More cruise ships to call in Cayman

Monday,  November 7, 2005

The Cayman Islands will continue to cash-in from additional cruise ship calls as some destinations, like Cancun in Mexico, try to recover from the direct negative impact of Hurricane Wilma last month. 

The Port Authority reported this week that 16 new calls from three cruise-lines plying the Cayman Islands waters would bring an additional 25,000 passengers to George Town. 

The Port officials said the Zenith (1,750 passengers), the Grandeur of the Sea (1,950 passengers) and the Oceania (684) would pay more visits here between 12 November 2005 and 1 April 2006. 

The Zenith will visit eleven more times from 12 November, while Oceania is scheduled to arrive on 2 December 2005 to 10 March 2006. 
The Grandeur of the Sea visits in November. 

Without confirming whether the ships were redirected to Cayman from the hurricane-ravaged ports in Central America, the Port Authority would only say they were new business opportunities that surfaced after Hurricane Wilma.

The Cayman Islands, who missed out on CI$600,000 in passenger tax as a result of cruise ship cancellations last month over the same storm, are expected to gain more than CI$250,000 in taxes from the new arrivals. 

Huge sea surges and a damaged port forced 20 cruise ships to abandon their journey to Grand Cayman as Wilma brushed past Grand Cayman at 175 miles per hour on 19 November. 

Officials are optimistic that more calls could be on the horizon, judging by the devastation the hurricane inflicted on some of the world’s popular destinations in the Cozumel area of Mexico.

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