Was Grand Cayman closed Nov 23?

[wgeddings]

We were on the Veendam and supposed to be at Grand Cayman on Nov 23 (Thursday, Thanksgiving). There were 6 others ships supposed to be in the port that same day. We got an announcment on Wedesday that Grand Cayman had closed the port due to very severe weather expected for Thursday. The announcement was that all 7 ships were turned away and over 14,000 passengers were being affected but I have seen nothing about it on this board (yet). I want to know if HAL was telling us the truth of if some ships were allowed to dock. Grand Cayman was the port we were most looking forward to so I hated to miss it but I will be really upset if I find out that the port was not closed and I was not told the truth.

[bruce-r]

It is not uncommon for Grand Cayman's port to be closed to cruise ships, especially in winter. I would believe HAL as they really have no reason to lie about not stopping in GCM.

[drew sailbum]

The wind has been howling all week in Grand Cayman disrupting the cruise arrivals.

 

On Thursday November 23 three ships did tender in at the alternate location at Spotts. This facility does not have the capacity to handle more than 3 ships.

 

I'm not sure how they decide which ships get to make the port call when capacity is reduced. Perhaps they take turns?

 

HAL's Westerdam did get to make the port call, but unfortunately for you the Veendam did not.

 

You are certain about the date? On Wednesday Nov 22, no ships made it in.

[flvol77]

The wind has been howling all week in Grand Cayman disrupting the cruise arrivals.

 

On Thursday November 23 three ships did tender in at the alternate location at Spotts. This facility does not have the capacity to handle more than 3 ships.

 

I'm not sure how they decide which ships get to make the port call when capacity is reduced. Perhaps they take turns?

 

HAL's Westerdam did get to make the port call, but unfortunately for you the Veendam did not.

 

You are certain about the date? On Wednesday Nov 22, no ships made it in.

 

I know that the star princess didn't go to GC that week I think it was Wed though....

[wrp96]

Freedom of the Seas didn't make it last week either.

[wgeddings]

Yeah, sure about it being Thursday. Originally going to be Monday but the itinerary got reversed a few weeks before the cruise. They did mention that a few ships were wait-listed but we were not on that list. That would jibe with the 3 ships at the alternate location and I am sure they went for the ships with the most passengers since that would benefit GC most (and correct and logical decision for the island). Okay, I was just concerned when I saw no mentions elsewhere of ships missing that port last week.

 

Thanks.

[flvol77]

well, if the freedom and the star princess both missed GC then I seriously doubt they only took the "big" ships at the alt location.

 

Star has around 2,700 pass and I know that Freedom is well over 3,500

[flvol77]

I hate double posts

 

SORRY

[wgeddings]

3,500! Wow! Now that is a big ship!

[flvol77]

3,500! Wow! Now that is a big ship!

 

we saw it in miami when we left on the NCL Jewel and it was HUGE!!! I like bigger ships but some of these ships are getting out of hand....NCL is building two new ships that will hold 4200 pass and will be 150,000 grt

 

just looked it up on the RCCI web site 3,634 is the total number

[bruce-r]

3,500! Wow! Now that is a big ship!

Way, WAY too big for me, but if you like big, just wait for the RCI project Genesis. 5000 pax.

[flvol77]

Way, WAY too big for me, but if you like big, just wait for the RCI project Genesis. 5000 pax.

 

220,000 tons

[iamlisad]

We tendered in from Celebrity Century on 11/21 to a tender port that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. There was a Carnival ship and a Disney ship there, too. We shared a taxi back to the tender location with the shopping guide from our ship and she told us that we were very lucky to have been able to make it in because 6 ships were scheduled to visit Grand Cayman on that day but this alternate spot could only accomodate 3 and basically the first 3 ships to arrive got the spots. The usual tender dock downtown was a sight to behold. The waves were crashing up against the dock and were literally breaking up over onto the streets. I couldn't believe it was the same spot where we had tendered in on tranquil waters on previous cruises. All of the ships water based excursions were cancelled on Tuesday, 11/21. I had a private charter scheduled for 28 family members through Nativeway and we went ahead with the excursion. They took GREAT care of us but it was rough and a little dicey at times. They ended up bussing us back from Rum Point instead of taking us back out on the rough waters. More on the tour in other post. But having seen the condition of the docks on Tuesday, I'm not surprised that it wasn't any better by Thursday.

Lisa D

[nolaAlive]

On the 23rd, Rhapsody of the Seas, Constellation, and Westerdam appear to have been the lucky ships.

[disneymomtwo]

We were on the Mariner of the Seas - our Grand Cayman stop on Thursday, Nov 23 was also cancelled. Captain told us that seas were too rough for safe tendering. He did point out that we would notice three smaller ships docked on the other side of the island. Two had medical situations on board that required docking. But, all were smaller - docks can't accomodate the larger ships.

[lambs2]

Grand Cayman was closed on the 22rd last week as we were on the Costa Magica and had to skip that port. On the 23rd we were in Ocho Rios and it rained all day and had been raining days before so the streets were very flooded and most shore excursions cancelled or shortened. Dunne River Falls was closed that day due to flooding :( .

