Long queues at Lynden Pindling International Airport.
By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Bahamas must “go back to the drawing board” on the departure experience for Royal Caribbean’s home porting passengers after many were forced to wait two hours or longer to check-in with Bahamasair.
Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar told Tribune Business yesterday that this was “one glitch” in an otherwise “seamless” inaugural home porting experience that requires rapid review to ensure it does not occur again.
He suggested that Bahamasair “probably under-estimated” how many disembarked Royal Caribbean passengers would arrive at Lynden Pindling International Airport after their seven-day voyage on Adventure of the Seas ended on Saturday, which resulted in check-in hold-ups and flights departing one after for Florida.
“I think the home porting experience went very well,” the minister told this newspaper. “There was one glitch on the outbound. I think Bahamasair probably under-estimated the time to check those people in and their bags.
“That will be the first debrief. People taking two hours to check-in. We have to go back to the drawing board and see how to make that work. Bahamasair management were challenged to deal with that. They didn’t envision or think through this last component of home porting. They pitched up at Bahamasair all at once.”
However, Mr D’Aguilar said all other aspects of the airport departure experience seemed to function well. Despite having voiced concerns just a week earlier that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had left LPIA’s pre-clearance facility under-staffed, the Biden administration had “stepped up to the plate and addressed that” in time for Royal Caribbean’s first home port sailing.
“Airport security processed them at speed allowing them to proceed to CBP. The airport worked very well apart from check-in at Bahamasair. We have to look at that,” he added, disclosing that LPIA had also developed a “cultural garden” where passengers could relax before boarding their flight.
Still, conscious that Bahamasair check-in could have impacted the passengers’ final experience of The Bahamas, Mr D’Aguilar said: “We have to keep on our game to review and make the process as seamless as possible. When dealing with as many cruise passengers as a ship disembarks at once, you have to keep on your game.
“Overall I’ve been very pleased with the whole experience. I understand Bay Street had a little buzz going on and that the British Colonial Hilton was very busy. Home porting has been a shot in the arm. When they arrive in the country they have to get transported to the ship, a lot of them stay in the hotel overnight.
“They may go to a restaurant, retail store, go to a bar or gamble in a casino. Then they have to get transported to the ship in the morning. I understand a number of them went on excursions. The economic impact of this has been tremendous, and a lot of people are happy that while we wait for the return of cruises from south Florida this is a good shot in the arm.”
However, a posting on the “Royal Caribbean blog”, which is described as an online source covering the cruise line and its various experiences, said they were debating whether to return to Freeport as there was little to do when Adventure of the Seas called on Friday.
“Would I go back? I am debating that right now for our next sailing. It sounds like a lot of other cruisers did not enjoy their tours, so we may just stay onboard ship next time,” wrote the author, Matt Hochberg.
In response, Mr D’Aguilar said: “We obviously need to review that and see what’s happening there, and why they came to that conclusion.”
Russell Benford, Royal Caribbean’s vice-president of government relations for the Americas, said after the ship arrived in Freeport that the cruise line is close to finalising the agreement with the government for the redevelopment of Freeport Harbour and the Grand Lucayan.
He added that the cruise line plans to develop five new berths to accommodate the largest cruise ships in the world, which will result in 250 additional annual ship visits to Grand Bahama and more than 1.5 million cruise passengers annually.
“What this represents for the Bahamas over the next quarter of a century is projected to be a $12b increase in Gross Domestic Product,” Mr Benford said.
Comments
dwanderer 2 years, 10 months ago
Please go on Facebook and read the comments of many of these passengers on the June 12th sailing. They were not impressed with Grand Bahama and totally trashed Bahamasair. Also, many who have booked upcoming cruises are reading these firsthand reviews and vowing to remain on the ship in Freeport and not fly Bahamasair. The cruise ships may be coming but it doesn't necessarily mean that money is being spent throughout the economy.
vickynair 2 years, 10 months ago
Would be glad if you can provide the Facebook site links with all these complaints so that the authorities concerned can rectify and improve moving forward.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 10 months ago
too late. what would they have said about GB? Dead with nothing to do? How do you fix that "now"? Bahamians need to stop acting as if what we say trumps reality, once is enough and junkanoo is not the greatest show on earth. It could be if we accepted somethings wrong. but we won't. only "one glitch" spoiled the experience everything else was perfect.
newcitizen 2 years, 10 months ago
I wouldn't fly Bahamasair either. 2 hours wait for a Bahamasair flight is nothing, you're lucky if the plane leaves within 2 hours of it's scheduled departure. See how long it takes to get through the check in line on a Bahamasair flight in Miami.
