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The following was received from:

Carnival Cruise Debacle [Lizard@bermudamail.com] sent Fri 04/01/2002 05:18

Carnival Cruises are chased out of Bermuda ???

On very good inside authority, the Bermuda Tourism Minister of Tourism met with the President of Carnival Cruises recently.

After making the man wait until almost 7pm at night.....Here is what we know happened....

Carnival currently have 5 calls scheduled for 2002...
They wanted to have another 5 calls, making a total of 10 calls in 2002.
They, Carnival were also prepared to be the dedicated West End Ship......
The Minister of Tourism apparently demanded the following:

•  1) All port handling and shore excursions must be handled by Bermudians..... Not unreasonable....
•  2) Every Carnival Ship worldwide must play videos of Bermuda..... Not a problem for ships servicing Bermuda, but why should Carnival have to feature Bermuda in Alaska or the Caribbean ???
•  3) The Bermuda Minister of Tourism demanded a $ 200,000 marketing fee per trip ( A total of $ 1 Million ) above all the existing head taxes and port fees.....

This basically concluded the meeting as the Carnival executive headed for his Lear Jet within 5 minutes of this request....

Bottom Line....

The Bermuda Minister of Tourism chased Carnival Cruises out of Bermuda....

Isn't it time Bermuda chased the Minister OUT OF OFFICE.......??????

Comment:

it is assumed that the Bermuda Minister of Tourism's demanded of $ 200,000 marketing fee per trip was for the country / government, as opposed to a personal request!

Cruise ships are clearly not wanted by the island, or at least the Bermuda Minister of Tourism.  Admittedly they do little for hotels; no one who visits on a cruise ship will be looking for accommodation (save for the odd drug dealer).  However, the restaurants, bars and shops are provided good custom and appear destined to suffer.

Odd,  in addition to the obvious head taxes and port fees paid to Bermuda by the cruise ships, there is the less obvious tax associated with every purchase the tourist makes on the island. 

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