Grand Cayman Crippled.....

[sail7seas]

Our local news is describing the island in that language. The weather guy (meterorologist) said much of their infrastructure is destroyed.

 

Do you think Zuiderdam will continue calls there on the Western itineraries?

 

We are scheduled to go there on our October 2 and now wonder if another port will be substituted or if we will have 'another day at sea'. Whatever they decide is fine by me.

[CanSail]

Sail,

News has been so sad lately following these terrible storms.

I hope someone will have some information on Grand Cayman, I love that island...but then again there is not one warm island that I do not love!

Enjoy your cruise.

[dakrewser]

Our local news is describing the island in that language. The weather guy (meterorologist) said much of their infrastructure is destroyed.

 

Do you think Zuiderdam will continue calls there on the Western itineraries?

From the pictures in Tuesday's newspaper (which showed Grand Cayman split in two near the end of 7 mile beach), it'll be a long time before they recover, I'd suspect.

 

-dave

[momrox1]

Here is some info. I found a list of hotels which were heavily damaged yesterday and they included the Westin and Hyatt. I am on a Western Carib in NOv, Oosterdam, and have a week booked (had?) at the Westin for this Feb. I feel so bad for the people. I will try to find the list again.

First, here is a link we can go to if we want to supply some help

 

http://www.caymanislands.ky/

 

 

Cayman Islands: “The island looks like a war zone,” said Diana Uzzell, a business manager on Grand Cayman, where the storm flung huge pleasure yachts up on land and toppled trees three stories high.

 

A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed.

 

Tourism director Pilar Bush said up to half of the 15,000 homes on Grand Cayman had suffered significant damage that made them uninhabitable. Bush, speaking in a telephone call from New York City, said the government was looking at hotels and school dormitories to house the thousands of displaced people. Soup kitchens were set up Monday.

 

Many hotels were damaged, with torn-off roof tiles and roofs exposing a doll’s house, AP reporters saw from a chartered plane that overflew George Town Monday but was not allowed to land.

 

The second floor of the Divi Beach Club Colony Resort was torn away by the storm. Debris blanketed the Caymans.

 

Grand Cayman looked as if the entire, low-lying island was underwater at some point, the overflight showed.

 

Some houses were reduced to piles of splintered wood. A hangar at the George Town airport had its roof blown off. Officials said the airport was open only for restricted flights.

 

From the plane, the only signs of activity on the ground were animals congregating on higher ground. All trees were denuded, their leaves shorn off by the storm, and some century-old trees three stories high were torn up by their roots.

 

And more:

The Hurricane Center said ham radio operators on Grand Cayman reported that people were standing on the roofs of homes because of storm surges up to 8 feet above normal tide levels.

 

While Ivan made a nearly direct hit on Grand Cayman, the eye of the storm did not make landfall, passing instead over water just south of the island, said Rafael Mojica, a Hurricane Center meteorologist.

 

Still, emergency officials said residents from all parts of the island were reporting blown-off roofs and flooded homes as Ivan's shrieking winds and driving rain approached Grand Cayman, the largest of three islands that comprise the British territory of 45,000 people.

 

The airport runway was flooded and trees were wrenched from their roots, including a giant Cayman mahogany next to the government headquarters in downtown George Town. Radio Cayman went off the air temporarily.

From the Westin site:

Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa The hotel is currently closed due to Hurricane Ivan. The Airport is currently closed and under 2 feet of water. There is no power on the island. The main road on the island is closed under 1 feet of water. More updates will be posted as we receive them.

[hdawson]

Sail7Seas. I'm on that sailing too. Have you posted to our Roll Call?

The way I see it there is no chance for us to be on Grand Cayman on Oct 6th. The island is devistated. It till be months before they are prepared to welcome cruisers I think. I'm hoping that HAL will substitue with Progreso and not Costa Maya. Merida, just 21 miles for Progreso, is such a fantastic and authentic Mexican city. After two portcalls there I went back for 8 days and planning a two week return next year.

