Cruise Ships Cancel Call on Belize Due to Choppy Seas

Today marks the beginning of the high season for the tourism industry, which coincides with the U.S. Thanksgiving Day. But the season got off to a choppy start because two ships cancelled calls on Belize on the first four-ship day of the season. It is estimated that several thousand visitors did not disembark the vessels, resulting in dozens of idling buses and tour operators along Marine Parade.  The incident underscores a call to action made last week by Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action (COLA) for attention to be paid to the cruise ship industry. At a recent press conference COLA president Geovannie Brackett warned that unless the impasse between Government, the proprietors of the Stake Bank project and Fort Street Tourism Village is resolved and a cruise port is built, Belize stands to lose all it has gained from encouraging cruise ship development. Director of Cruise and Regional Operations for the Belize Tourism Board Valdemar Andrade spoke with the media today.

Valdemar Andrade, Director of Cruise and Regional Operations, Belize Tourism Board

“Actually today was supposed to be the first four-ship day for the high season, but what happen is that as usual in this time of the year, we get northerlies. And so we had a heavy northerly this morning with an impending cold front coming in. So as per procedure, if the winds are blowing too heavy, we don’t risk tendering and so the two Carnival ships decided to proceed to Roatan and we are now tendering the two Carnival ships as we speak.”

Reporter

“Now that has resulted in loss…about how many tourist passengers today?”

Valdemar Andrade

“We are looking at easily around six thousand tourist passengers for today.”