O and as someone mentioned on the talk show today...what about the tonnes and tonnes of food and millions of gallons of liquor they bring in the country to consume duty free and VAT free. And all the goods , luxury goods including jewelry they sell with paying taxes. And the web shop boys paying three or four sets of taxes. Make the cruise ship boys pay casino license fees and taxes while in The Bahamas or keep their facilities closed until they leave and get in international waters. And have ghost inspectiors riding the ships.

The tides will turn on the multi-Billion Dollar cruise ship industry just as it did on the mega hotel properties and they had to reinvent and fight for survival. And it may happen sooner than you think. It started with the hotels on Paradise Island that shut down all the local entertainment industry because they wanted to hog every dollar their guests were spending. Then Bay Street went into demise as did Freeport. But the cruise industry was lucrative and profitable because they had more control over their guests and could dictate where they go and how they spend their money. One time ago true success of many Bay Street stores were determined by the owners ability to ‘pay up’ to the boat captains, else they were not recommended or otherwise black listed. So was the straw market. Passengers were told the straw work was contaminated with bugs and some were even prevented from taking it on the ships. Now the vendors of Arawak Cay Fish Fry have been targeted. But what real benefits are there for Bahamians in the cruise industry? The ships are getting bobber and bigger and more filled with entertainment and shopping and other activity filled amenities. And of The Caribbean, at least, cruise ships spend more time in Bahamian waters than any other country. So how we gonna tax them ? For operating casinos, bars, restaurants, stores and hotels while in this country. The boats are getting larger in size and greater in numbers. So the taxes must also increase. The cruise industry must help turn Nassau And Freeport into booming , modern, clean and profitable ports and no longer into ghost towns with their greediness. Much of local crime is because of lack of economic activity. Because Bahamians and the Bahamas are being excluded, like many Caribbean countries, from the tourism economic pie. Time to fix that and stop letting foreigners cook the tourism goose.

Y’all Russell must you always demonstrate total ignorance or be anti-Bahamian? In every comment you make. Do you know the history of the Fish Fry, even before Hubert Ingraham got involved. Working fishermen/ vendors started the ‘Fry’ and grew it into what it is. Why do you insist on butchering everything Bahamian and butchering English?

The nightlife at the Fish Fry May be different but during the day it’s a very passive and relaxing and regulated environment. Most of the Bahamians who are there during the day are the truck drivers, customs brokers and officers and persons doing imports on Arawak Cay so they are mostly looking for lunch. There are peddlers on the Cay but they don’t appear aggressive or harassing. In fact most tourists seem to enjoy the interaction with them. And most of the tourists are brought there by taxis where the drivers wait on them while they eat of have a few drinks, then return them to their ships. So the warning may be grossly over etched, at least for daytime visits.

"Why is every project financed by a loan? We have no tax revenue?"

A few years ago the then president of Nigeria asked the same question when they wanted to do improvement projects in Nigeria but loan the money. He said, "why do I have to borrow your money, when I have oil revenue?. I will do the projects but I will use my own money." Well shortly afterward he became ill with a mysterious disease. He was shipped off to a foreign hospital somewhere in Europe. He was dead in a few months. Needless to say, the new president of Nigeria came in and took the loans to complete the project. And which country is it now that has to give control of its shipping port to China because they cannot meet payments on a loan? So they loan you more and more money, until your credit rating downgrades. Then they raise the interest rates. And by that time so much of the country's revenue is being used to service debts there's little left to run the country. Then
these gangster lenders take your economy over or you become a failed state.

So why didn’t the go solar and feed back into the grid

Remember Tennyson Wells tried to block the smaller companies from getting licensed and operating. Many family islands rely heavily on them today. And despite the challenges many of them are reliable and growing.Some now offer state of the art jet service. It is true that Bahamasair needs to focus more on international routes and building its fleet. But if it was to abandon the Family Islands completely airfare to some islands would skyrocket because some routes are not profitable and since the national flag carrier is subsidized it has to make those runs. Not the time may come when government may have to subsidize smaller airlines to do these routes or Bahamasair can subcontract them out.

I think Bahamasair does take some unfair beating sometimes. According to Florida news three airports Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach we’re closed for several hours because of bad weather, as well as New Providence and Freeport. So all flights arriving or departing these airports are several hours late, not just Bahamasair. And today several hundred flights in the North East USA will be either delayed or cancelled due to snow, high winds and rain. And because Bahamasair only has a small fleet of aircraft it takes them awhile to get back on schedule once their flights are interrupted .

Beg for mercy and recognition

The closest thing to feeling like an illegal immigrant is when your documents get stolen and you have to... never mind!