TENDERING SERVICES – Reef Tours assisted in tendering passengers of the MSC Poesia to and from the Lucaya area on Saturday.

Keenan Baldwin, Dock Manager, Reef Tours, offered tendering services for the vessel.  “We spent the day transporting hundreds of passengers to and from the ship.  Along with transportation, we offered drinks and snacks and our onboard bar sold out extremely fast,” he said.  “They pretty much killed the Bahama Mama’s and we ran through cases upon cases of beer very quickly.  It was a good day for us and a great day for Port Lucaya.”

Similarly, conch stall proprietor, Edroy ‘Big Daddy’ Brown was all smiles after a stunning weekend of sales.  “Saturday was a lovely day.  I had great sales,” he said repeatedly.  “I’d like to see more ships like this come back, especially right out there, so the passengers can come right off of the ship onto the island.”

Whilst the visitors browsed through jewelry, perfume and other store goods, there main focus seemed to be on experiencing indigenous drinks and native dishes throughout the marketplace.  Bateman Smith of Bateman’s Daiquiri Bar noted that tropical flavours such as gully-wash, tamarind, sour sop and mango were the order of the day.  “They wanted to explore new tastes that they couldn’t get on the ship.  I sold out of all of my supplies that I had here, as well as my reserve stocks at home,” he noted.  Bateman also had to hire 3 guys to continuously pick coconuts throughout the day and brought in all of his staff from the Harbour to service cruise ship guests in Port Lucaya.  “Thank God for this visit,” he gushed.  “I hope it happens again very soon.”

SOLD OUT – Bateman’s Daiquiri Bar had to repeatedly stock coconuts and native fruit flavours to satisfy the many patrons in Port Lucaya during Poesia’s call.

According to Reef Tours’ dock manager, Keenen Baldwin, as they ferried passengers back to the ship the overall feedback was phenomenal.  “The passengers all had fun and remarked how they’d like to come back to visit Freeport once again.”

Describing Saturday’s much-anticipated call by the MSC Poesia as positive and perfect, Lillian Miller, owner of Rum Runners is hopeful that such visits will become a staple feature.  “If the responsible authorities can bring that ship in once per week, it would be an unbelievable help for Port Lucaya and the same for the whole island,” she expressed.  “Once the people in Port Lucaya are making money, that money will circulate throughout the island which is so important at the moment.”

Derek Newbold, Business Development Manager, The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Limited (GBPA) is pleased at the increased activity that Poesia’s visit brought to the area.  “We are working diligently on several projects to strengthen Grand Bahama’s tourism sector and are hopeful that this trial visit will evolve into something more substantial as we move forward.”

ECONOMIC INJECTION – Rum Runners was one of many Port Lucaya bars reporting brisk sales during the one-day visit of the MSC Poesia. Owner, Lillian Miller is optimistic about the economic injection to the entire island from visits of this sort.

ALL SMILES – Conch man, Edroy ‘Big Daddy’ Brown is all smiles after Saturday’s successful sales from the visit of MSC Poesia.