Carnival Cruise lines dissatisfied with local tendering operations
We can report tonight that Carnival Cruise lines will not be calling on port this Tuesday. The reason is that the local tendering operations are not satisfactory to the cruise line. That’s the latest word coming from the newly formed Association of Tender Operators, which is now being led by Jason Marin after the sudden resignation of Stanley Longsworth on Friday. The tendering issue remains topsy-turvy and last week Monday, after his return from a Miami trip, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said that the cruise lines had agreed to direct tendering once the association was formed. From what we have been told, the association met today with the BTB and also plans to travel to Miami to meet with the cruise line executives.
Hold those ankles & take it like a man. Let them have their way & thank them for the privilege of jerking us around.
Another trip to Miami? I hope this time he can actually accomplished more than he did on his first trip. Even something so small always prove to be such an enormous obstacle in his way.
Initially it was not a problem….. tender boats to begin with are given the capacity that they must meet in order to transport passengers from the ship by either Agents of the cruise ships.. if they don’t meet these demands.. they cant run.. …Plus.. some tender owners used to make modifications to their boats to meet the capacity… BY the looks of it Carnival cruise lines and other cruises are trying to cut back on COSTS by hiring bigger tender boats.. however,… if they continue hiring the small boats .. They will have to make use of much more.. SO.. In its true essence.. OUR GOVERNMENT HAS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT .. AND FOR ONCE STOP THINKING ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILY .. AND THINK ABOUT OTHERS WHO HAVE IT HARDER. THAN THEM..
It is ridiculous to blame the govt for this. Carnival is a private entity just the like the people who own the tenders. The PM has decided to intervene in a private, corporate issue that just happens to involve some of his constituents. It’s unfortunate that the tender operators didn’t unite earlier to form a cooperative and buy bigger tenders from the get go. Rather they were busy fighting over the golden egg instead of trying to keep the goose alive and well. I’ve been around the tourism industry for years and the size of the tenders has always been an issue. For a similar reason our local tour operators started slowly loosing business with the cruise lines, simply because we refused to step up to international stds. I applaud the PM for his efforts but I’m a realist as to his limitations. It’s a corporate issue.
Carnival is playing games with Belize and setting their own rules. Sadly, our Prime Minister is being jerked around like a helpless little boy, begging the bigger boys to change their rules so we can play. It doesn’t matter what they say to our Prime Minister; Carnival knows that they have a much greater advantage in this game and they will do whatever they want. It’s been that way from the beginning and so shall it be in the end. First, …….. and now Carnival. When will we ever learn?
I guess we will be footing the bill for the Miami trip. Another luxury weekend for a few that won’t achieve anything. Carnival has more money and assets than Belize could ever dream of, so there is no why they are going to listen to anyone from here. What they want, they get, or they get out. Simple as that.
Instead of sucking up and kissing their feet, try telling them that unless they stick to their agreement, giving the local tender operators time to upgrade and get the insurance, that they aren’t welcome. see how many of their potential passengers/customers they’ll lose, as many want to visit Belize, so they’ll go to another cruise line that is visiting, or will visit belize to capture carnivals lost business.
try that, as after all, what have we got to lose that we wouldn’t anyway by letting a private company dictate to a small nation??
Why is it Belize always try to solve the problem after the fact??? Why wasn’t this issues addressed before it became an emergency. The tourism board should have known about this issue months ago afterall isn’t through their department that these company make initial contact when they want to do business in Belize, isn’t their constant dialogue with these companies so any updates would be known before they become law. Why do we have a Tourism board if they are so useless that they don’t know the rules or new rules before it becomes enforced.
Belize people love and worship white folks so much but now you are learning how devious they can be not to mention ruthless. They obviously want one of their own to reap the benefits now that the cruise portion of tourism is established in Belize, they now know that customers want Belize to be one of their destination so more and more will be booking their cruise to get to Belize. There is a lot of blame to go around with this situation, from the Government to the Tourism board to the Tenders. In Belize just enough is always good enough know one wants to go that extra mile to make their product just a little better than the average, as long as cruise ships have been coming to Belize the boat owners should have been trying to improve on their boats, making them bigger and better and making sure they are well insured because you are dealing with people lives and accidents do happen. Yes kinslito the Government should take some responsibility because they are put there to take care of the well being of the citizens of this country, but like every aspect of Belize people you always want to pass the buck no one ever want to take responsibility for anything.
So here we are now David trying to fight Goliath………Good Luck now you will know how WHITE FOLKS truly behave especially when it comes to MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT HAPPENED TO TOURISM IS OUR FUTURE…… BE A PART OF IT.
GUESS DAT BARROW WANTS IT ALL FOR HIMSELF AND HIS CRONIES
I say let Carnival Cruise leave if that is what they want to do, Belizeans will not be losing on much anyway, We will do much better promoting eco tourism that way more Belizeans will be able to have a share of the tourism market, of course the few fortunate ones that serve these overnight tourist will not agree to this, if they must continue doing business on their terms make sure that enough taxes are levied on these cruise tickets to offset all the damages caused by these ships coming into Belize since even though it is against the law to dump their garbage into the sea they are doing it anyway.
Seems as tho Carnival feels as if they are doing us a big big favor by screwing us over without even kissing us first….Typical capitalist mentality….but what are we to do as a people living in a small third world country like Belize? continue to bend over and get shaft by greedy outsiders while we lay back and take it all with shame an disgust as is the norm?…wake up Belize!!
Ur country is dirty in ruins and poverty all u have is nature and it is breath taking. cruise terminal in belize is the ugliest that i have seen. people begging asking for money down town is dirty . u have locals selling live chickens on hanged on a stick on a side of the road……. and u should be happy to have tourists at all and than u charge 7 usd pro passenger for tender .. no wonder CCL is not calling belize as port of call ..