A plaque presentation reception was held in the Ocean Breeze Lounge on board the Bahamas Celebration. Left to Right: Ian Rolle, President, Grand Bahama Port Authority; Senator Rev McAlpine; MP Verna Grant; Winnae Hunt, Junior Minister of Tourism; Charlie Kinnear, President, Bahamas Celebration, Hon Neko Grant, Minster of Works and Transport; Captain Fielding, Bahamas Celebration; Karen Seymour, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism; Senator David Thompson; Magnus Alnebeck, President Grand Bahama Tourism Board; Gary Gilbert, CEO, Freeport Harbour Company; and Orlando Forbes, Freeport Harbour Company Photo: Derek Carroll
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Freeport, Bahamas - A special reception was held on board the Bahamas Celebration owned by Celebration Cruise Lines on March 24th, 2010. The vessel began sailings on March 16th every other day between Palm Beach, Florida and Grand Bahama Island. Bahamas Celebration lays in port on either side for approximately 18 hours.
Guests and local dignitaries received a ship tour and were treated to lunch in the full service and upscale Crystal Dining Room after a plaque exchange took place in the Ocean Breeze Lounge.
The Bahamas Weekly
was on hand to record this important event. In this video you will hear
the entire speeches from
the Hon Neko Grant,
Minster of Works and Transport. Magnus Alnebeck, President of the Grand
Bahama Tourism Board gave remarks on presented a plaque on behalf of the
Grand Bahama destination to Captain Peter Fielding and Bahamas
Celebration President, Charlie Kinnear.
You will also hear from Michael Weber, General Manager of the Our Lucaya Resort; the Junior Minister of Tourism, Winnae Hunt at her first official event; and from Karen Seymour of the Ministry of Tourism, Grand Bahama.
An invocation was given by Rev. Arnold Pinder and speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation was Gary Gilbert of the Freeport Harbour Company also gave remarks and presented a plaque to Bahamas Celebration. Final words of welcome were made by Jeremy Cafferata, President of Freeport Ship Services. The programme was led by Betty Bethel, GM of Business Development for the Ministry of Tourism.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation was the Hon Neko Grant, Minster of Works and Transport. Photo: Derek Carroll
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Remarks
by
The Hon.
Neko C.
Grant I, JP, MP
Minister
of Works
& Transport
Plaque
Exchange
Ceremony
Aboard
MS Bahamas
Celebration
March 24th,
2010
Today we
commemorate another important step toward revitalizing the economy of
Grand Bahama Island with the addition of regular scheduled calls by
the MS Bahamas Celebration to Grand Bahama Island, from the Port of
Palm Beach.
The Bahamas
Government is pleased with Celebration Cruise Line’s decision to develop
the Port of Palm Beach as a gateway to Grand Bahama Island, with a
strong
focus on Palm Beach County, north through to Orlando, including the
entire Treasure Coast, that area north of Palm Beach County; as well
as northwest to include Tampa/St.Petersburg, Sarasota and Bradenton.
Bahamas
Celebration’s new itinerary will feature alternate days (2 night
cruises)
to GBI resulting in 3.5 sailings every seven days and therefore with
a total capacity to carry 1289 passengers, the projected increased
capacity
to Grand Bahama could exceed more than 200,000 arriving passengers
annually.
We
anticipate
more than $20 million visitor spend on island in the first year of
Bahamas
Celebration’s first year of operation, which includes increased business
opportunities for shops, restaurants, hotels, transportation providers,
water sports operators, casino employees and other tourism support
services.
The ship
will be in port for approximately 18 hours.
We wish
to thank our partners at the Freeport Harbour Company, Our Lucaya Beach
and Golf Resort and the Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board for the
significant
role they each played in helping to land this opportunity for Grand
Bahama Island.
The
technical
team at the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation led by Deputy
Director-General
David L. Johnson are also to be commended for their efforts on this
project.
It is with
great pleasure therefore, that I present this plaque to Celebration
Cruise Line.
Bahamas Celebration President, Charlie Kinnear gives remarks. Photo: Derek Carroll
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Remarks by Charles Kinnear
President, Bahamas Celebration
On behalf of the
Captain,
Officers and crew we would like to welcome you on board the Bahamas
Celebration. Today is about old traditions and new beginnings.
It has been a time
honored
tradition when a ship repositions to a new port, that the partnership
between
the vessel and the port is formalized by the exchanging of plaques and
other
tokens of gratitude in recognition of the symbiotic relationship that
must
exist between ship and port. Today that relationship has grown to
include many
partners and associations without which, a ship can not exist. We at
Celebration Cruise Line value these relationships and know that we are
not in
this venture alone.
Along with our new
partners
here in the Port, Our Lucaya Resort and the numerous other shoreside
support
teams; it is our goal to provide the best possible experience for our
passengers. We understand that we could not achieve this goal without
first totally dedicating ourselves to making safety of life at sea and
the
protection of the environment, our number one priority. Today I would
like to reaffirm our full commitment to these new partners and ensure
you that
we will do all that we can to meet and even exceed all expectations.
Although the vessel
officially home ported in West Palm Beach, with us being here every
other day,
we consider this our Home as well. We are proud to be a Bahamian
flagged
vessel serving the people and business of the Bahamas. In just one
short
week we have place over 4 thousand people here on the Island and have
already
booked more the 4500 room night at here on the Island. We are off to an
exciting start and that is just the beginning, soon we will start
transportation of Bins for the Citizens of GBI and prove cargo
operations at
rates not see in many years.
When I was asked to
take this
position just one year age, it was an easy decision to make because of
the
obvious commitment of the crew and company. I’ve worked with and
around many large organizations, so when I experienced the family
atmosphere
here on board it was refreshing and it quickly lured me in. It’s
this family atmosphere we will continue to build on for it is one of the
many
things that appeals to our passengers and makes us unique. So today we
celebrate that uniqueness and embrace our new found friends and partners
in the
hopes that all of you will consider yourselves as part of the
Celebration
Cruise Line family.
Magnus Alnebeck, President of the Grand Bahama Tourism Board
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Jeremy Cafferata, President of Freeport Ship Services
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