Cruise line says ‘GT Port closed’

The Grand Princess, which usually berths in the
George Town Harbour with some 3,300 passengers
weekly

Monday,  January 23, 2006

THE Port Authority has said that the George Town Harbour is open for business and operating as normal in the wake of concerns from would-be visitors that Princess Cruises had informed them that the Cayman Islands cruise docks were closed. 

Cayman Net News received several calls and emails from prospective visitors who were disappointed with the news from the cruise line that Grand Princess could not berth here because the Port was closed for the week.

Jo Schwalm of Bloomington in Minnesota inquired by email last Wednesday on the goings-on at the Cayman ports:

“Is your port closed? Our cruise (Grand Princess) was scheduled to stop there next week and the cruise line is telling us the Grand Cayman port is closed to all cruise ships. Is that true? 

“If so, could you briefly tell us what the problem is and when the cruise lines were informed of this? We were really, really looking forward to coming to Grand Cayman and seeing if we would like to spend a future vacation there.”

Marine and Cargo Manager at the Port Authority, Joseph Woods, said the Island’s ports are operational and have no intention of closing this week or in the near future. 

“Our port is functioning as normal and we have ships coming in on all seven days. We have told no one that we can’t accommodate them,” he said. 

According to him, the Grand Princess was scheduled to berth here on Wednesday, 25 January but the ship’s owners, Princess Cruises, cancelled that call, citing technical problems. 

“We received an email from Princess Cruises saying that they had technical problems so the Grand Princess won’t be able to come on the 25 January,” he said.

Mrs Schwalm and her husband Harold contacted Mr Woods by email on the matter. 

He responded: “I can assure you that there are no problems at our ports that would prevent the Grand Princess calling and we are within our capacity for ships on that day.” 

“The sister ship (Star Princess) is scheduled to call on 25 January 2006. Perhaps they may be able to accommodate you on that vessel,” he added.

That confirmation from the Port official that the problem was not at the Cayman end shocked the Schwalms, who then contacted the cruise operator. In her correspondence Mrs Schwalm made her disappointment known.

“Several of your Princess customer service people tried to put the blame on the port for Grand Princess not calling on 25 January 2006 at Grand Cayman.

“Your company bears the responsibility for our disappointment. We demand a partial reimbursement of our payment for the cruise. Your $75 shipboard credit does not begin to cover this disappointment.” 

Mrs Schwalm further expressed her disappointment over the port that they would visit instead of Grand Cayman. 

“We find this port (Playa del Carmen in Mexico) to be a lame substitute for Grand Cayman”, She said that Cozumel in Mexico was also a destination on that cruise. 

And there were many problems associated with the cruise line, she said in the email.

“My husband and I are physically handicapped and had to carefully review all of your shore excursions to try and find something we could do. 

“You are shockingly lacking in excursions for people with limited mobility. “We were able to make two excursion reservations and one of them was on Grand Cayman,” she said.

Mr Woods said the Grand Princess, which carries 3,300 passengers, is expected to resume its weekly visits on Wednesday next week. 

“They further told us that that ship will return on 1 February, that’s the next time it is due,” he said. 

The Port official added that he could not understand why the cruise line would tell its passengers that the port was closed. 

“We don’t think they should be saying that because their sister ship Star Princess arrives here on 25 January, the same day the Grand Princess was due,” he said.

An official of the Princess Cruises in the US told Cayman Net News that there were technical difficulties regarding that cruise and she was unaware of any other reason. 

She added that the Grand Princess also missed its 11 January schedule in Grand Cayman due to “technical problems”. 

The Star Princess, also owned by Princess Cruises, is scheduled to make its weekly Wednesday call here with 1,625 passengers.

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