Cruise ship pulls up to George Town dock
(CNS): Passengers on the Adriana, which called into George Town Thursday, enjoyed the unique experience of disembarking straight on to the dock as the small cruise ship was able to berth at the South pier. The ship, which arrived around 8am in the morning and left in the evening, brought 270 passengers who were able to walk off the ship. At only 4,490 tons and with the right size draft, the little cruise ship was able to berth as oppose to anchor out in the harbour. The ship was dwarfed by the Carnival Conquest, which was also in port in Thursday. By comparison that ship carries some 2974 passengers and has a tonnage of gross tonnage of 110,239. (Photos Dennie Warren Jr)
In turn the Conquest is now dwarfed by the introduction of the generation of mega cruise ships now sailing the oceans. Royal Caribbean’s Genesis carries 5,400 passengers and weighs around 220,000 tons.
It is the move by the cruise industry to using ever more enormous ships in the Caribbean region that is driving the desire by local tour operators and the government to develop cruise berthing facilities in George Town that can accommodate these ocean going giants.
The Adriana which was originally built in Greece in the 1970s is a dying breed among ocean liners. The ship normally sails in the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas but does the occasional tour of the Caribbean.
Category: Tourism
If you check their website, this ship is going to be coming here every week for the rest of the year. Why would you not want to see it every day? It looks a lot better than a cargo ship, and will probably pick up in numbers travelling and disembarking. It looks a good ship to have a cruise on.
just goes to show even extending the present cargo dock and a dolphin far out to hold the stern in the deep can work..
You need not build a walkway the length of the ships. thats the method being used in many ports.
Port Authority website lists 77 arrived passengers! I am sure this didn't make a huge difference to downtown businesses but the ship surely saved a heap in fuel costs by not having to run their tenders all day.
While the cruise industry flagships pass us by, Big Mac buddies up with his croniesin the BVI. WHEN are we going to bring tourism back?!
This two party political system has done nothing for this country. Our politicians are too busy raking each other through the mud to actually do any good for Cayman. 8,000 getting hand outs, CUC bills higher than mortgages, crime amuck, and yet Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
Only new blood and new leadership can save us. Small ships and closed shops will be the wave of 2012 unless something is done for tourism, immigrations, rampant spending, and corruption.
Congratulations Cayman on being able to accomodate cruise ships at your dock that were built in the early 1970's. That's progress!
I wonder how many of those passengers had lunch in Georgetown after looking at the prices in the local restaurants and decided to walk back on board and eat a meal they had already paid for? Sure is easy with that ship tied up to the dock. Once they depart from the tenders used for anchored vessels, they are pretty much a captive audience for the merchants of the island. Makes you wonder about putting in a dock that would make it so much easier for passengers not to spend money locally.
Now why can't we just encourage smaller cruise ships and forget the berthing facility?
Merchants please give us the statistics on spending now that the passengers were able to disembark at the pier and just walk off on shore. I am sure the resturants, gift shops and other businesses had a record breaking day compared to others. This is now the golden opportunity to push for the new cruise port. Taxi drivers we need to know by how much your fares were increased, please let us know I need to know if it will be ok for me to rent some spaces in town for business.
It was a beautiful sight to see yesterday for sure! Not that i'd want to see it in harbour every day but it was surely unique!