The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

SOME Grand Bahama tour operators have lost business from Carnival Cruise Line after it removed roughly one-fifth of its shore excursion offerings at Celebration Cay following guest feedback, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president said yesterday.

Ralph Hepburn told Tribune Business the move underscores the need for Bahamian businesses to continuously improve their products to remain competitive. With the Celebration Cay destination now open for one year, Mr Hepburn reported visitor participation in off-site excursions as trending upwards but Carnival’s annual review process has also exposed weaknesses among some operators.

“In terms of when they initially started to where we are now, we would see more persons coming from Celebration Cay to the various tour offerings that were initially implemented. So yes, the numbers of persons leaving the cay has increased,” Mr Hepburn said.

However, he added that Carnival audited its excursion portfolio in late May and June and discontinued around 20 percent of tours available to its guests after customer feedback failed to meet expectations. “These were tours being offered by tour operators outside of the Cay,” Mr Hepburn said.

He explained that some operators were removed because of poor guest ratings and weak sales performance.

“Some of these persons lost the offerings because the ratings that the guests were giving them were not that good,” he said. “The volume of sales being generated by these tours were not that high in terms of meeting what Carnival was looking for in terms of being able to sell the number of tours across the board daily, weekly or however. So they had to discontinue it.” 

While some organised excursions have been cut, Mr Hepburn said taxi operators are benefiting from a growing number of visitors opting to explore Grand Bahama independently. “What we are now seeing as a trend is that a lot of persons are leaving the Cay by taxi,” he said. “So the taxi business has increased from Celebration Cay.” 

Mr Hepburn argued that the experience should serve as a wake-up call for Grand Bahama’s tourism sector as other major cruise investments, including MSC Cruises’ expansion and Royal Caribbean’s planned developments, continue to intensify regional competition.

“What we have to look at is we have to be very keenly aware of the offerings we’re providing to these ships and what we’re selling to their guests in terms of being able to compete internationally with the level of service, the standard of equipment, safety, maintenance and everything as it relates to providing a service to these guests,” he said.

The GB Chamber president added that Carnival benchmarks Bahamian excursions against experiences offered internationally, prompting businesses such as Pirate’s Cove to study competing destinations first-hand.

“We actually went down to Cancun, Mexico, to see a number of facilities that Carnival considers their number one tour destination in the Caribbean,” Mr Hepburn said.

“That’s what we did here at Pirate’s Cove to see what is it we can do to improve our offerings in terms of safety, standard, staffing, presentation, maintenance, the whole works in terms of what Carnival is looking for.”

He added that Carnival evaluates excursions annually, even when operators have longer-term contracts, meaning businesses cannot afford to become complacent.

“They do an audit every year of their tours,” Mr Hepburn said. “Your contract might be for two years, but they audit all their tours every year to see if you’re meeting their requirements, the number of quotas are being met, the standard, the safety, presentation, all those things are done. They’re looking for improvements. They’re looking for customer feedback.”

He also urged operators to encourage guests to leave reviews through Carnival’s own booking platform rather than relying solely on public review sites. “If it’s not on Carnival’s site or their hub where you book, they’re not going to pay attention to Google,” he added.

Meanwhile, one business operating inside Celebration Cay said visitor traffic has remained strong since the destination opened.

John Fox, owner of Seashore Treasures in the destination’s Artisan Market, said his business has recorded roughly a 20 percent increase in sales over the past year and has enjoyed steady customer volumes from the outset.

“From day one it was good,” Mr Fox said. “As time goes on, you improve some things, and you learn a little bit about the business and you could make it just a little bit better. It was very consistent from day one.”

Responding to claims from some businesses that customer traffic declined after the initial opening, Mr Fox said the destination continues to attract thousands of passengers daily.

“The people are like ants on the beach,” he said. “On average, every day there’s a minimum of 6,000-plus people there. Like today, it was over 11,000 people.” Mr Fox argued that success depends largely on businesses’ ability to market their products effectively.

“For somebody to say the people are staying on the ship, I don’t know if that’s accurate,” Mr Fox said. “I think what’s really happening is that just not everybody has the keys to procuring sales or attracting buyers for whatever products they are offering.”

Mr Fox also believes more passengers are beginning to realise that Celebration Cay offers access to attractions beyond the cruise destination itself. Despite strong sales, he identified labour shortages as one of his biggest operational challenges.

“Finding good, reliable employees is the challenge,” Mr Fox said. “We spend so much time trying to find the right people - hiring them, training them, and then they either leave or they don’t work out.” Managing inventory has also become increasingly demanding because of the pace of sales.

“It’s just very high turnover,” he said. “That’s a good problem to have… but you don’t get a break.”

Looking ahead, Mr Fox said businesses are preparing for another jump in visitor volumes once Celebration Cay’s expanded pier facilities become fully operational later this year. The second pier has already been completed and is expected to allow the destination to accommodate up to four ships simultaneously beginning in September.

“We’re looking forward and trying to prepare in advance, because that in itself will double the amount of people that may pass through the shop,” he said.