It was extraordinary for me (as a member of the media) to receive a Press Release from The Ministry of District Administration, Tourism and Transport which states it “…wishes to assure the public that there is no truth to reports circulating in the media that Carnival Cruise lines have dropped the Cayman Islands from its Western Caribbean itinerary. In fact, the Ministry continues to work collaboratively with cruise line partners and are adhering to established medical protocols with respect to the docking of cruise ships and landing of cruise ship passengers.

By saying there is no truth to our reports, where most of us quoted verbatim from an official Carnival letter to its passengers, is seriously suggesting we were publishing ‘fake’ news.

In fact the Government Ministry does not mention anywhere, nor relate to the Carnival letter that states very clearly that it is “implementing some itinerary changes to voyages scheduled to call on Grand Cayman and Jamaica this week.”

It goes on to say “we want to avoid any possibility of a visibility of a visit to a destination where there is uncertainty or risk being turned away”.

That is clear reference to the Cayman Islands, along with Jamaica, last week blocking the MSC Meraviglia from docking when the ship called on Ocho Rios, Jamaica and later when the ship was scheduled to call on George Town, Grand Cayman, due to concerns with the coronavirus after a crew member apparently had influenza.

The Ministry Release spends all it time on referencing the actions being taken by the Ministry in regards to the coronavirus with all the gobblegook that goes with every public servant statement.

Instead of informing us when or if the Carnival ships are going to return we even get instructions on how important it is to “take responsibility for our own well-being by following the general infection control measures,”

Then we get the official Ministry of Health guidelines that we have already published on our media websites.

I suppose it pads out the release that actually contains absolutely nothing new except to inform everyone that what we published was untrue without explaining where it was false and why it is untrue.

I have been part of the media here in the Cayman Islands for nearly thirty years and this is the first time I have been told we have published anything that is not the truth when quoting from an official source!

And that Minister is a FACT!!

Please see our referring stories at:

Grand Cayman remains on Carnival Cruise Line itinerary

And at:

Carnival Cruise Line, not Jamaica or the Cayman Islands, cancels cruises to those islands

re: “Grand Cayman remains on Carnival Cruise Line itinerary” and “Carnival Cruise Line, not Jamaica or the Cayman Islands, cancels cruises to those islands”

Also my Editorial yesterday “The Editor speaks: If there was any doubt that Cayman may be dealing with the Devil soon, read on… at: https://www.ieyenews.com/the-editor-speaks-if-there-was-any-doubt-that-cayman-may-be-dealing-with-the-devil-soon-read-on/