New booking policy for Clearly Cayman Beach Resorts

[KathyV]

Man that is just terrible news if they stick with that plan. I have pretty much sworn off United entirely, and have been very excited to be able to fly Southwest to the Caymans. Now if this plan goes through, I can't fly southwest to MIA, and the only non-stop I can get from Houston to MIA in the morning is on United. So if I want to dive with LCBR, now I am supposed to pay extra to fly an airline that I hate, to get to an airport that I hate, so that I can get on another plane with an airline that will charge me baggage fees (Southwest won't) to go to another airport where I will have to change planes (and wait) to get me to LC? No thanks. That whole plan just shows a complete lack of awareness about what it takes to get to LC.

I am just picturing what that is going to look like, even if only half the people at the resort took the Miami to Brac to LC routing, lets say it is 60 people accounting for the new rooms to be built and the condos. That means a total of 5 twin otter flights to and from the Brac to get everybody over to LC. Assume 1 hour to fly to load the plane, fly to LC, unload, reload, turn around and fly back to Brac. That means some poor souls will have to travel through the Miami airport and then sit for a 4+ hour layover in Brac. I guess you could shorten that if you had both otters doing nothing but Brac runs, but then you can't have anybody flying in through GC unless they all come to the Brac also. That would mean 100+ people all getting to Brac after noon, and trying to get them all to LC before sunset. At the same time, you will have 100+ people being ferried over to Brac every Saturday morning and then having to wait around for their flight to GC or Miami. Just can't see that as workable in my mind.

Did your contact at Clearly Cayman give any indication about what exactly makes them think forcing people to fly through Miami on a Saturday is going to generate a lot more repeat business than they currently get? This whole thing just seems like they are trying to fix something that isn't broken. They get so much repeat business and seemed to generally stay well booked, I can't really understand the interest in making such sweeping changes without trying to spend more time explaining them better. I guess we will book one last trip this fall and then go find someplace else to go in the future until I see how this works out or management there comes to their senses...

I'm guessing that you could probably still fly direct to GC and then get a flight over to Brac and Little. After all, the locals fly back and forth between GC and the Sister Islands regularly and it is unlikely that they would cut off their access; and not everyone traveling to the sister islands will be staying at a Clearly Cayman resort. So maybe there will just be fewer flights between GCM and CYB and more flights between CYB and LCM.

 

[KathyV]

Well, this is interesting! Apparently they are kicking off the new booking policy with some holiday packages that will run between mid-Nov to mid-January. I received this promo in an email and the ad says "Saturday night arrivals with 7-night stays required", see link below.

Their specials often require a 7-night stay but the Saturday night arrival is new. What surprised me is that Cobalt Coast is included in the advertisement because people won't be flying to Brac on their way to stay at CCGCR.

https://www.clearlycayman.com/FreeHolidayHome/

 

[scubadada]

Well, this is interesting! Apparently they are kicking off the new booking policy with some holiday packages that will run between mid-Nov to mid-January and the ad says "Saturday night arrivals with 7-night stays required". Their specials often require a 7-night stay but the Saturday night arrival is new; but what surprises me is that Cobalt Coast is included in the advertisement because people won't be flying to Brac on their way to stay at CCGCR.

https://www.clearlycayman.com/FreeHolidayHome/

Not such a great holiday package either. For $300 more for the Classic package, you get 5 afternoon dives, trip to Brac from Little or to Little from Brac, and 21 drinks. Who are they trying to kid with all this stuff? I've been to GC many times, Little twice and Brac once, I'm actually in no hurry to return, as much as I like it.

 

[Damselfish]

Someplace in this thread it was reported they said most people traveled Saturdays anyway. If that is true I don’t see the need to force everyone to travel Saturdays. But wait there’s more - they expect people to fly through Miami, and then for many change to a different airline (Cayman) with the disadvantages that adds? I guess that twist would make the Saturday thing sort of work - for them. We’ll be at LCBR this summer, and looks like that may the last time if this is the way it goes.

Again, there are flights every day. If most people are already traveling Saturdays, perhaps they should be figuring out a way to ENCOURAGE travel on OTHER days.

 

[KathyV]

Someplace in this thread it was reported they said most people traveled Saturdays anyway. If that is true I don’t see the need to force everyone to travel Saturdays. But wait there’s more - they expect people to fly through Miami, and then for many change to a different airline (Cayman) with the disadvantages that adds? I guess that twist would make the Saturday thing sort of work - for them. We’ll be at LCBR this summer, and looks like that may the last time if this is the way it goes.

Again, there are flights every day. If most people are already traveling Saturdays, perhaps they should be figuring out a way to ENCOURAGE travel on OTHER days.

Well, you would have to get on at least one Cayman Air flight eventually, either in MIA or GCM in order to get to the Sister Islands.

