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:

And at:

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/