our customs declaration. No immigration line as it was all done in Key West.