Cruise Ship Tourism Expands on Bonaire - Make your opinion known

[phelana]

Cruise Ship Tourism on Bonaire- Yea or Nea Bonaire Bliss

 

[DiveMaven]

One reason we go to Bonaire in July is because there are NO cruise ships. I can honestly say if they expand it to a year around market for cruise ships, we will be FAR less likely to return to Bonaire. But if the island people believe that the cruise ships bring more revenue to the island than people like us who come for 2 weeks each visit, then the answer is clear.

 

[Sue Sue]

At the present time, what months are the cruise ships NOT in port ??

 

[DeputyDan]

One reason we go to Bonaire in July is because there are NO cruise ships. I can honestly say if they expand it to a year around market for cruise ships, we will be FAR less likely to return to Bonaire. But if the island people believe that the cruise ships bring more revenue to the island than people like us who come for 2 weeks each visit, then the answer is clear.

It appears to me that a different group of people make money from cruise ship passengers than from divers. Sure there is some overlap but not as much as you may think.

Herman and I was on the island for almost two weeks in January and there were 9 cruise ships in during that time. We saw alot of financial opportunities for locals that simply isn't there from divers.

My guess is that the cruise ships are there to stay.

 

[Jersey]

The transportation sector has picked up with the increase in ships. You see more mini-buses on island and they take school buses out of servicing schools on ship days. We picked up a bunch of kids outside Lisa Gas (or whatever it is called now) and drove them up to Ricon and they were telling us they would have faced a 3 hour wait had we not happened by. More roads are being paved and round abouts installed. Buddy has a arrangement every other week to bring in passengers from the German cruise line, allow the certified divers access to the reef and others to do intro to scuba stuff. (I hung around the dock for 3 hours just watching all the mayhem and madness...) Samur is not doing evening rum punch or dinner sails because they are booked solid with cruise ship snorkel tours. My understanding is the cruise line pays a per head fee to the island for every passenger, whether they get off or not. That, coupled with the $$ spent on t-shirts and tours speaks volumes...sadly...