Strange Bar Closings on Equinox Today in Grand Cayman

[Dar & Bob]

1 hour ago, OysterD said:

I find it fascinating that after 12 pages of speculation and gossip the thread is no closer to a definitive answer than when it was started!

It's like a feature length episode of Columbo. We all knew who was responsible from the start, the govt of GC, but thus far nobody has found any absolute proof to pin it on them! 

If I could be bothered (as in, will I ever go to GC and if so could I manage without an alcoholic drink for a couple hours..yeah, I'll survive) then I'd just shoot the port authority in GC an email and ask what the scoop is. But where's the fun in that!

I already did email the GC port authority with no response 🙂

[Dar & Bob]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

When did GC start having a dock for cruise ships? My understanding is all cruise ships tender in GC?  Tenders dock in Georgetown but according to the GC tourist sites there is no cruise ship docking facility in Georgetown.

Grand Cayman Cruise Port Guide: Review (2022) | IQCruising

I will correct my post, anchored in GC  - Hope this makes you happy Geesh  

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Dar & Bob

[Dar & Bob]

1 hour ago, Dar & Bob said:

I did read the post and I was on that sailing and experienced people 4 and 5 deep all around the bar.  As I said in my post #204 there were many passengers still on board.  You weren't there and belittling cw2go who understood the conditions were NOT the same as what happened on the January 12th sailing of the Equinox.  Nowhere near the same.  They told us waitstaff would bring drinks which one did and one refused.  DH went and found the beverage manager who straightened that out. 

They did find one helpful idea which was to bring out a cooler cart full of beer, soft drinks and waters and he just took down room numbers on a piece of cardboard to charge to the people later.  The latest cruise has been fortunate in that they anchored at George Town where passengers had a choice.  We were at Spotts Bay, which has a Parking Lot, period.  That and the fact that all excursions dealing with water - snorkelling, stingray city, etc were cancelled.  Only land tours were still operating.  Therefore the ship was crowded - This was NOT THE SAME EXPERIENCE WHATSOEVER 

Here is the edit to my post for Anchoring not Docking in George Tow

[jwlane]

1 hour ago, cw2go said:

Ummm, were you there?

No.  Nor were you.  Like I said---reread the orignial post "that prompted this thread in the first place".  Not nearly "the sky is falling" as alleged.

[CruiseCrew123]

The bar in the retreat was serving all day in GC

[cw2go]

21 minutes ago, jwlane said:

No.  Nor were you.  Like I said---reread the orignial post "that prompted this thread in the first place".  Not nearly "the sky is falling" as alleged.

 

In typical posting fashion, no answers to direct questions! 

 

Bye Bye! 👋

[C4HCG]

45 minutes ago, Dar & Bob said:

Here is the edit to my post for Anchoring not Docking in George Tow

Seems to me (and I wasn’t there) that you and others on your sailing had a really bad situation but also seems that this experience was an exception. So this thread has grown arms and legs from something that for most other ships has not been an issue as has been confirmed by a number of cruisers first hand. And one positive from the thread, future cruisers fearing it could happen to them can make contingency plans in case it does. In summary to me this thread has been fun, informative, and a storm in a teacup.

[phoenix_dream]

7 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We have only used the pool bar on Caribbean cruises when it was too hot to go to the Retreat sun deck on the Equinox. In 2021 on the Equinox the Martini Bar was packed the first couple of nights from 5pm on. I mean elbows to elbows until after the third night when an outbreak of Covid was traced back to 4 bartenders in the martini bar. The bar was closed for one day and all of the bottles and glasses were removed to do a complete sanitization of the venue. After that the martini bar was a ghost town. That was back when every passenger had to wear those Tractlet bracelets and the ship knew everyone who had been in the Martini bar when those infected bartenders worked. Last year on the Reflection we gave up trying to sit in the martini bar after 5pm due to the huge crowds, so we spent most of our time in Michaels Club.

Curious when anyone had to wear bracelets? We started sailing very soon after restart several times and never had to do that.

[phoenix_dream]

On 2/3/2023 at 11:22 AM, prmssk said:

No, obviously I wasn’t there. But this comment of yours is the first (at least that I have seen) that actually described an issue someone saw. Most of the posts have all been about speculation. And what you describe sounds like a rare everything went wrong kind of situation. It’s not normal for so many excursions to get cancelled. 
 

And I have stayed on the ship while at Grand Cayman so I do have some experience with what the crowds are like on that port day. What you describe is not a normal Grand Cayman port day. 

