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


RCmommy
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Sounds like the Bahamas Tourism Minister isn't doing his job. It isn't a cruise line's job to sell Bahamas tourism, it's his. He needs to figure out a way to make The Bahamas more appealing to cruise passengers to compete, especially as new ports are opening in the Caribbean. Lots of cruise passengers on this board say they don't even get off the ship in Nassau anymore because it is the same-old same-old. Ditto for Freeport. Freeport has remained an unattractive industrial port for years, and I haven't noticed that they've invested anything in that port to make cruise passengers want to get off the ship there.

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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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Sounds like the Bahamas Tourism Minister isn't doing his job. It isn't a cruise line's job to sell Bahamas tourism, it's his. He needs to figure out a way to make The Bahamas more appealing to cruise passengers to compete, especially as new ports are opening in the Caribbean. Lots of cruise passengers on this board say they don't even get off the ship in Nassau anymore because it is the same-old same-old. Ditto for Freeport. Freeport has remained an unattractive industrial port for years, and I haven't noticed that they've invested anything in that port to make cruise passengers want to get off the ship there.

 

Nassau is one of the most visited cruise ports in the world and they are frequented by the world's largest cruise ships. Despite this fact, it always baffles me how crappy the terminal building looks. Where the heck are all those port fees going? And yes, the Freeport port sucks. The only thing I've found nice about the Bahamas is the private islands.

 

The Tourism Minister needs to take a good, hard look in the mirror.

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Whether he says it outright or not his main concern is how the cruise lines are trying to control the excursion business through making exclusive deals and posing other conditions and considerations that positively affect the cruise line and negatively affect the ability of Bahamians to make a good bit of money off of cruise passengers. It is becoming a bigger deal because the cruise lines are getting wise to how they can benefit from discouraging passengers making private arrangements.

 

This message may have been entered via voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

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Been to Cozumel many times . I feel welcomed in Coz, I don't feel scared, the local vendors smile politely if you say "no". Cab ride prices are posted and no surprises. There are lots of excursions offered locally and by the line.

 

GC is the same way. The minister needs to visit these ports and take notes.

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been going to BAH for 30 years and for 25 on cruise ships. Unless something burns down what has the BAH done to attract visitors. It's a dump there and everyone knows it. If I were to run crusie lines I would demand they either clean their act up or we stop coming. The "its the islands mom" stoped working 15 years ago. Off island shopping-- comon man how many coconut carvings can you collect as take home gifts? The guys a moroon.

 

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Went to Nassau on our honeymoon cruise 25 years ago. 20 cruises later and we haven't been back. Besides seeing Atlantis we really don't have any desire to return.

 

 

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We are currently booked on the Fascination in March. Flights are killing my planning right now.

 

The Pride out of Baltimore is an option. Nassau I could stomach because I could take the family to Atlantis, but the other ports for our date is Port Canaveral and Freeport. For the four of us it will still cost near $3000 for our usual cabin choice.

 

Need a better option. We have never been to Bahamas but I don't think I care to anymore. I also feel the stop at Port Can. Is a bit of an odd choice.

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I also feel the stop at Port Can. Is a bit of an odd choice.

 

Agreed. There's not much to do directly near Port Canaveral. Cocoa Beach is close, with some good beach areas, restaurants, shopping, etc., but I'd much rather do the same in a more tropical locale.

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Forgot about that. I have literally 0 interest in space/that kind of thing, but others obviously may :)
Some cruise lines also run excursions to the Central Florida theme parks from Port Canaveral. They may also offer an airboat tour of the Everglades; I think that's an experience that you cannot get anywhere else.
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All this guy needs to do is arrive on a ship and walk off as a regular passenger. He wouldn't have anything else to wonder about why people don't spend money there.

 

THIS.

 

Once he experienced all the hassling, all the overzealous "local salespeople," etc., he'd know.

 

Or maybe he'd just disregard it and say "but it's the islands, mon!" :rolleyes:

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