EDITOR, The Tribune.

We don’t get to see them very often, but the top executives of Royal Caribbean recently popped into town to rub shoulders with Bahamians, conduct media roadshows and hand out one-time cheques to charities, young entrepreneurs, and creatives to win their favour. It seems the growing opposition to the cruise line’s proposed Paradise Island project has gotten their attention, even prompting them to suggest they should’ve addressed critical environmental concerns earlier. The bigwigs bring with them some bad news and some good news.

On the negative side, they explained to us that Nassau is unappealing to their cruise ship customers. How bad is it? While in port, 20 percent of their passengers don’t even get off the ship. According to Royal Caribbean’s CEO Michael Bayley, who travelled all the way from Miami, Nassau is “in the bottom 10 percent of cruise destinations” in customer satisfaction. They want us to know that our Capital is “tired”, has “nothing new, fresh or innovative”, and “the streets are dirty”.

From the tone of the media interviews they participated in, you have to wonder why Nassau is still among Royal Caribbean’s destinations.

But there’s good news that all of us living in and around this unappealing city should be grateful for: our dollars and energy don’t have to be focused on addressing the deficiencies of our downtown, which no one disputes are very real. No, Royal Caribbean has a better idea. They’re assuring us that the answer to our problems is their proposed “curated” private beach project across the harbour from our dirty streets. That will make their cruise ship passengers happy.

You may find it illogical and a bit insulting that Royal Caribbean, having criticised our capital in the harshest terms, is proposing to improve things by taxiing a good portion of their passengers — 2,750-3,000 every day — away from our merchants, taxi drivers, restaurants and cultural attractions. While Royal Caribbean says they support efforts to spruce up downtown, they’ve made it clear that addressing the issues downtown is not their priority. They’re pragmatic business people, not street sweepers.

Thanks to the blunt talk of the Royal Caribbean executives, we can see that the priorities of the cruise line and Bahamians are growing further apart.

There are mutual benefits to our relationship for sure. Bringing tourists to our shores has historically been good business for The Bahamas and Royal Caribbean. But how does the balance of benefits shift when passengers don’t experience our authentic offerings, other than white sand, clear skies and blue water?

I guess you can’t blame Royal Caribbean for trying. Passengers board their ships with only so much discretionary cash. Surrendering even a small portion of those dollars to local businesses must be painful. How great would it be if the company could deliver passengers to beautiful ports while still controlling essentially all of the experiences and how passengers spend their money? That’s what the Royal Caribbean executives must mean when they refer to the private beach club format as a “win-win”.

Royal Caribbean wins financially when the passengers are on or off the boat. In describing CocoCay’s success, Royal Caribbean Group’s CEO recently told investors, “Land based experiences like Perfect Day at CocoCay will drive our profitability growth and strong cash flow generation.” So when Royal Caribbean executives said recently that they are not overly concerned about making huge profits from the proposed Paradise Island project, they simply weren’t telling us the truth.

In the case of Nassau, the lucky diverted passengers opting to go to the private beach club will be able to wave to our downtown merchants as they march in their beach attire from the cruise ship to an awaiting water taxi that will whisk them away from what Royal Caribbean has described as our tired city. Their remaining passengers, Royal Caribbean explains, will supposedly visit the downtown they’ve also told us none of their passengers want to go to, or opt to stay on the ship as we have been told before repeatedly.

The biggest obstacle to Royal Caribbean’s private beach scheme is finding nations willing to hand them this one-sided opportunity. The Bahamas seems to be Royal Caribbean’s primary target. Coco Cay, described by the company as “our exclusive private retreat” is the “first of its kind” example of this ambitious new exclusionary business venture. And news reports suggest that Rum Cay may be of interest to Royal Caribbean.

Will Nassau be next to fall? Will we allow Royal Caribbean to transform this land and natural coastline — referred to irreverently by Royal Caribbean executives as “derelict land” — into a proprietary day camp, party mecca in the heart of our Capital?

It defies logic to believe that keeping visitors away from authentic Bahamian experiences and the jewels of our Capital city will not have a profound negative economic and cultural impact. Yet, Royal Caribbean assures us their Paradise Island project will create a couple hundred jobs for people who live in and around our tired Capital. And those yet-to-be named Bahamian businesses, under Royal Caribbean’s direction and control, will benefit from managing its passengers’ waste and laundry.

Here’s the best part of the deal: Bahamians are going to provide the cash required to build this oasis. That’s right, according to Royal Caribbean, our yet-to-be created sovereign wealth fund and individual investors will have the “opportunity” to own a 49 percent interest in Royal Beach (that means Royal Caribbean, the majority owner, calls all the shots). So, not only will the project weaken our downtown tourism and businesses, but it will also use the hard-earned savings of Bahamians to do it. To that point, we look forward to learning about which Bahamians are lined up to invest, how others can participate, and what Bahamians should expect in dividends.

Young Bahamians should be especially concerned about the Royal Caribbean development and what it will mean for future business opportunities and economic growth in the heart of our Capital. In its Blueprint for Change, the PLP administration committed to partnering with young Bahamians to advance economic development in Tourism, and the Orange, Blue and Green economies. Where the commitment should be to look inward to ensure the prosperity of young people and future generations, the policy makers seem to be diverting focus, investment and visitors to Royal Caribbean’s private beach club.

Perhaps the most telling message for Bahamians from Royal Caribbean’s recent media stopover was this quote from Michael Bayley: “We want to improve the experience of our guests.” That’s Royal Caribbean’s priority, plain and simple. It is not Bahamians or The Bahamas. We must never forget that.

We’re too smart to let that happen — too smart to let them bypass our Downtown. I encourage all Bahamians, especially young people who are committed to controlling our own destiny and can see the vision of a robust public-private effort to address the deficiencies of Downtown Nassau to join the chorus of voices that question the true benefit of the Royal Caribbean project.

Mr Bayley is welcome to come to Nassau more often, and we would love to have his company’s participation. But in the meantime, Royal Caribbean can find some other beach in another nation to create a “curated” experience for their guests or be a real partner to the Bahamian people and invest in our city in a real way.

If the company really does have a commitment to The Bahamas, they can join us in creating something “new, fresh and innovative” Downtown. Just imagine what $110m invested in Downtown could do.

TAVARRIE SMITH

Youth advocate and lawyer

Downtown Nassau

April 30, 2023