[Krazy Kruizers]

This does not sound good for Grand Cayman - some of the other Caribbean islands. This has been a terrible hurricane season. And now another tropical storm is out there.

We can remember several years ago when a couple of hurricanes hit St Maarten and several other islands in Sept & Oct. We were the first cruise ship to stop in St Maarten on our Dec Christmas cruise. And the island still wasn't in very good shape.

[FlorenceItaly]

The devastation is not comprehensible.

 

I have never been to GC, but it is a scheduled stop on my cruise the week of Oct 10. We already have reservations to swim with the Stingray's, with Soto's. This devastation will greatly effect the people of GC in many ways.

 

Marie

[sail7seas]

Momrox.....thanks for all the info. How very tragic for that the residents of that beautiful island. I know we all wish them a quick recovery. Of course, their banking industry means more to them than the tourism but even that has been devastated.

[sail7seas]

Marie....It doesn't seem likely you will be doing those tours, unfortunately.

 

I will contact Seattle in the next few days to see if they are changing our itinerary.

[sail7seas]

hdawson......No, I didn't post to the roll call. In all honesty, I have never posted to any of them. I'm not sure I knew there were any CC'ers on our cruise. Hope we meet. It would be fun. Another CC'er (a very good friend of ours) is meeting us on the ship ---possibly pre-cruise in FLL.

 

(Hope we get to go......with all these storms, I have already mentally prepared myself that we may be missing this cruise. Thankfully, we have others booked but we are looking forward to October 2. )

[mhshapiro]

Given the Grand Cayman's reputation as a center of business and banking interest, I suspect that recovery will be faster there than on some other islands that have been hit.

[wcolucci]

RE: the devastation:

 

I've heard there are severe shortages of Krug & Perrier.

[mountainmare]

We are(were)scheduled for a week long trip in a beach front condo in Bodden Town GC on Oct 17. I'm just hoping that our hosts made it through the storm safely, to be worried about a vacation seems sort of selfish when so many people have been devistated by these storms.

[OCruisers]

momrox1 and everyone .... Appreciate the information because we get very little on the Caymans on TV. What a horrible situation! :eek:

 

I read on another site that the couple who owns Eden Rock Dive said they were "about 5 minutes away from putting on scuba gear" (seriously, not trying to make a joke) because of the water level at their house. None of the photos posted are pretty sights!

 

Sadly, OCruisers :(

[taszmom]

My husband and I were wondering about how all this affected the stingrays...I would think they would head out to deeper waters for safety. Any word on the Turtle Farm? That was right along the beach if I remember correctly...I wondered if they moved them to a safer place.

 

On one hand the island needs time to recover, but on the other, they need the money from tourism to help them recover. They might want the ships to come.

 

My husband works at a resort in Palm Beach and it is closed until Sep 22 for cleanup after Frances. The beach (restoration which was just completed and costs millions) is now gone. They are hoping that guests will come and not cancel..because without guests, my husband doesn't get a paycheck.

[elmorejj]

I am sure the British Government are racing to assist GC, they have already sent the Royal navy ships in the Carib. to aid other Islands. So many of the Islands are still part of the British Commonwealth if not the British Empire anymore, and I know the Brits will assist their cousins on the Islands......jean.... :cool:

[sail7seas]

Jean...I am sure you are correct. They will help, most assuredly.

 

Because of the off shore banking Grand Cayman is noted for, it is a far wealthier island than any of the others. They had a higher standard of living and education etc and I am sure they will rebuild but it will take time.

 

Of course, the primary worry is the safety of the people.

[Jacqueline]

From an infrastructure point of view GC will certainly come back faster than , say Grenada. The standard for building there was higher to begin with but storms of this magnitude are beyond what anyone can plan against. Also the government there is probably second only to Bermuda, if that.

