The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the wait for news from officials of the Bahamas Celebration as to when the damaged cruise ship will resume sailings goes on, businesses in Grand Bahama are experiencing difficulties as a result of the month-long void in service to the island.

The Tribune has learned that cruise officials are expected to say something about the ship and their plans in the next two days, over a month since the liner was put out of commission after hitting an object in the water and being holed on October 31 as she left the port in Freeport.

There has been a significant economic impact on tour operators, straw vendors, the hotels and casino.

Tour operator Hadley Forbes, of H Forbes Charter, said the absence of the service by Celebration has significantly affected his business, as well as others on the island. “They used to bring 1,000 persons and more to stay in the hotels per month. Now that it is no longer there it is a great impact on the entire island, and persons can’t wait for it to come back on stream,” he said.

Mr Forbes provides pre-arranged transportation for cruise ship passengers. Due to the lack of business, he has had to rotate his workers on three and four days and lay off ten “luggage boys”.

Bahamas Celebration provided service between Palm Beach and Grand Bahama and it is believed that the ship accounted for about 30 per cent of overnight arrivals to the island.

Betty Bethel, general manager for tourism in Grand Bahama - who has said the cruise service is vital to tourism in Freeport - could not be reached for comment yesterday concerning an update on the ship or when they expect services might resume again.

Many of the cruise passengers from the Celebration stayed at several resort properties, including the Grand Lucayan Resort, Island Seas Resort, Taino Beach Resort and the Viva Club Fortuna Resort.

It is also believed that the Treasure Bay Casino in Lucaya may be experiencing a significant decline in business.

Straw vendors at Port Lucaya Marketplace said business has been very slow since the Celebration has been out of service. One vendor went as far as describing the situation in Port Lucaya as “a ghost town”.

Straw vendor Edith Missick said business is “terrible”. “We really looked forward to the Celebration coming here every other day because at least we made some money,” she said. “But now that the boat is out of service, you don’t see no one. You have some people in the hotel, but it still isn’t as good as when the Bahamas Celebration was here.”

She hopes that the ship would be operating again in time for Christmas. “It is very rough and hard, right now - some days we come out here we don’t even make a dollar,” she said.

Vendor Simeon Brown said this time of the year is usually slow. “I can’t say that it is because of the absence of Celebration,” he said, adding passengers from other ships were still coming but are not spending much.

“Grand Bahama is the last port of call and the folks that are coming in now have already spent all their money at other destinations on the cruise so when they reach here they do not have anything left. I believe business will get better, but we have to stick it out right now until things change.

“When Celebration was coming, sure, we were getting a little more persons and business. But to say things are bad because the Celebration is not here, we can’t blame it all on Celebration. This is just a slow period,” Mr Brown said.

Mizpah Anderson, a straw vendor of 21 years at Port Lucaya, said business has been very slow after the Celebration. “We have no one passing through the straw market, we need another ship to replace it. We need government and the GB Port Authority to bring in more cruise lines and airlifts to the island so businesses can survive,” she said.

Ms Anderson expects business to pick up for Christmas when several of the bigger cruise ships are scheduled to come into port. “We hope Celebration can resume their service, but we are looking forward and expect business to pick up during the week of Christmas,” she said.

Carnival Fantasy, The Sensation, Fascination, Norwegian, The Magic and the Liberty are expected to call at Freeport Harbour between December 22 and 28.

Vendor Crystal said they depended on Celebration. “It is impacting us big time out here. Port Lucaya is like a ghost town,” she said. “We had hoped the ship would be back by Thanksgiving. They said the Celebration should have been back by that time, it didn’t. Now they say Christmas and now they are saying January. So we are looking forward to January to see what happens then,” she said.

Wood carver Gordon Higgs said business has worsened since October when the Celebration went out of service. “A lot of shops are going out of business and someone from the government needs to intervene,” he said. “I have been out here over 12 years and this is supposed to be Christmas season and this is the worst week for everybody who has a business out here. This is one of the worst I have seen in years,” he said.

Some merchants and store owners at Port Lucaya are also feeling the pinch. A business owner, who did not want to named, said that they have seen a significant drop in sales since Celebration has been out of commission.