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15 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Hmmm...interesting. Sounds a bit “unofficial”.

Here's more info.  The key point is they (Nassau's Minister of Tourism)  have to fix it before it's gonna get any better. People have to want to visit the Nassau, you can't force them.

https://thenassauguardian.com/2018/10/17/no-more-incentives-for-cruise-ships/

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I'm one of the people who don't get off the boat when it goes to the Bahamas. The reason is that, in my opinion, the people who live in the Bahamas are generally unfriendly and make little to no effort to be welcoming. How many times do you have to hear, "Hey Mister, nice shore excursion!" When I say no thank-you I suddenly get a muttered F##k You. This isn't a one off. It has happened to me a number of times.

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So does this money that they pay the cruise line come out of the "port fees and taxes" line that we pay the cruise line ... in other words we pay Royal $10 per person, Royal pays Nassau $10 per person, Nassau then pays back $10 to Royal ... so really WE pay not Nassau? If so, bring on the sea days ... cruise in circles around Nassau and save me money :)

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In a fluke of scheduling for convenience, we have 3 trips to Nassau coming up where normally we just avoid going there.  I do not plan to get off at all.  I had wanted to do the flight simulator, thinking it was something that Dan would enjoy, but he says he has no interest so we will just stay on the ship.

I find it expensive, boring and generally unappealing, particularly in the cooler months.  If they close down the port entirely I will not lose any sleep.

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I usually sail out of Canaveral & Ft. Lauderdale, so that means I'm usually going to Nassau. 

When I was there in March, a lady outside of the straw market said something that stuck with me as we were walking by.  "All you tourists want to do is buy rum from the bars.  You don't support the local economy!"  I actually felt like she had a bit of a point there--I mean, the big chain bars still support the local economy by employing people, but a lot of those profits don't stay behind.  I like to support small and local businesses too, so we did some shopping at the straw market and bought a couple of things.

Now, when I was there earlier this month we had a noon-to-midnight stopover.  We stayed aboard the ship most of the time to hang out by the pool, but decided to hop off and walk around after dinner.  Saturday night, 8:30pm and darn near everything was closed.  We weren't the only ship still there that late either.  Thousands of guests within arm's reach, but nothing for us to do except stay on our ships or walk past a bunch of locked doors and closed storefronts.

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Man, I'm so torn on this subject.

 

I really want to go into town and see a few things and go to Watling's for some rum, but I'm not sure if it's at all worth it.

It will just be the wife and me, and I'm not much of an imposing presence ( I guess I could gut them into the wall or something),

so perhaps we'll stay onboard.  I love to get off at every port, but in Falmouth, all we did was stay in the shopping area.

How is the shopping area in Nassau?  Any compelling reason to go?

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A few times, we got off and just walk around and saw many shops close like permanent close. I also don't feel safe to walk around anymore except close to the ship. However, this upcoming cruise on Anthem we booked a shore excursion to Pearl Island and hope we make the right decision.  Yes, it is really expensive but we don't know what else to do. 

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On 10/21/2018 at 10:05 PM, kontraxed said:

I'm one of the people who don't get off the boat when it goes to the Bahamas. The reason is that, in my opinion, the people who live in the Bahamas are generally unfriendly and make little to no effort to be welcoming. How many times do you have to hear, "Hey Mister, nice shore excursion!" When I say no thank-you I suddenly get a muttered F##k You. This isn't a one off. It has happened to me a number of times.

Agree... It's actually a chore navigating your way through the gauntlet.. We haven't left the ship in three cruise stops in Nassau.. Not worth it to us. 

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Had some good experiences in Nassau (first Segway experience, lots of fun - no longer an option , I guess they closed) but generally not impressed.

I don't want to spend big bucks to go to Atlantis ... building more high $ theme park style attractions aren't going to get me off the boat, that's not why I am cruising, give me some small group sailing excursions, etc. and I would be happy to disembark.

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16 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

But the big question that we should be asking RCCL directly, how is this going to affect all future cruises that are booked to dock at Nassau?? Change in itinerary?? Refund? Etcetera, etcetera?? Ground Control to Major @Matt?? Any word on how RCCL will handling this situation??

Nothing to report.  Don't forget that with all things politics, a lot of this tends to be conjecture and posturing.  

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I for one would be most happy to see rc skip all further stops to Nassau over the years it has changed so much to its present form crime ridden dirty little city with mostly rude desperate con men and women smelly horses and scooter rentals so iffy that only the daredevil should partake in the summer the straw market is so hot that it boggles the mind and heartbreaking to see the babies and young ones living under the booths I find the whole situation that is Nassau depressing and don't want to deal with this on a cruise I  for one don't get off the ship and haven't for years when my daughter hears Nassau is a stop she refuses to get off freeport is a little better but not much there is just nothing to do I for one say to royal find another quiet island in the Bahamas and put all your efforts into the beach and water experience forget the shopping most all the so called souvenirs are made in china and can be purchased in any port anywhere with people who truly appreciate you being there my belief is that the present selection of Bahamian stops is to far gone to save and should be deleted from the itineraries  

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6 hours ago, jticarruthers said:

Had some good experiences in Nassau (first Segway experience, lots of fun - no longer an option , I guess they closed)

 

This Segway excursion was on the news some years ago.  This is one of the reasons I've skipped shore outings on Nassau

http://content.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,1992105,00.html

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Nasau is ok, have no issue going there but as most have said that is the day that I usually am like @RatedPG and the wife and I sleep in that day for sure.  If we do get off we do a little shopping and hop right back on.  If we have the kids we will go to cabbage beach for a bit and come back but for the most part we stay on the ship.  We agree with most here from the fact that quite a few cruises go there and have been there quite a bit, to the fact that most of everything goes through Atlantis and is way too expensive for what you get.  I enjoy the island but after being there so many times we prefer to just enjoy the time on the ship and the fact that the ship is not as crowded.  We will be going there next March for the 5th time.  We will get off the next time when we are with the kids so they can experience the island, but that is it.   If they would have more to do we would be more than happy to get off and do something but Atlantis doesn't hold much attraction and especially at the prices.  We already have a seasons pass to go to the local water park which is much larger than what they have there so it does not hold much attraction to any of us.  

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On 10/22/2018 at 7:51 AM, Parrotrosie said:

excursion prices are ridiculously high, and I don’t particularly care to shop

That's a big thing for me.  I'm sure Atlantis is very cool but when the cost to go there is 50% of the cost of the cruise, it doesn't make sense to me.  And I'd rather pay $10 for something than spend $5 but have to go through the hassle of the straw market.  

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I haven't been to the Bahamas in 13 years! But booked on Anthem in March that will stop in Nassau and CocoCay and looking forward to seeing what's new.

I can't find anything on it now but I once read that the government requires companies that register their cruise ships in the Bahamas to call on the country a certain number of times per year. Not sure how accurate this is. But for several reasons, I don't expect cruise lines to back off the Bahamas or Nassau any even if the $ incentives are taken away. 

I do find it interesting though that both Disney and Carnival seem to be closing in on deals to build new private destinations and/or ports in the Bahamas.

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