Grand Cayman Excursions

[Island Marketing Cayman]

Hello to all Cruise Critic Members! This is not an advertisement!!!

 

 

My name is Matteo Uggeri, Managing Director of Island Marketing Ltd (Cayman) also known as Grand Cayman Cruise Excursions, this is my first post on this board which has been extensively monitored by our Company in order to view passenger's comments, good reviews, needs & not often complaints. We refrain from posting due to my ultimate dislike of commercialism which is often viewed on many bulletin boards, this particular message board is the pulse of Cruise Ship Passengers. Many of our excursions were modified, renewed or cancelled due to posts from members of this board. We cannot thank you enough!!

 

 

Unfortunately at this time more questions than answers are viewed on cruisecritic.com, and at this time I would like to give all a better idea on the situation in Grand Cayman at the present time.

 

 

Grand Cayman was heavily hit by Hurricane Ivan, our Island's damage was extensive. Power lines are 75% damaged, phone lines about the same, 50 to 60% of all buildings have been damaged, 30% of buildings have been totally destroyed, out office looks like a bomb went off inside, most vessels are damaged (2 can be found in front of our office, and no, we are not on the water) few cars survived, luckily no deaths have been reported.

 

 

It has only been 4 days, but to the many people whom have stayed behind it feels as 20 years have passed. Your cruise liner will not be visiting Grand Cayman any time soon (more on that later) the Port is closed, all inbound flights (tourism) have been cancelled, evacuation flights are currently operated by Embassies & Cayman Airways, only Cargo flights are allowed to enter Grand Cayman.

 

 

Our Cayman Staff is o.k., Jarred and Sherry are shell shocked. Jarred is dreaming of cold beer, Sherry is offering free excursions for all in trade for a shower :) . Our Cayman Office, which is also our Billing Office will be down for sometime being another reasons for this Post. We are currently working with our bank in order to be able to issue the refunds as soon as possible.

 

 

We operate out of 3 Ports, I was lucky enough not to be in Cayman at the time, and all reports are coming in from friends, family and staff. We are in constant contact with Cayman as cell phones work and one member of staff has one of the few land lines working on the Island . We will keep you updated, if you like, on the situation on-Island as time progresses, without exaggerations or false information, rumors will not be announced until confirmed.

 

 

FOR ALL PASSENGERS WHO ARE RESERVED ON OUR EXCURSIONS:

 

All excursions have been cancelled, or presumed cancelled. There will be no need to follow our terms & conditions for refunds, our rules were designed for normality and not for this turn of events. All excursion deposits WILL BE REFUNDED 100%. Please understand we currently do not have power, our Banks are closed for business due to the same reason, all credit card processing is done via phone lines (we are half way there ) but we need power to plug in our credit card system as well as well as our Bank open in order to accept our refund requests. (On another note: At the moment we cannot access Cayman’s Banking system, our employees are working for free as they cannot be paid, I cannot even leave for Cayman due to all of our Credit Cards not working due to the Cayman Banking system being down.)

 

 

Refunds will be processes as soon as we are able to do so for excursions already cancelled. Refunds for future reservations will be issued on the week the Ship will miss Port, (for example all reserved Passengers reserved arriving on the Inspiration calling Cayman on September 21st will be refunded following the Ship missing Port) we are uncertain how long it will be before the first Cruise Liner will visit and we do not wish to cancel clients reservations in advance due to availability issues. Please understand our position in these matters and we do thank you in advance for your understanding. Our field offices are open in Belize, if your Ship has added our alternate Ports in your itinerary your excursion could be switched to Belize, Costa Maya, Calica & Playa del Carmen as many Ships are being re-routed to the four Ports instead of Grand Cayman and Jamaica.

