"bahamas-tourism-minister-not-happy-with-cruise-industry"

Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought I very recently read that one Cruise Company had signed a deal with the Bahamas to construct another "island-experience" port.

Agree with many comments about Nassau and Freeport's tourist attractions. How many times does one wish to visit "The Queen's Staircase" or watch the flamingos.

But, I don't agree with the negative views of Freeport, at least in the port area. I was there in January after a long absence and was very satisfied with what I found where Carnival Liberty docked. A gazebo with live music, many food stands, many small shops, two nice bars and restaurants, and easy walking everywhere, including getting to where the transportation was located. All of the citizens with whom I had any contact were friendly and pleasant. If I did not want to buy something in a shop, a "No, thank you" was sufficient.

Give Freeport another chance during a future cruise to the Bahamas.

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Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought I very recently read that one Cruise Company had signed a deal with the Bahamas to construct another "island-experience" port.

Yes, that was Carnival, who have committed to building a new port on Grand Bahama Island.

But, I don't agree with the negative views of Freeport, at least in the port area. I was there in January after a long absence and was very satisfied with what I found where Carnival Liberty docked. A gazebo with live music, many food stands, many small shops, two nice bars and restaurants, and easy walking everywhere, including getting to where the transportation was located. All of the citizens with whom I had any contact were friendly and pleasant. If I did not want to buy something in a shop, a "No, thank you" was sufficient.

 

Give Freeport another chance during a future cruise to the Bahamas.

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Thanks for that insight regarding Freeport. Even hearing the salespeople were less aggressive than at Nassau makes me feel better about the place.

Make it safe and more desirable to go to first

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With some reformation, I think Nassau could revive itself, and reappeal itself to the cruisers. With an established port-sponsored taxi system with fixed rates, and some control on the number of venors that can hassle cruisers at the terminal and near it, the place would at least be a little more appealing when they first get off. With the development of some beach clubs that can be easily accessed, Nassau could fix one of its biggest problems: People who stay on the ship instead of getting off. Nassau alone likely gets close to 10,000 cruisers each week during high season that stay on the boat instead of getting off the ship. It's thos cruisers, ie the repeat cruisers that come to sites like these talking about how much they hate Nassau, that the Bahamian Tourism Industry needs to reach out to and who they need to appeal to. Because it is understable why many cruisers would rather stay and enjoy an empty ship in Nassau than get off the ship, or why many are staying away from cruises that stop there althogether.

I'm glad we've already visited the Bahamas and have no plans to go back via ship.

I do get what he's saying though. As far as the cruise line only dealing with certain vendors. Carnival no longer offers an excursion to Blue Lagoon Island and therefore you can't make your own reservations to Blue Lagoon if you're arriving on a carnival ship.

This is how we found out about it...

When Blue Lagoon wasn't offered for our cruise I went to Blue Lagoon's website and made reservations. It happened to be a Sunday night. The next day, others from our social media cruise group tried to make reservations and were denied because they checked that they were arriving by carnival. I had also put that we were arriving via Carnival. I called Blue Lagoon and the lady I spoke with told me she had no idea how my reservation went through, but they would honor it since it did. (Others were able to then make reservations by saying they were staying at a hotel.) I thought it was weird. Carnival no longer offers the excursion, so they don't want carnival cruisers there? Or is it an agreement between them and Carnival?

And the ferry did take us directly to the cruise dock instead of the regular ferry dock at the end of the day.

 

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There are three or four Blue Lagoon excursions offered on our upcoming Liberty cruise.