I was there. IMHO while it was unfortunate that so many excursions got cancelled, at least the port stop wasn’t cancelled, which has happened to me several times in the past.   Would people prefer that??  So I don’t see this as an everything went wrong type of situation.   People interested in beach type activities could still grab a cab at the alternate port and swim or snorkel off the beach. Or they could explore the town which we did.  Maybe not as good as they planned, but still fun.  They may have chosen to stay onboard anyway but that was their choice. I normally don’t drink alcohol until pre-dinner so I can’t speak fully about the impact of that, although I do recall glancing at the pool bar early afternoon and it wasn’t all that busy. It probably got worse as time went on but we weren’t in the port very late (if memory serves, I think we sailed at 4pm), so I find it a bit shocking how many people were so upset about the situation. 

[florisdekort]

For what it’s worth, the same happened on our recent Seabourn cruise. Only 1 bar open for alcoholic beverages. 
 

 

[jwlane]

39 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

the same happened on our recent Seabourn cruise.

That can't be true!  This thread has well established it's Celebrity's mishandling of, well, SOMETHING!  (tongue firmly planted in cheek)

Edited February 5, 2023 by jwlane

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

The bar in the retreat was serving all day in GC

 

Which Ship?

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Curious when anyone had to wear bracelets? We started sailing very soon after restart several times and never had to do that.

We were on one of the first Equinox cruises after the lockdown in August 2021 and all passengers were given these tracking bracelets that had to be worn at all times on the ship. They were a pain and dropped shortly after our cruise. 

[Mcgeneseo]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Which Ship?

Beyond. Current cruise.

[CruiseCrew123]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Which Ship?

Beyond

[Jim_Iain]

14 hours ago, Mcgeneseo said:

Beyond. Current cruise.

We will be on Apex in April so will be interesting to see.   More out of curiosity as I'm unable to drink because alcohol triggers migraines.  

[Mcgeneseo]

10 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We will be on Apex in April so will be interesting to see.   More out of curiosity as I'm unable to drink because alcohol triggers migraines.  

I was surprised the bartender kept pouring. Will be interesting to see what happens when you cruise.

[DCPIV]

27 minutes ago, Mcgeneseo said:

I was surprised the bartender kept pouring. Will be interesting to see what happens when you cruise.

 

I expect there has been a great deal of disappointment (for lack of a better word) expressed by Retreat guests who could not get a drink in the lounge. 

[TeeRick]

1 minute ago, DCPIV said:

 

I expect there has been a great deal of disappointment (for lack of a better word) expressed by Retreat guests who could not get a drink in the lounge. 

Most Retreat guests were on shore in Grand Cayman.  If on ship, you could go to the cooler in the Lounge and get a beer.  Or the mini-fridge in your cabin.  It was not at all a big deal to us anyway.

[DCPIV]

26 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Most Retreat guests were on shore in Grand Cayman.  If on ship, you could go to the cooler in the Lounge and get a beer.  Or the mini-fridge in your cabin.  It was not at all a big deal to us anyway.

 

You and I might not care, but I'd bet real money that someone did. 

[TeeRick]

1 minute ago, DCPIV said:

 

You and I might not care, but I'd bet real money that someone did. 

Yes, by judging some of the reactions here on this thread. 

[Elvis1209]

Just wanted to get my 2 cents into this.  A few years back I went to Grand Caymen for a diving vacation.  The diving was awesome!  However, if you're not diving, there is nothing to do in Grand Caymen other than to eat or drink!

 

Elvis

[horseymike]

On 2/5/2023 at 9:36 PM, Elvis1209 said:

Just wanted to get my 2 cents into this.  A few years back I went to Grand Caymen for a diving vacation.  The diving was awesome!  However, if you're not diving, there is nothing to do in Grand Caymen other than to eat or drink!

 

Elvis

I did the stingray city excursion several years ago , booked through Celebrity, it was great.

I did the same excursion last November of 2022 also booked through Celebrity and it was 

absolutely terrible. So much for GC .

[paladin757]

On 1/14/2023 at 5:50 PM, mac_tlc said:

Same for us. On Beyond in a couple weeks and do not plan on getting off the ship in GC. 
ac_tlc

I was just on Beyond in Grand Cayman last week and indeed the only bar open was the Pool Bar for everyone.. We were in the Retreat area and that "Pool Bar" was also open. but no others were..   No reason was given other than that Local rule was from the GC government.  I think the Cruise lines should all Boycott GC until this changes .. Since most have the Beverage packages and can't use them it should be reduced in price if the ship stops in Grand Cayman.. 

IMHO

 

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, paladin757 said:

I was just on Beyond in Grand Cayman last week and indeed the only bar open was the Pool Bar for everyone.. We were in the Retreat area and that "Pool Bar" was also open. but no others were..   No reason was given other than that Local rule was from the GC government.  I think the Cruise lines should all Boycott GC until this changes .. Since most have the Beverage packages and can't use them it should be reduced in price if the ship stops in Grand Cayman.. 

IMHO

 

We have done 3 cruises in the past that had GC as stops, but only once did we make it there, the other 2 our stops were canceled due to bad weather and high winds. We will be there in June on the Equinox, maybe X will have this sorted out, but I am not optimistic.