Cayman possible border reopening without quarantine by April or May!

[AggieDiver]

It is a constantly changing bar, but to put some perspective on it, it's not that bad. Having gone through the process, the LFT tests take only minutes. Literally you walk in the tent, sign your name, they swab you and you're out the door. Most hotels do it on-site. For my 3 tests I walked the 5 minutes from my house to the testing site. My tests took 3 minutes from the time I walked in the door to the time I walked out. You don't need to even wait for the results, the assume it's negative and call you if it's otherwise. The worst part IMO is the $90 you spend on them. That's beer money.





This one we agree on. And so does CITA. They are actively working on changing this.



It seems (at present) unlikely that Cayman will shut down again, unless the Sigma variant, or whatever the next wave is ends up having a catastrophic amount of hospitalizations and deaths. There was massive community pushback in October when they delayed the opening.



Just remember though the US requires a negative test to get back in, so I would say Cozumel (or any other destination) has a similar level of risk when it comes to travel complications.

Thanks for all the info Tony. I am glad to hear that y'all are keeping busy, even if it is at a reduced staffing level. My worry for many of the operators and resorts was that the government would finally reopen tourism, the resorts and dive ops would staff up again, and the guests would not show up in the numbers needed to support them. We have a trip to T&C in March, but maybe it is time to start considering whether to book a low season trip in the Sister Islands...

 

[Joneill]

Many of our party including my wife and I just canceled on our April trip to Grand Cayman as the final payments were due and refunds would not be possible once made.

We're disappointed, but the post arrival testing and, especially, the requirement to have a negative PCR test to exit isolation (if required from a post arrival positive LFT) just make the Caymans a non tourist-friendly destination at present. They just modified their exit PCR testing on Feb 2, but it's still ridiculously complicated vs other destinations. I don't know what they are thinking, but it does not appear to be about tourists!

It's certainly their country to run as they see fit, but it's our money to spend as we see fit and the risk/ benefit equation for the Caymans makes it unattractive to us right now.

So now off of our radar for this year as we have several trips already planned to other, more tourist friendly destinations - maybe next year, but honestly not as jazzed about the location where I've dived the most as I used to be...

 

[tridacna]

Many of our party including my wife and I just canceled on our April trip to Grand Cayman as the final payments were due and refunds would not be possible once made.

We're disappointed, but the post arrival testing and, especially, the requirement to have a negative PCR test to exit isolation (if required from a post arrival positive LFT) just make the Caymans a non tourist-friendly destination at present. They just modified their exit PCR testing on Feb 2, but it's still ridiculously complicated vs other destinations. I don't know what they are thinking, but it does not appear to be about tourists!

It's certainly their country to run as they see fit, but it's our money to spend as we see fit and the risk/ benefit equation for the Caymans makes it unattractive to us right now.

So now off of our radar for this year as we have several trips already planned to other, more tourist friendly destinations - maybe next year, but honestly not as jazzed about the location where I've dived the most as I used to be...

I just booked LCBR for Q4 premised on an internal mental promise that most of this insanity will be done by then. The new government are a bunch of blithering morons with their current testing regimen.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

We're disappointed, but the post arrival testing and, especially, the requirement to have a negative PCR test to exit isolation (if required from a post arrival positive LFT) just make the Caymans a non tourist-friendly destination at present. They just modified their exit PCR testing on Feb 2, but it's still ridiculously complicated vs other destinations. I don't know what they are thinking, but it does not appear to be about tourists!

It's certainly their country to run as they see fit, but it's our money to spend as we see fit and the risk/ benefit equation for the Caymans makes it unattractive to us right now.

So now off of our radar for this year as we have several trips already planned to other, more tourist friendly destinations - maybe next year, but honestly not as jazzed about the location where I've dived the most as I used to be...

Yep, I don’t plan on going to the caymans until they drop on the nonsensical mandates and tests. If it wasn’t my honeymoon, I’d be canceling our Bahamas trip in March.

 

[kensuf]

Yep, I don’t plan on going to the caymans until they drop on the nonsensical mandates and tests. If it wasn’t my honeymoon, I’d be canceling our Bahamas trip in March.

My wife has told me the same. She loves the Cayman Islands, regularly listens to CI radio stations over streaming and follows the news, but refuse to visit until the PCR exit test is dropped. She doesn't want to risk going down there, catching covid from the wide community spread, and then being locked up unable to return home for many weeks.

 

[tridacna]

My wife has told me the same. She loves the Cayman Islands, regularly listens to CI radio stations over streaming and follows the news, but refuse to visit until the PCR exit test is dropped. She doesn't want to risk going down there, catching covid from the wide community spread, and then being locked up unable to return home for many weeks.

There is no PCR exit test requirement.

 

[kensuf]

From quarantine? You're incorrect.

 

[kensuf]

The guidelines have been relaxed a little, but you still need to test negative on an PCR test to exit quarantine, which you are placed in if you test positive on one of the mandatory LFT tests.

PCR exit testing guidelines relaxed

People in isolation who are still COVID-19 positive in their exit tests will have a shorter time to wait to be retested under a new screening regime announced by Public Health on Wednesday.

www.caymancompass.com

 

[tridacna]

From quarantine? You're incorrect.

You never stated from “in quarantine” in your original post.

 

[kensuf]

You're right. I said my wife doesn't want to be locked up if she caught covid from community spread. I must have been talking about a jail or something, because no one would possibly think I meant quarantine.