GEORGE TOWN – The Ministry of Tourism has offered no explanation as to why two Carnival ships bumped Grand Cayman off their itineraries this week. The Carnival Freedom, which carries around 3,000 passenger, was scheduled to arrive Thursday and the Carnival Horizon, which carries 4,000 passengers, should be calling today, Wednesday, but instead have been diverted to other ports of call.
Local and international media have reported on the fact that Carnival, one of the two cruise lines partnering in the government’s cruise port project, has rerouted these two ships from both the Cayman Islands and Jamaica this week. Carnival also threatened to divert the Carnival Paradise, which was scheduled to arrive Tuesday, away from Cayman, but then reverted to its published itinerary after the apparent intervention of Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell.
On Tuesday afternoon, the ministry issued a statement saying that “there is no truth to reports circulating in the media that Carnival Cruise lines have dropped the Cayman Islands from its Western Caribbean itinerary”, although the question that remains open is not about a blanket dropping of Grand Cayman but about why the two ships were diverted this week.
The change in the itineraries followed the disruption of a ship’s schedule last week, when Cayman and Jamaica both turned away the MSC Meraviglia, which had around 4,500 passengers, even though it turned out that the sick crew member on board did not have coronavirus, as feared, but was ill with influenza. The ship travelled on to Cozumel, Mexico, where it was allowed to dock after health officials there found no evidence that any of the passengers or crew members had coronavirus.
Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton told The Gleaner that the ship had been denied landing because it did not report that they had health concerns on board, as required by law. Tufton said the Jamaican government was unwilling to exercise the flexibility demanded by Carnival.
He told The Gleaner, “Our position is that we can’t give those guarantees because there are certain procedures that are required for them to file, prior to the ship landing or within a certain time, and we require those as a matter of our protocols. They are now saying that we don’t have any protocols and they can’t come to Jamaica, so they are bypassing Jamaica, and I think they may be doing it to St Lucia, too.”
Carnival sent a letter to the passengers of the Carnival Freedom and the Carnival Horizon to explain the change in itinerary, which suggested that the problem surrounded the policies of Jamaica and Cayman.
It read: “We are implementing some itinerary changes on voyages scheduled to call on Grand Cayman and Jamaica this week. A number of Caribbean destinations continue to work through their policies with regards to cruise ship visits. And while we are following all US CDC and World Health Organization screening protocols and guidelines, we want to avoid any possibility of a visit to a destination where there is uncertainty or we risk being turned away.
“To be clear, there is no health situation on board to trigger this concern, but we are making this change to avoid even the possibility of a disruption. We understand some guests will be disappointed and trust they will understand that this decision is being made to protect their vacation and maximize their experience with us.”
In its statement yesterday, the ministry said it “continues to work collaboratively with cruise line partners and are adhering to established medical protocols with respect to the docking of cruise ships and landing of cruise ship passengers”.
Acting Port Director Joey Woods was adamant that there was “no disagreement whatsoever between” the Cayman Islands and Carnival. He told CNS that “the cruise lines have very stringent screening protocols in place in an effort to prevent the introduction or the spread of the virus onboard their vessels and Cayman has well established policies and requirements that have been tweaked to prevent and minimize our risk of exposure.
“We are all working in close collaboration with each other and perhaps itineraries of some ships have been adjusted, not because there are any passengers with the virus or infectious illnesses onboard, but simply because they may be unable to meet Cayman’s requirements for those particular calls.”
Woods added, “I reiterate that we have good collaboration between ourselves, Public Health, CBC and the cruise lines and their local agent. There is nothing to fear and panic about. We are all working closely to achieve the same objective.”
In the release from the ministry, Kirkconnell stated that they were taking very seriously the potential threat posed by the coronavirus. He said, “We are proactively working with industry partners and stakeholders to ensure compliance with the extensive protections put in place by the Ministry of Health to safeguard public health and protect the points of entry into our Islands.
“At the regional level, the Cayman Islands have also participated in discussions with CARICOM leaders and representatives from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to co-operatively establish and implement minimum standards and protocols to help protect the Caribbean community from the coronavirus.”
However, the ministry made no mention about why the Carnival ships are not here this week or what compromises or agreements will have to be made by either party in order to secure future visits. (Cayman News Service)
