By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahama tourism operators are proposing that one of Carnival’s “smaller ships” call on Freeport Harbour twice a week to ease the up to 90 percent plunge in business since its $600m Celebration Key port opened.

David Wallace, one of the principals behind the Pirate's Cove Zipline and Water Park, yesterday told Tribune Business that tour and excursion providers have also suggested the cruise giant permit 400-600 passengers to spend at least half-a-day outside its recently-opened destination to ease their immediate financial pain.

Describing the near-term predicament of Bahamian-owned providers as something “we have to work through” with the Government and Carnival, he nevertheless described Grand Bahama’s longer-term prospects as “very optimistic” and even asserted that Celebration Key’s impact will be akin to “what Walt Disney did for Orlando”.

Mr Wallace told this newspaper that a November “saviour” for hard-pressed Grand Bahama tourism operators has emerged through Freeport Harbour attracting 15-17 other cruise line calls from the likes of Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line to “help patch up” their businesses.

He spoke out after Carnival, in a press statement highlighting its contribution to the recent 31st annual Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) conference, said that Celebration Key will in December breach the one million visitor mark just months after its July 2025 opening.

And the release also quoted Christine Duffy, Carnival Cruise Line’s president, as stating that “people can still leave and take a shore excursion to see” the rest of Grand Bahama outside Celebration Key - an assertion that contrasts with the experience to-date for Mr Wallace and other businesses that rely on the cruise industry for their livelihoods especially in the absence of stopover tourism.

“What we’ve actually opened is a very exclusive port of call,” Ms Duffy said. “People can still leave and take a shore excursion to see the area, but we’re providing over 40 different meal options and a full experience on Grand Bahama.”

Carnival’s release described Celebration Key as being located “within a residential community”. Ms Duffy said that 20 of the brand’s 29 ships, sailing from 11 different home ports, will call on Celebration Key in 2026. However, this means far fewer passengers and ships calling at Freeport Harbour, as Carnival was previously its major source of business.

The cruise line is now diverting virtually all its Grand Bahama calls to Celebration Key. However, Mr Wallace told Tribune Business he was optimistic that more visitors will start to venture outside the port destination once the novelty wears off to help distribute visitor spending more evenly among the island’s tourism-related businesses.

Asked about Ms Duffy’s comments, he replied: “Let me answer it in a very positive way and honest way. I still believe that the Carnival cruise port is a wonderful addition to the island of Grand Bahama and, in the long-term, I believe it will do for Grand Bahama what Walt Disney did for Orlando, Florida, in that it will bring thousands of people to Grand Bahama.

“But, in the meantime, many of the tours that Carnival presently sells, their numbers have gone down significantly. I’ll give you an example. When Carnival called down at Freeport Harbour, at Pirate’s Cove we would have got about 400 guests. Now, we are getting less than 50 guests.

“If you talk to Banana Bay, another beach destination, they’ll tell you their numbers have gone down from 100 per day when Carnival called to 10-20 persons.” Those represent declines of between 80-90 percent in customer volumes for both businesses, with Carnival’s passengers now content to explore the beaches, lagoons and other amenities offered at Celebration Key and not venture outside the port destination.

“Many persons are choosing to stay there,” Mr Wallace conceded. “We have to find a way of working with Carnival and have to get more people outside of Celebration Key for three to four hours to see parts of the island. They can then go back to enjoy three to four hours at the port before their cruise leaves.

“That’s one of the things we are working on and having some discussions with government on, and have made some recommendations to the deputy prime minister, Chester Cooper; the minister for Grand Bahama, Ginger Moxey; the president of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, Ian Rolle; and the president of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, Dillon Knowles. In time we will seek to have a meeting with Carnival executives to see how we can co-exist.”

Mr Wallace said Grand Bahama tourism operators are now meeting every Thursday to determine how they can put “flesh” and “meat on the bones” on the potential solutions discussed with Mr Cooper two weeks ago. A follow-up meeting with Mrs Moxey is due to take place within the next 30 days.

“He had already met with the Taxi Union and some of the straw vendor associations so, when we met with him [Mr Cooper], some of the things that were brought to light he already knew,” the Pirate’s Cove chief added. The deputy prime minister informed them that the Ministry of Tourism was in talks with Carnival to station “ambassadors” at Celebration Key to inform passengers of, and direct them to, tours and excursions outside the port.

“We have to appreciate Carnival will sell Carnival,” Mr Wallace added. “We need someone from the Ministry of Tourism to sell Grand Bahama. They were hiring a number of people to work on the port property and provide information about tours.

“The second thing we were saying is that if Carnival was able to call on Freeport Harbour twice a week with one of their smaller ships that will help in the interim.” The Pirate’s Cove chief brushed off assertions that Freeport is an “industrial harbour”, saying such elements were also present at the Port of Miami and other cruise line home ports.

“The third thing we had suggested to the Government was to maybe have some programme information on board the ships where some kind of transportation is subsidised by the Government and Carnival to get 400-600 out of the port for three to four hours to see the rest of the island,” he said.

“That will also help Port Lucaya Marketplace, help the charter operators, and help places like Pirate’s Cove, Banana Bay and Junkanoo Beach. They were some of the things we put on the table. We are now looking to put some meat on the bones.”

Mr Wallace said businesses such as H. Forbes Charter Services and S&D Coach Tours had invested heavily in new vehicle fleets in anticipation of the extra business Celebration Key would generate, but this has yet to materialise despite Ms Duffy’s pledge that passengers will be allowed to venture outside the port.

“Many businesses have gone out on a financial limb in anticipation of Carnival’s cruise port,” he told Tribune Business, “and while it’s still early days, only three to four months in operation, many of them are not experiencing what they projected.

“Like H. Forbes Charter Services, which went out and bought ten additional buses, and S&D Coach Tours, which went out and bought another ten buses. They are not seeing the numbers. If they are running two buses a day they’re lucky. It is not that Carnival is not trying because they make money from those tours. It’s to their advantage to sell them.”

Noting that the cruise line is offering similar attractions to those offered by Bahamian operators, Mr Wallace added: “I just think we have to work our way through this type of circumstance. We are still very optimistic.

“What has been the saviour for us in Grand Bahama this month is that Freeport Harbour has attracted 15-17 calls from different cruise lines - Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, MSC, Margaritaville. They are helping to hold and help patch up the tour business and tour operators now while the numbers from Carnival are not so strong.”