It is always "shall" and "will" and "plan" and "expect". Why not "do" something first for a change, and then you can boast about it.

Btw, Will Bahamasair fly them in and out? Then yes, ever passenger will need hotel stays.

Amen.

A friend of mine forwarded to me a link to the PLP's 2022 Election Manefesto. My comment to him was "I definitely will not be reading it. Every five years the PLP and FNM write magnificent manifestos. If they could execute one tenth of their visions the Bahamas would be a first world country".

Can't do it in Freeport, you don't have the same airline connections as with Nassau

Great, looking forward to the long lines at the airport...

BTW if cruise ships start using the Bahamas as "home port", this must be to avoid compliance with something in the US. Can the Tribune find out what it is?

That is what I am wondering. After all these years all of a sudden they want to use the Bahamas as home port? WHat gives?

Not saying is is not a good idea. It is a good very good idea, and would bring some added benefits. Just why now?

Thinking the exact same thing. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all that but seriously, what's the catch?!

Yep and can the Tribune also investigate if they will be buying their supplies and fuel at Nassau prices, or will they get them tax free? What will be the legal status of the employees etc?

Yes, they want to get around CDC guidelines and US consumer protection laws and the US justice system and they can pollute or waters without interference from the US. Not to mention they US taxes they would save.

Imagine how much more money the cruise ships will make. The Bahamas and our environment will be the major looses.

All workers coming in will be foreigners. More fees for the Bahamas government.

what's the catch. They're worried about an outbreak. Don't want to be too far from the mainland should one happen
The open question is what have we promised in reference to waste dumping, docking and handling of sick patients

These so called "home port" agreements are all about the cruise ship operators avoiding litigation in the U.S. from passengers who contract the COVID-19 virus or any other harmful viruses and microbes while on board their filthy monstrous ships that serve as incubators for all sorts of pathogens. For the passengers, the start of their cruise will be The Bahamas rather than the US which likely means they would likely have to file any legal action against the cruise ship operator in our dysfunctional court system. Avoiding litigation in the US would be a big win for the cruise ship operators/owners.

And you can bet these agreements will allow for the cruise ship operators to receive the bus transportation licenses they will need to carry their passengers between the airport, hotels and ports. Our taxi drivers will get nothing from the greedy cruise ship operators. And just think of the added traffic congestion between the airport and the port downtown along JFK/Thompson Boulevard and West Bay Street.

How many times does this knucklehead D'Aguilar have to be told that the cruise ship operators/owners are ***not*** good for the Bahamian economy as a whole. These home port arrangement and the cruise line schedule will be fixed in such a way that few passengers if any will need to overnight in a hotel and they will spend little time if any walking our downtown area.

Only the cruise ship operators/owners and the few very wealthy Bahamian families who have a significant interest in the port under an unholy public-private-partnership (PPP) deal will be the big winners. And no doubt the cruise ship operators will end up paying little more than they would have otherwise paid to our government under the current woefully low passenger head tax agreement because of the airport related tax concessions they will get.

Minnis and D'Aguilar are foolishly continuing to put all of our country's very fragile economic eggs in the cruise line industry basket. For decades now we have been pandering to the greedy interests of the cruise line industry and doing so has done nothing for the economic well-being of the vast majority of Bahamians. An economy based mainly on cruise ship passengers simply does not bode well for us and one only has to look at the unsustainable level of our national debt even before Dorian and COVID-19.

Clearly Dumbo Minnis and Simpleton D'Aguilar have not woken up to the fact that the operators/owners of these behemoth floating hotels are actually in competition with our country for the limited amount of money their passengers are willing to spend on a cruise vacation. Bottom line: Our corrupt politicians continue to 'sell out' our country to the ***lowest*** of the bidders for our sun, sand and sea.

