Article About the Reef Restoration Project and Plans for the Cruise Pier

[AggieDiver]

I always chuckle when I read the tripadvisor forums for just about any dive location. One of the top questions everybody asks about any activity or location is "how do I know when cruise ships are in town and how can I avoid the crowds?" It seems like the governments are constantly trying to find more ways to get more cruise ships in town at once, while all the other visitors to the place are simply trying to figure out how to avoid the thundering herds coming off of the cruise ships. The government would do well to figure out how to disperse the herd as efficiently as they are able to get them into the port. It doesn't do any good to build a new way to get everybody off the ship, if they all end up clustered at the end of the pier waiting on a single line of taxis. By its nature, the tendering operation acts as a throttle controlling the number of people from each ship reaching land at the same time. Once you build a dock, you had better figure out a better way to clear the end of the dock as well. I haven't looked closely at the plans, but I have seen it overlooked initially elsewhere.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

This morning's Cayman Compass sports the latest idea...

Build a pier offshore in water deep enough that dredging won't be required. Then transfer the passengers ashore using an aerial tramway. WTF?


There is a sort of tradition in Cayman of proposing something so unacceptably outrageous (The cruise dock proposal) so that public sentiment gets stirred up. Then, and only then, is the marginally more sensible proposal trotted out (aerial tramways!?) with the hope that the public will support the lesser of two evils when they never would have supported the more sensible of the two options if it was initially presented alone.

Time will tell. I don't think this aerial tramway will ever get off the ground.

 

[billinwilliamston]

This morning's Cayman Compass sports the latest idea... Build a pier offshore in water deep enough that dredging won't be required. Then transfer the passengers ashore using an aerial tramway. WTF? There is a sort of tradition in Cayman of proposing something so unacceptably outrageous (The cruise dock proposal) so that public sentiment gets stirred up. Then, and only then, is the marginally more sensible proposal trotted out (aerial tramways!?) with the hope that the public will support the lesser of two evils when they never would have supported the more sensible of the two options if it was initially presented alone. Time will tell. I don't think this aerial tramway will ever get off the ground.

Why not a giant water slide, or maybe zip lines?

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Government announces they are moving ahead with the port project. What form that will take is yet to be decided.

No small amount of criticism is that this announcement was made before the final business case was put forth by Price Waterhouse Cooper.

 

[diversteve]

“The decision is whether many hundreds of people and families who today rely on jobs created as a result of cruise tourism have those jobs next year and in the years to come.”

I guess that doesn't include the tender operators or their families. Or the owner/employees at Eden Rock. I'll bet Sunset House is just thrilled also.

 

[billinwilliamston]

Government announces they are moving ahead with the port project. What form that will take is yet to be decided. No small amount of criticism is that this announcement was made before the final business case was put forth by Price Waterhouse Cooper.

'Mr. McLaughlin said the financing model would seek to ensure cruise lines have “major skin in the game” to guarantee passenger volumes over the financing period. ' He can't be serious, can he? If the CIG had enough to offer the cruise lines to get them to "guarantee passenger volumes", why would they be running so scared about losing the cruise business to other islands in the first place?