[woodofpine]

We were aboard C. Miracle Tuesday and joined the prior poster's X-Century and Disney Magic at the Spott's Bay mooring. The wind was really blowing all week. From GC to Coz that night we were bearing 35-45 kt. winds with 38-42 kts. pretty much constant.

 

How the bridge officers and harbor authorities decide who gets to moor when the conditions deteriorate is unknown to me (along the line of the upgrade fairy). I'm sure, based on our experience, that the decision is well grounded. The announcement of the alternative mooring subject to conditions had been made the prior evening. On our approach, several miles out prior to sunrise, I noted a large Princess vessel going the opposite way. Given the time, I figured the port was cancelled for sure. When we arrived Magic and Century were already moored.

 

An ambulance was positioned on the pier. An older Miracle passenger was debarked on an infirmary gurney with an O2 mask and put in the ambulance. The necessity of that medical call may have allowed Miracle to bump another vessel. Beats me, but this pax' loss was our gain though...

 

Based on what I saw, I suspect that Veendam had no choice in the cancellation decision. As an aside though, if OP's desire to hit GC was based on stingrays, diving, or other water pursuits, ALL water activities were cancelled 11/21 so the lion's share of what draws folks to GC wasn't in the cards anyway...

[wgeddings]

I did not even think about the stingray stuff being cancelled but if it was as rough as everyone is saying, probably good that we did not stop if the stingray was going to be cancelled. Even more tantalizing.

[Russ_MT]

Way, WAY too big for me, but if you like big, just wait for the RCI project Genesis. 5000 pax.

 

We just got off Freedom a week ago and did Native Way in GC. Surprisingly the ship never felt crowded at all. Tenders were very efficient. Plenty of pools to keep top decks open.

 

On second thought........Freedom class ships are awful...don't book them. They are too big. Don't book one of these ships.

 

 

 

 

(hopefully cabins will still be available on Liberty of the Seas)

[nolaAlive]

Just because the ships cancel their stingray tours, doesn't mean all stingray tours are cancelled. I've been in Grand Cayman when all ship tours were cancelled but Soto's still took us out.

 

If you find yourself in that situation and want to see the stingrays, jump in the first tender you can and you stand a good chance of picking up a tour once onshore.

 

The water may be a little rough, but on the other hand there will be a whole lot fewer people and boats at the sandbar.

 

The same sort of thing can happen in a number of places - on a recent stop in Cozumel, all the ship water based tours were cancelled but you could still pick up tours on your own.

[wgeddings]

If Grand Cayman was as rough as I am thinking (I know how bad the seas were Monday night), I am not sure I would want to have been out in a smaller boat trying to snorkel and look at sting rays anyway. Then again, that barrier they have could have kept things "inside the lagoon" quieter so I would have had to see it I suppose. Great point though that just because the ship may cancel some tours, it does not mean all are cancelled.

 

In Jamaica, the ship was annoucing the cancellation of Dunns River Falls tours so many people thought it was closed. In reality, the ship tour relied on water transport around the island and then a trip to the Falls. It was the water transport portion that caused the cancellation but I was glad for those who made the wrong assumption!

[l929]

We were one of the three ships that tendered into GC last Thursday. It was very scary. I had my two Ds's 3 and almost 2 and my 3 year old is now terrified of tenders. Thankfully GC was the only tender we had for the cruise. The tender kept hitting into the ship and making a terrifying sound. Getting on and off the tender from the ship was very difficult. I almost fell off when I was handing my 3 year old up to the crew. One of the crew caught me as I lost my balance because the tender lurched up (or down I'm not totally sure what happened). If they didnt catch me I would have gone over and would have been crushed between the tender and the ship. Although, the ride out on the tender was totally uneventful and I have been in much rougher waters. This lead me to think they didnt tie the tender up properly.

 

We went to the beach at the Hyatt and did not go into the water because it was too rough and cold.

 

I think we would have been better off if we were one of the ships that didnt stop.

[woodofpine]

I wouldn't have wanted to be on stingray city sandbar off Rum Point last week. I was at Rum Point and wouldn't have wanted to be out on the water.

 

The north (Rum Point and Stingray City) and west coasts (Seven Mile Beach)were really rough. That said, we circumnavigated the island by car and the waters off the east end were calm. We should've stayed there to swim but didn't. I didn't seen any dive boats out there though (since they would've had to come from the west).

 

It was like that at Cozumel also. The water at the popular west coast beaches (Playa Mia, Mr. Sanchos, etc.) was rough; the beaches on the east side were calm. Tendering into Cozumel was really difficult though; the tenders were really moving vertically.

[tuzick]

We docked at Spot's on Nov. 20th. Pretty much all water activities were canceled, so we rented a car and drove around to the highlights. We were one of few ships that docked (Royal Carribean Legends of the Seas).

[wa.mama]

we tendered at Spotts Bay and found that our Capt. Bryan's tour was cancelled. However, Nativeways and many others did venture out, after making sure everyone knew the conditions would be rough and were good swimmers. The seas were indeed rough, there was surf on the sandbar strong enough to knock you over, but we had a great time.

 

1929, the tendering was very scary, even for a seafaring family like ours. I've seen many accidents happen with that kind of thing and almost didn't want to get off the tender.