But really, they are blaming the problem on not realizing how many people would get off the cruise ship to return to the US? The number of people on the ship is a widely available number, how did they not know? Did they think they were going to head back to the US by some other means of transport?
Just typical of the slackness, no thought, no care, no worry attitude of this country.
tribanon 2 years, 10 months ago
Perhaps Minnis and D'Aguilar should be asked by Neil Hartnell whether Bahamasair is now being used to subsidize the airlift costs of Royal Caribbean's new home ported cruise passengers. By now Russell Benford of Royal Caribbean has no doubt figured out that Minnis and D'Aguilar are very much two fools alike.
KapunkleUp 2 years, 10 months ago
I don't think "Neil Hartnell" is an actual person. I would bet it's just a pen name they use for a bunch of people.
Proguing 2 years, 10 months ago
"He suggested that Bahamasair “probably under-estimated” how many disembarked Royal Caribbean passengers would arrive at Lynden Pindling International Airport". How is it possible for Bahamasair not to know how many passengers will be flying on any given day?
newcitizen 2 years, 10 months ago
Never thought to add up how many tickets they had sold. It's beyond stupid to either actually under-estimate, or use that as an excuse. Sorry, our excuse is that we are too stupid to run basic business operations.
ohdrap4 2 years, 10 months ago
The homeporting will not last long.
Once the cruise lines finish suing the cdc and then open Florida port.
tribanon 2 years, 10 months ago
Ron DeSantis made a terrible mistake in using Florida taxpayer dollars to sue the CDC on behalf of the cruise ship industry without first obtaining a commitment from the cruise ship operators that they would not be requiring vaccination passports for their passengers.
Most US citizens are absolutely livid about the idea of vaccination passports being used as a yet another politically motivated tool to divide people through the seriously misguided use of agenda politics.
M0J0 2 years, 10 months ago
lol no thought no planning, and as always the gov. caught with their pants down all dangling and they are still trying to say their pants was not caught down. Lol it just never ends.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 10 months ago
"that this was “one glitch” in an otherwise “seamless"
sigh... this why we never prepared. we always willing to brush off 1 glitch... like oh the system design to handle a resurgence in tourism was overwhelmed by 5000 transactions or who knew alphabets were so hard or who said you had to do a migration test then check to make sure all the vaccination records were transferred?
These one glitches are killing us
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 10 months ago
"think Bahamasair probably under-estimated the time to check those people in and their bags.
Seriously??? the same bahamasair who been checking in people for decades?
ohdrap4 2 years, 10 months ago
One time I was checked in an overbooked flight in Marsh Harbour.
It was easter monday April 6, I think. There was a group of people carrying on. Their ticket was June 4, ie 6/4 as opposed to 4/6.
They were a group of corporate people from a company and needed to return that day.
Don't know how that was solved.
TalRussell 2 years, 10 months ago
Looks more be a scene snapped right out of the Miami International Airport?
Such a big assembly of a closely-shoved together crowd in a country where but few its PopoulacesGeneral have been vaccinated with a single dose.
The numbers grew even scarier lookin' at the total number the those amongst **the fully vaccinated. In what manner should even colonial government allows such an unhealthy thing.
This image is so all wrong. Luckily for the House-elected 39 red MPs that they aren't facing living under the harsh laws of the old testament, yes?
tribanon 2 years, 10 months ago
Make no mistake about it, Dumb Tommy T and even Dumber D'Aguilar calling all the shots at Bahamasair is a most dangerous situation for all of us taxpayers and our small nation's out-of-control national debt.
Bahamasair's daily operating losses have now reached a staggeringly record high level thanks in great part to the gross incompetence of Tommy T and D'Aguilar.
SP 2 years, 10 months ago
It took an unimaginable amount of incompetence on multiple levels to fuch up this badly!!!
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