A newspaper in the Cayman Islands reports that Carnival is threatening to pull out of the Cayman Islands after a tender boat operator, Cayman Marine Services, made a tiny increase in the price for transporting passengers to and from cruise ships in George Town.

The newspaper states that Cayman Islands Marine Services operates 16 tenders in the George Town harbor and proposed an increase of 75 cents to take cruise passengers to and from port. The increase will take place in three phases over this year. On January 1st, the tender company increased the price by 25 cents. The next increases will be in June and then in October. 

The modest increase is the first increase in five years. The newspaper states that the increase reflects rising costs for labor, fuel, maintenance and materials. 

Carnival objects to the increase but is trying to keep its name out of the dispute. The Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), a Miami-based trade association for the cruise industry, is complaining of Carnival’s behalf. FCCA president Michele Paige (photo above with Carnival CEO Micky Arison) reportedly said that the cruise industry is “not happy” with the 25 cent increase and is threatening that the increase will somehow “drastically affect” the number of ships arriving in Grand Cayman.

Paige is quoted: "this is a business and we are here to make a profit. If you have a 3,000-passenger ship, that is an extra $2,500 – and that doesn’t include the crew. If there are 50 trips per year, that is $150,000, and that erodes profit.”

The proposed price increase seems rather modest to me, particularly since there has been no increase dating back to 2007 or 2008.  And let’s keep things in perspective. Carnival CEO Micky Arison paid himself a $90,000,000 bonuses last month. 

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