The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau Cruise Port’s top executive yesterday said the loss of three vessel calls on Friday due to bad weather is “not material” with the original full-year 4.2m passenger arrivals target already beaten.

Michael Maura, the Prince George Wharf operator’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that its record arrivals projection for 2023 has been exceeded with half of December still remaining and a total 65 cruise ships expected to visit between today and year’s end.

Revealing that total cruise passenger arrivals to Nassau stood at 4.17m for 2023 year-to-date as of last Wednesday, he said the five ships that arrived on Saturday followed by yesterday’s six will have combined with last week’s - albeit reduced - calls to take the port beyond its full-year forecast.

“Friday was a nasty day weather wise and we lost three vessel calls then,” Mr Maura told this newspaper. “Did it have an impact? Yes, it did. Was it material? I would say no, not in the grand scheme of things. We’re still going to do very, very well.”

While Nassau maybe lost the spending impact of between 9,000-10,000 passengers after those three ships were diverted, he added that their loss will have no impact on Nassau Cruise Port’s ability to meet its targets this year.

“Through Wednesday of last week we had already done 4.17m passengers,” Mr Maura told Tribune Business. “We still have half of December in front of us. Today [Sunday] we have six ships, and on Saturday we had five ships. We’re well past the 4.2m. The only day we would have lost ships was on Friday.

“Tomorrow [today] has always been a slow day for us; we only have one ship. On Tuesday we will have six ships again, and on Wednesday we will have six ships again. We have 65 additional vessel calls through December between today and December 31. We have 65 more calls, and we have already passed the 4.2m target.

“The Bahamas continues to be blessed with geography, proximity to the three busiest home ports in the US - Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades - and the investment that’s been made in Nassau with the addition of the sixth pier has directly contributed, if not the reason, for this very substantial increase in cruise passenger visitors to Nassau,” the cruise port chief added.

“We would not have hit those numbers without the investment in the sixth pier. On top of that, the investment in the downtown Nassau waterfront has caused more interest in the cruise lines calling on Nassau. The combination of marine infrastructure and downtown waterfront development has resulted in a record year for Nassau.”

Mr Maura previously revealed that Nassau Cruise Port expects total passenger arrivals to grow by 27 percent in 2024 to strike a new record of 5.6m for the year. He also asserted that the port will hit 2019’s pre-COVID numbers “right out of the park”, with 2023’s arrivals revised upwards from the original 4.2m to 4.4m.

“We had a very material milestone back on November 24, where we would have surpassed 3.86m passengers. We’d actually done 3.87m on that day or as of that day,” Mr Maura said.

“We forecast that by the end of the year which you know, here we are, today is December 4, for the few weeks left in December we expect to finish the year close to 4.4m passengers, so we’re going to knock 2019 right out of the park.”

He added that Nassau Cruise Port is projecting over 5.6m arrivals next year as the facility’s $322m transformation has enabled it to accommodate more of the world’s largest cruise ships at any one time, thereby enabling it to drive increased passenger traffic.

“Our volumes forecast confirmed for 2024 put us well past 5.6m passengers for next year. So the investments that were made along our waterfront, the additional infrastructure, which has made this achievable, along with the very strong branding support, led by the Ministry of Tourism, has helped people get on ships and have their ships come to The Bahamas and visit Nassau specifically,” Mr Maura said.