**Enough with the redshirtys Dioniso James's backstories.**
Allow it sink-in that tourism as experienced before **is gone** forever.
It's goin' take 30 years to rebuild we colony of 1200 out islands, cays, and rocks.
Why is there so little to no media talk about how sightings of Elvis, are now being reported more frequently than are the colony's merchants' sightings of a US dollar in cash registers? ***
Why hasn't the Mr,. Minnis, not thought to appoint Comrades Michael and Dioniso James as his vaccines procurement man's? Yes?**

It will be a game-changer when the UBP oops! the FNM loses.

This country is truly finished, no matter what the subject all we ever do is criticize or shoot the messenger but are incapable of presenting a single original idea of our own. If it’s a PLP idea it’s bad, if it’s an FNM idea it’s bad. If it’s a white mans idea he trying to manipulate and enslave us again.⛓
If it makes sense it’s definitely a bad idea. The only original thinkers we have left to turn too are Tal and Tribinon, Bahamians will smell shit in a rose 🌹.

@themess, but isn't I'm smellin' the positive one. the Rose, **yes?**

Think of all that new trash for the local landfill every round trip. Garbage! USA running out of places to put it

@Bigrocks, do you remember back in June 2019, when the Mr. Dioniso James, **read the riot act** after the Miami-based Carnival Cruises had **pleaded guilty** to six probation violations, **including the dumping of plastic mixed with food waste in we colony's seas?** Some **forceful action taken by the Mr. Dioniso James,** since his 2019 reading of the riot act? Let it sink in, fined for **the illegal dumping into colony's waters of plastic mixed with food waste. yes?**

So one can assume that the damage to the seabed near the Berry Islands is all forgotten now...

These ships that will make the Bahamas their home base are Bahamas registered ships already The list of Bahamas-registered cruise ships includes some of the largest passenger ships in the world from the fleets of RCCL, NCL, and Carnival. "Flag State" is the ship's registration country under whose laws it is registered/licensed. Just like any marine vessel, a passenger ship operates under its flag state laws (also used if the ship is involved in an admiralty case). Flag states have the authority and responsibility for a ship, exercising control over the ships. They inspect the ships regularly, certify equipment and crew, issue safety and pollution-related documents, etc. If a passenger dies on the ship, if any accident with the ship, the Bahamian authority will have to do the investigation.

Oh, really! And who pays for all of this? Please, there's only so much laughter I can handle. LMAO

So then, if there is an outbreak of any sort on these ships in a post-Covid era, as a home port will the Bahamas then be responsible for evacuating all ailing passengers & crew, and quarantining those remaining? As a country, are we capable of dealing with an emergency of this magnitude? In all reality, the only reason these ships want to home port here now is to circumvent the current multiple CDC requirements due to Covid. It might seem like a good proposition until the unforeseen happens.

For **3 decades**the mountain of complaints generated by exiting vacationers was there not being enough for tourists to do in Nassau.

Before we double down on stupid with even more environmentally unfriendly cruise ships, and many thousands more complaining tourists, we need to figure out how to upgrade our product!

It would be suicide as a resort destination to bring in more tourists than we can adequately entertain. What is the plan to clean up Bay Street east of East Street to PI bridge & popular tourist stops like over the hill areas? What will be done about the notoriously disgusting well documented "F-" frontline jetski, hair braiders, souvenir hawkers, and hundreds of ignorant thieving taxi cab drivers?

People travel to experience different cultures. What is the plan to GREATLY improve nightlife, native shows, and overall cultural tourism experiences?

Just bringing in more tourists without providing the proper infrastructure to deal with them is a no-brainer sure recipe for failure, and the cruise industry will absolutely no problem throwing the Bahamas under the bus to make themselves look good!

The Bahamas could benefit tremendously from the basic concept of homeporting cruises. However, on the flip side, it could easily become a huge disaster if not managed properly.

I strongly suggest we tread slowly in this direction until we put things in place to deal with a massive inflow of tourists.

I really really hope they didn't bend over for this deal. These cruise lines want to get here as badly as we want to have tourists here. They want to test their outbreak risks and protocols as close to the US as possible. I hope we didnt tell them they could dump anywhere and doc anywhere or that we'd accept any costs or risks associated with sick patients