Bahamas News

The return of Norwegian Cruise Lines to Grand Bahama will not only rejuvenate tourist arrival figures for the country, but also revive the stagnant Grand Bahamian economy, according to a senior Grand Bahama tourism official.

While the number of cruise ship visitor arrivals in New Providence has been less than admirable for the second quarter of 2007, Grand Bahama experienced a significant hike in cruise arrivals over the same period.

According to ministry of tourism statistics, Grand Bahama experienced a 55.3% increase in cruise visitor arrivals in July, but a single-figure dip in cruise arrivals in August.

Recently Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) announced a return to Grand Bahama beginning next month.

The company is planning to increase calls to The Bahamas by adding 32 cruises to its group of tours between 2007 and 2009.

Senior Director at the Ministry of Tourism on Grand Bahama, Jeritzan Edwards-Outten, who is responsible for Product Development, said bringing more cruise lines to Grand Bahama remains a top priority.

“We know the cruise ship business really impacts the lives of the straw vendors, the cab drivers and the shop clerks who are in that type of retail business,” she told the Bahama Journal.

Mrs. Outten said NCL representatives were recently in Grand Bahama doing a familiarization tour of the destination.

“[They were] extremely impressed with the amount of tours we have available and different sites of interest, and as a result they were able to go back and (add) it to their group of tours on island excursions,” she said.

Mrs. Outten said the ministry would be working very closely with the cruise line over the next year.

The majority of the calls to Grand Bahama – 28 to be exact – will be made by NCL’s newest ship, the Norwegian Gem, which has the ability to hold up to 2,400 passengers.

Mrs. Outten said the return of the cruise line solidifies the ministry’s efforts of bringing more tourists to the island.

“I think over the next year and the coming years we will definitely get our share of the cruise business,” she said.

Mrs. Outten said and one of the things the ministry is working quickly toward is the introduction of a new cruise board.

“That is something on the table that is actively being discussed, and hopefully in the very near future we’ll be able to tell you more about that,” she said.

NCL will expand the Norwegian Gem’s tours to include a seven-day sail with stops in both Grand Bahama and Nassau during the December 2007, February, March, April and December 2008.

The ship will sail the same itinerary from January through April in 2009.

Meamwhile, Mrs. Outten also commented on the recent “clarification” issued by Discovery Cruise Lines (DCL) – the company took umbrage with being characterized in the media as a “casino boat.”

DCL contended that this nomenclature is normally reserved for boats or ships that promote “nowhere” cruises where the principal activity is gambling and the vessel has no destination.

“To the contrary,” says Hanns J. Hahn, General Manager of Discovery, “the primary purpose of Discovery is transportation, and gambling is an incidental activity aboard Discovery. Discovery’s principal activities include three all-you-can-eat buffet meals on the roundtrip cruise, spacious sun decks and swimming pool, games, live entertainment, shows, a disco and much, much more.”

Discovery Cruise Line is the largest tour operator from South Florida to Grand Bahama Island having carried over 150,000 passengers last year and on-target to carry a similar number this year.

“It doesn’t matter really,” Mrs. Outten said of the media characterizations of the DCL.

She said DCL is “a huge, huge benefit to Grand Bahama Island,” and added that “while they are in here I’m sure they don’t have their casinos open. They follow the law.”

The tourism official said the cruise line does “double duty” for Grand Bahama – it brings in both stopovers (people who don’t want to fly) and day-trippers.

“If they could bring a house, they would bring it on that ship,” she said, noting that Bahamians use DCL frequently as a cargo ship.

Mrs. Outten added that DCL brought supplies to Grand Bahama during hurricanes when planes wouldn’t fly.

“They have played a wonderful role with us in terms of a corporate citizen – really the best.”

Source: Bahama Journal