The number of cruise ship passengers landing on Grand Cayman is down for a second month running.

Official Government figures show that 109,196 cruise shippers stepped ashore during July 2007 compared with 122,781 in the same month last year. This represents a drop of around eleven percent.

In June just 95,966 passengers made the trip to shore compared with 112,190 in 2006, a fall of nearly 14.5 percent.

Overall figures to date for 2007 show 1,189,317 cruise shippers have visited Grand Cayman, a small rise on the 1,175,612 arrivals recorded for the first seven months of 2006. In percentage terms this is just over a one percent increase, meaning that gains made earlier in the year, particularly in January and February, have effectively been wiped out by the latest figures.

In addition, estimates suggest that the passing of Hurricane Dean last week cost Grand Cayman around 17,000 visitors when cruise ships were re-routed and visits cancelled.

However, what the figures do not show is whether the fall to date represents an actual drop in the number of people sailing into Cayman waters or if it is being caused by passengers simply not bothering to come ashore.

On one on-line forum dedicated to cruise shippers, the issue of access to George Town reveals some serious concerns amongst visitors, and potential visitors, to the island.

The fact that the Cayman Islands is the only remaining Caribbean cruise ship destination without modern port infrastructure and amenities, including berthing facilities, has also caused concerns amongst people involved in promoting the Cayman Islands as a cruise ship destination.

They point out that studies have shown ports with berthing facilities experience a greater economic contribution from the cruise industry. In addition to the income from tourist dollars, they benefit from the provision of goods and services to the vessels tied up at the dockside.

Brynley Davies of The Image Group is intimately involved with the cruise industry throughout the region. Earlier this month he expressed concerns about the decline in visitors.

“Cruise tourism is the fastest growing segment of the US tourism industry, which is the fastest growing industry in the US, but if the Cayman Islands does not proactively manage our product we will not successfully compete in this market,” said Mr Davies.

The latest arrivals figures do give some good news, as air arrivals are up by around nine percent.

During every month except April, more people have flown into Grand Cayman during 2007 than in 2006 and more than 15,000 people have used this route to enter the Islands already this year.

However, these figures are still well down on many of the pre-Ivan years including 2004, the year the hurricane hit, when there were over 24,000 more air arrivals by the end of July than there have been in 2007.

(Caymen Net News)

I do agree that I much prefer to dock at a cruise port than to tender. It's just more of a hassle to wait in line to tender in both directions.

Last time I visited GC..it was a royal pain in the arse. Not even worth getting off the ship! There were 7 or 8 other ships in the port...it took us hours to tender in with so many trying to get off the ship..and fewer tenders available.....when we got there we could not find a cab to get us to 7 mile beach as there were so many people there. Busses full....town wall to wall people. So, we just walked with Dixie down to the shore and snorkeled a bit then back to the ship.....
There have got to be less crowded ports than this to stop at....improves your overall cruise experience if you can enjoy the ports.....

Honestly! I bet I could have swam in quicker....