His initiative is part of a broader trend: Disney Cruise Line, Carnival Corp. & Plc’s Holland America Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. also own private islands in the Bahamas, and MSC Cruises plans to open its own Bahamian island next year. Across the board, passengers tend to rate these private retreats as some of their favorite ports of call.
Not everyone is so enthusiastic. Some 55 miles from CocoCay in Nassau, Bahamas, environmental activist Heather Carey took to Facebook to criticize Royal Caribbean’s plans.
“Just another example of how the cruise ship industry does little to benefit us locally, and instead continues to make the visitor experience more insular to the cruise ship islands,” she said. Among her main concerns was that the private island will funnel visitation and excursion revenues away from Nassau—which relies heavily on the cruise tourism economy. “We cannot give away any more of our beautiful Bahamas to these bottomless pits,” she wrote. (Carey did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.)
One Piece in a $1 Billion Puzzle
The redo of CocoCay is taking place in stages: The water park will open in spring 2019, and the rest of the project should be complete about six months later.
At a press announcement last week, Royal Caribbean also said it would spend $900 million over the next four years to modernize 10 ships with such features as virtual reality bungee jumping, laser tag, and Tiki bars, including two ships that will focus on three- and four-day cruises around the Bahamas. And that doesn’t include the Symphony of the Seas, a bigger and louder follow-up to the current “largest ship at sea,” which will debut later this month.
More is more, Royal Caribbean seems to be saying, both on land and at sea.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.