P.M.: no need to panic over cruise controversy

There was much fanfare at the ground-breaking for a Carnival Cruise ship terminal in Belize City last week. At that event Prime Minister Said Musa went on record that he sees no clash between the Fort Street Tourism Village owned by Royal Caribbean and the soon to be Carnival port. In fact, he assured both cruise lines that there was plenty of business to go around. But the festive atmosphere didn’t last long as the very next day Royal Caribbean called News 5 and sent a letter of protest to the Prime Minister charging that the arrival of the Carnival port is in direct violation of their exclusive agreement with the government, and a threat to their investment in Belize. News 5 spoke with Prime Minister Said Musa today for his reaction.

Prime Minister Said Musa

“We will be formally responding very shortly, but I can tell you that I am still very confident that this matter will be resolve amicably. Just give it a bit of time; there is no need to panic. I am very confident that there is no real conflict. I do believe it is a win-win situation, and I must say that from the letter I receive I detect too that there is a door that the Royal Caribbean people are leaving open, they want to negotiate and they want an amicable solution and we will pursue that.”

A spokesman for Royal Caribbean told News 5 last week that his company has been given no opportunity so far to discuss the issue, but that they welcome the chance. However, they are not ruling out legal action as an option if the situation is not resolved, and soon.