 

[caydiver]

There is many positive thoughts on having the In Transit window back at Immigration. Also while the “package deal” is on meant to stir up business —there are many who can take advantage of Sat to Sat packages, it is not the only choice. There are some misconceptions about what has been copy and pasted but savvy travelers can figure that out. I have done GCM to JFK at least 3x every past two months for the last year. I usually travel mid week unless I need to be home. I have booked several trips at $188CI single way. Have not be in a position to book RT. On almost a trip by trip basis the improvements at the airport are huge. The lines are pretty much gone even through the Kaaboo insanity. On the dive front some well known businesses become part of a big group you see the “offers” come out there. Two things happen — you can still get good deals with them aside from the come on but on the flip side they lose some of the personalized service could once offer. From a business stand point this might be good, from a reputational standpoint it could be a game changer. But there is a happy middle ground that gives both the op and the customers a happy place. Hope people read between the lines. There are many destinations in almost every country in the world with regional airlines that you need to fly a domestic carrier to get to. Our country is not different. Although you certainly have the choice of a super easy helicopter trip to get to any of our airports.

 

[AggieDiver]

I'm guessing that you could probably still fly direct to GC and then get a flight over to Brac and Little. After all, the locals fly back and forth between GC and the Sister Islands regularly and it is unlikely that they would cut off their access; and not everyone traveling to the sister islands will be staying at a Clearly Cayman resorts. So maybe there will just be fewer flights between GCM and CYB and more flights between CYB and LCM.

I think Southwest is only running the direct flights from Houston to GCM in the spring, while we prefer to go in the late summer or fall. So our only non-stop would be with United, which puts us in at roughly 4pm to GCM, and is always a bit dicey on making the connection to LC. Our last trip to GCM on United, they lost one of our bags on that non-stop flight (which takes talent by itself) but then their crack Indian and Ukrainian Customer service teams could tell me nothing useful about where my bag was or when they would get it to me for three days. They were quite adamant though that their driver would be bringing the bag to me at the Little Cayman Beach Resort in Georgetown, Grand Cayman as soon as it got to the airport. Nothing I told them could convince them to change anything in their system about where I was or how the bag needed to get to me. So I just told them I hoped their “driver” was driving a submarine.

Here is the thing though...for me, 2 connections is the max I really want to put up with, and I only want to pay for my baggage once. So flying Southwest fhrough FLL to GC, then Cayman to LC works. SW won’t charge me bag fees, and the charges for GC to LC only apply to what is over the limit. Making me fly United to MIA in order to make a connection to a Cayman Air flight means I have to pay fees on United, then fees again on Cayman. When you are bringing dive and photo gear, that can add up to several hundred dollars over the base fare by the time you pay two sets of fees for two people both coming and going. If I lived somewhere that Cayman Airways flew from, I would probably feel differently, but right now this is really bumming me out, because I really love going to LC and LCBR. I understand that the airport is nearly finished, but I also understand that nothing they have done really changes the biggest problem, which is the 15-20 flights all coming and going within a 3-4 hour midday window on Saturday. I have plenty of options to fly alternate days, but LCBR seems to be closing the door on that option now. Maybe it is time to give Southern Cross Club a try after all these years. I’d rather pay more to the resort than give the money to United for baggage fees for the privilege to fly through Miami.

 

[caydiver]

There is that old saying that when one door closes another one opens. Sadly if they were making plenty of money they probably wouldn’t make changes. Obviously diving on The Sister Islands is not what it once was. The chamber there closed after all these years for the lack of qualified people to run it. That alone shows how the industry has changed.

 

[Damselfish]

Well, you would have to get on at least one Cayman Air flight eventually, either in MIA or GCM in order to get to the Sister Islands.

I have nothing against Cayman Air. But grabbing a quick inter-island flight as the last leg of the trip, where there is no choice anyway, is very different than using them for the rest of the trip. We can’t fly them from our home airport. And given the amount of status and miles my husband has on another airline, it’s unlikely we would want to. We can go free if we want, we’ll usually get upgraded, and get treated very well even if not. It doesn’t suck. And of course he wants the miles and segments to maintain that status. (I know thats not everyones situation, but its mine.)

Changing airlines in Miami gives that much more chance of luggage woes, and mixing airlines tends to result in higher prices.

 

[caydiver]

Believe me we know. When I lived in NY I had a choice of three airports and could pretty much fly directly to most of our regular destinations. Husband is a Brit so there have been lots of family related trips across the pond in addition to the business ones. Now we usually have to fly to The States, stay in a hotel overnight and leave the next day if the BA flight from here doesn’t work. A couple years ago when we didn’t have an overnight to spare we flew from here to MIA to Bogota and then to U.K. Luckily we made it in time. We made the choice to live here so we have to deal with associated issues. Same thing when choosing your holiday destination, you need to deal with the issues and the airlines are not making it easier but are collecting revenue for all the bags etc!