The Post Office is an absolute joke. First of all don't subscribe to any periodical such as National Geographic or international newspaper because you will not see many arrive. I know for a fact that a personal subscription to a periodical stopped arriving after the first issue. Company traced delivery of my periodical every motnh to Nassau Post Office and there it disappeared. Don't even talk about letters, you may as well swim and hand deliver them.

If 75% of ALL of our tourists are cruise-ship tourists.......... why is it that they all go to Nassau, Freeport or private company cays?????? ......... Why is it that they do not let the tourists go to every Family Island??????? ........... Can you imagine what two cruise ships stopping off to every Family Island every week will do for the local island economies????? ........... Tenders and ferries take cruise tourists ashore throughout ALL of the Pacific Islands .......... Why cannot it be done in The Bahamas????? ............ Start with these small things that can help the other depressed islands (who have more attractions to offer than Nassau or Freeport)

Idea!!!!!!

I can tell you why, but you don't want to hear it.

It would be great if they did, but they do have good reasons.

Ashley4 .......... If you live outside of The Bahamas, but you know why Bahamian registered cruise ships cannot stop off at Exuma, Cat Island, Long Island, Inagua etc ......... feel free to let us know ............. IT'S THE PEOPLES' TIME

It's not that they cannot, they don't want to.

Thank you for a very good and to the point editorial.

I'd like to hear the reasons too. Please?

First anything I say is just my opinion and I don't want to offend anyone. Look at what the cruise lines are currently doing. They take the tourist to the private island, I think they are building or going to build a dock off shore. This keeps the tourists away from the local citizens. Why? Crime, Pushy sales tactics. I don't agree with this idea at all but a family coming in on holiday won't bring their children where they are being warned before they exited the ship to beware of the crime and to leave their valuables on board. Also most Americans want to go to established Resorts. I think it would be probably the best cruise I've ever taken to visit the out islands. Most Americans are looking for something else. I love the Bahamian culture and people, and when I visit I don't want to go to Paradise Island and stay in a gated Resort. That not what I do. Sunday morning I want to go over the hill to church. I want to eat in Bahamian Restaurants and get to know the people, but I don't think that's how most tourists think.

If one negative thing happens to a tourist, it hurts the cruise lines sales for a period of time. People forget, but it takes a while. They really don't think about the crime here at home or how many millions of people go without incident. People see only what they choose to see. It's just the way it is and probably won't change.

One last opinion of mine, good right. :) Cuba isn't a threat to Bahamas Tourism. I don't know any American's that have any desire to visit Cuba. We've been taught all of our live how bad Cuba's Communist Government is to their people. Our generation won't forget what all they have done, maybe in many, many years. They have and are changing our history books. The next generation won't have the knowledge that we do. I wouldn't worry about Cuba on the short term.

It' been about two years ago that I came into Grand Bahama and Nassau on a cruise ship. In Grand Bahama the taxi's and buses took the tourist only thru the nice parts of town. I only knew this because I know the Island pretty well. I talked to the driver about the good ole days and shared some awesome memories. The government knows what attracts the tourists. This isn't new information. When we got to Nassau the cruise ship warned the tourists to beware of the crime in the area. Some tourist didn't even get off the ship. After that most tourists when looking at cruises wouldn't choose a cruise coming to that location. Not meant to be hurtful it's part of what is happening. The cruise lines solution I guess is to go somewhere else. By the way their private island is a joke. It isn't even a nice beach. They have set up a small straw market, and they feed you. They bring it all over on a small boat. It's not a true Island experience.

I agree with the overall thrust of the editorial.
However, this idea of privatization as the panacea of all our ills needs to be put to rest.
A business is a business. The only thing privatization does is to raise prices. A group of qualified managers hired to do their job, whether for the public or private sector, can be effective. If we had politicians who could, for once, look out for the good of their country, instead of simply enriching themselves, we may get somewhere.
Look ar BTC. One of our very few cash cows. We privatized 49% of the profits, gave up our controlling interest, maintained the same management, for what?
Did anyone notice any better service once Cable and Wireless got a piece of the pie?
I didn't.
But, the deal was very profitable for those involved in the privatization.
Bonuses, stock options, all those at the top took their piece.
To me, these monies should have been plowed back into the capital requirements of modernizing and maintaining what is now an absolutely necessary service to the people and businesses of The Bahamas. Why was there a need to privatize if it was a profitable company that could help the country grow?
Why give up controlling interest?
How does this fit in with democracy?
It doesn't.
Likewise, good publicly owned companies can provide substantial revenue to drive further Bahamian development, for Bahamians, instead of lining the pockets of those who care only about the money, not us as a people.
Not to mention the increasing need for loans to finance infrastructure, public services and social services.
We have had it all wrong.
Look around the world.
Are these collapses of societies an accident?
I would maintain they are not.
Train our own people, encouraging our youth who have been educated abroad to come home. Promise them good jobs when they come home.
Own our own companies.
Keep our own national natural resources like aragonite in the public domain, etc.
Quit saying that privatization is the way to go.
It isn't. And, the results of this nonsense are all around us.
Start hanging some of our corrupt politicians who have to get a cut of everything and steal you and I blind.
Quit listening to these slick promoters of privatization like those at BTC.
We got screwed on that deal. What Mr. Williams, the CEO of BTC won't tell you is how he is making out like a bandit, while the average Bahamian can't scrape two nickels together. Just because someone says they are Bahamian and looking out for Bahamians, doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't looking out for themselves, first and foremost.
Privatization has not proven to be any more efficient at running a business than the public sector. They are just more greedy and it raises the costs for everyone so that a handful can get rich on the "deal". Yes, the "deal". Sound familiar?

HOPE AND CHANGE! President Obama's favorite line! Give the youth in the Islands Hope and Change and you'll see everything change!

Ashley14 ............. it is so funny reading your opinions on how we do cruise tourism on this side of the world .......... as compared to the Pacific ......... It cannot be a colour thing because the Polynesians are black ......... Maybe it is a Negro thing ............. Cruise ships are not our friends

sheeprunner12... you asked me what I thought. why take it to racism? that is not what I said at all. your 100% correct that cruise ships are not your friends. they have made it so cheap to travel that its hard to compete with and they are financially only worried about their pockets. I apologize if I offended you, that is not who I am.