As I recall last fall (or was it the year before) iBermuda was added back as a port of call fairly shortly after the hurricane which was fairly depressing for those who visited. Of course it is impossible to substitute ports for Bermuda- so this was part of the problem.

My guess would be that they are not going to want to have the hassle of cruise ships in port until things are better established/recovered. On a good day the traffic was stopped on the island when the ships were in.

[cruisen4fun]

Sail7Seas...

 

I was leaving Miami this afternoon, and in the airport Starbucks line was the cutest little baby boy... I asked the mother how old he was, and she said that he was born in Grand Cayman 10 days ago...

 

She and her husband left when he was 4 days old to get away from Ivan... She and the baby were heading to stay with her parents, until they are able to return to the island...

 

Her husband returned this morning... She had just talked to him, and he said their home was destoyed, and that they had lost everthing... He said there is no water or sanitation facilities, and he could not believe what he was seeing... He told her that the worst she could ever imagine, wouldn't even begin to describe the destruction...

 

She left me by saying that she is devastated about all the uncertainty and the fact that they lost everything, but then she looked at her newborn son and said, "well not everything". She also said that they hadn't named him yet, but he definately would NOT be named Ivan...

 

My husband and I are also on the Oct. 2 Zuiderdam cruise...

I guess we will just have to wait and see...

[ekerr19]

I am sure the British Government are racing to assist GC, they have already sent the Royal navy ships in the Carib. to aid other Islands. So many of the Islands are still part of the British Commonwealth if not the British Empire anymore, and I know the Brits will assist their cousins on the Islands......jean.... :cool:

jean-

 

Color me stupid, a U.S. child of 1960 - I did not think the British Commonwealth held any occupations until I read your post... I honestly thought most of the British Empire went by the wayside after WWII - I guess I was wrong... (I am not being sarcastic here, merely grateful, thank you).

 

Thanks for the enlightenment :) - just found out the Caymans and Turks & Caicos are still part of the British Empire (Commonwealth)... ? :)

 

Just goes to show - thought I was pretty knowledgeable - turns out.... not so. Glad to hear the British are assisting in the Caymans.

[Globaliser]

Thanks for the enlightenment :) - just found out the Caymans and Turks & Caicos are still part of the British Empire (Commonwealth)... ? :)

Actually, they are even closer to the UK than merely being members of the Commonwealth. They're technically British Overseas Territories (formerly known as British Dependent Territories, formerly known as British Crown Colonies).

 

If you belong to the Cayman Islands, you have a form of British nationality, although if your country is simply a member of the Commonwealth you normally won't. For example, Australia is part of the Commonwealth and the Queen is still nominally Head of State there, but Australian citizens are that - and not British nationals in any way.

 

You can see a list of BOTs on this page, together with a list of Commonwealth countries.

 

I do hope that our government pulls its finger out and gets stuck in with helping out. Whitehall can be so slow to move sometimes.

[Roboat]

Cruisin4fun, what a story. I can't imagine returning to my home and finding nothing but debris.

 

Some might say the new baby boy is a gift to help them get through it.

 

I guess it's a good sign that she was in line at Starbucks, where a cup of coffee costs $3. Maybe she knows they will be OK.

[cruisen4fun]

Roboat......

 

I'm sure a $3 cup of coffee is not a problem since she also mentioned that her husband is VP of one of the many banks on Grand Cayman, and they were able to get a ride out on the "corporate" jet that had to leave the island to prevent being damaged...

 

My guess is that they are fully insured and will be able to rebuild...

[hdawson]

For those booked on the Oct 2nd Zuiderdam sailing, I hope you will join us in the Roll Call so we can all meet up for sailaway.

[sail7seas]

cruisen4fun....Thank you for sharing that story. It certainly does put a perspective on things, doesn't it. Thankfully, it appears that Mom and baby are safe and doing fine. Dad sure has 'his work' ahead of him getting them back on their feet.