 

 

 

 

FOR A FUTURE NOTE:

 

Cayman will be back on its feet sooner that anyone thinks, I was in Cayman (have been living in Grand Cayman for 25 years) when Hurricane Gilbert visited in 1988 and know what the Island looks like today, the week following any Hurricane is the worse faze of any Hurricane, especially Hurricanes as big as Gilbert and Ivan. (Cayman LOVES big Hurricanes) Electricity is expected in George Town and surrounding area by tomorrow, the full Island will have Power in less than 4 weeks. The Cayman Islands are luckily a wealthy Country and restoration of services will not take long. In 1988 it also looked as a huge bomb had exploded, the Island was back in operation in less than 4 weeks looking better than it did before the Hurricane, just as it will this time. Dead trees are gone, all homes will be newly repainted, the Port will be brand new as the Government can now concentrate on the brand new arrival area which should have been completed by November, and we still have a chance that it will be open by that time. Cayman will be open shortly, for those of you who will be visiting within a month I do not feel your Cruise Liner will be visiting, cruises reserve for the late fall/winter season can expect a Cayman visit.

 

 

NO EXCURSIONS WILL BE RESERVE FOR GRAND CAYMAN

 

Due to the current situation we cannot reserve any excursions in Grand Cayman. We will resume reservations as soon as the full situation is understood. We are not 100% certain on our vessel’s conditions, our horses well being etc. We have confirmed some of our Operators as being 100% operational, while others will need boats moved away from theirs in order to have a survey of the vessel performed by a surveyor. Most vessels have been destroyed or damaged (one of our competitor’s vessel is sitting on top of a Lexus at the moment whole others are still docked intact 20ft away, there is no rhyme or reason in storms)

 

 

 

We are really sorry for those who will not be able to visit our beautiful Island in the next few weeks, no one could have predicted this outcome including your Cruise Liner, I am sure your Cruise Company will do their best to find an alternate Port with equal diversity and fun. For those of you visiting in the next 2 months: I hope all of our vessels will be fully Operational, 7 Mile Beach is the biggest it has been in years, the stingrays cannot wait to see you (and your squid) and Grand Cayman will look better than ever.

 

 

Thank you for reading,

 

 

Matteo Uggeri

 

Island Marketing Ltd (Cayman)

 

http://grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com

 

 

[Rasta Pirate]

Thanks SO much for your update Matteo. It sounds like things are somewhat under control. I feel sorry for those who were planing to come to GC during the coming weeks, but am encouraged to hear that clean up efforts are underway, and things should be back in place, and open for business for the busy winter months, as I am planning a visit on March 1.

 

As you may have read on this board, many people RAVE about a great place for lunch called the PARADISE RESTAURANT (located in Georgetown near where the tenders dock). Do you happen to know if this restaurant survived Ivan? or if there are plans to rebuild it?

 

Again, thanks very much for your post. I'm looking forward to visiting the "new & improved" Grand Cayman.:-) (as I'm sure many others are:-)

 

RP

[fllady]

So glad to hear from you and that even though Ivan was a bad storm there was no deaths in the Caymans. We'll be cruising there next April, so pretty sure you all will be well recovered by then. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you all. Thank you again for giving us true information instead of the stories we have heard.

 

Jeanne and Ellis

[Chelsea17]

Hi,

 

Thank you for the update on your beautiful island. Looking forward to visiting in May, 2005. After living thru Hurricane Hugo in 1989, I'm sure you'll come back stronger than ever just like Charleston did. Good luck to you!

 

Chelsea in Charleston

[atanza]

I am so sad to hear about Grand Cayman and the Hurracine Ivan. I live in Florida and I know how it's with all the devastation and the shocks of seeing your home and offices destroyed. Thank God there were not any loss of lives.

We were looking forward the Buccaneer Stingray excursion, but I guess will wait until next trip.

I am also glad you and your staff are ok.

 

Astrid

[Island Annie]

BRAVO!! And "Thank you" for a true/honest/accurate update.

 

And "Thank God" there were no casualties in Grand Cayman. It's also nice to hear that you & your staff are safe & suffered only a minimal interuption to your business.

 

I, too am planning to visit your beautiful island in early March 2005.

 

In the meantime . . . May God Bless you.

 

Annie

[atanza]

I am so sad to hear about the devastation on the island.

We are schedule to stop there on October 15th on Explorer of the Seas.

I was told by the cruise line, that we will be stopping there.

Can you reccommend any excursion, whether is land or sea?

Or, Do you plan to be in service by then.

We wanted to do the Buccaneer excursion.

Very well praised by cruise critics.

If you find the time to answer my email, I would gladly appreciated.

 

ASTRID

[Kallen]

Thank you for the update. We visited Grand Cayman in February and loved it. How did the turtle farm fare?