A VIRGIN Opportunity
While the concept was rolled out some time ago, the details were largely announced in a media conference which took place at the Museum Park in Miami last week. Never shy of dominating the global limelight, Sir Richard Branson announced that Virgin Cruises should have three brand new Italian built ships in the water by 2020, each with a mid-size capacity of 2,800 passengers and around 110,000 gross tons.
I will not insult readers to guess the planned colour of these new vessels and it perhaps sets new parameters for the cruising industry, opening it up to a whole new market with a brand that is among the strongest on the planet. The placard statement ‘let’s make waves’ emblazoned on the arrival helicopter carrying Sir Richard said it all.
Virgin will have a huge marketing advantage by having its own airline and through the joint holding it has with Delta Airlines, the United States second largest carrier. The first ship will operate out of the Port of Miami, the cruise capital of the world, with a quoted throughput of 4.8 million multi-day passengers in 2014 operating 7 day Caribbean cruises.
But there is an incredible opportunity for Barbados, if we can make it happen. With the Delta flights servicing two of the largest airports in the USA, Atlanta and New York and Virgin Atlantic proving the only scheduled carrier to operating direct flights out of two major British hubs, Gatwick and Manchester, could the second or third ship, homeport from Barbados?
This would give travellers a myriad of holiday options. Fly from the UK to Barbados, cruise to another island and fly back to England from there. All with the same airline and cruise brand. By enticing Virgin Cruises to Barbados, it could directly benefit us in so many ways. Stay and cruise options, provisioning and higher employment on the ships with more ‘locals’ are among the potential.
So what could persuade Virgin Cruises to position one ship here?
Of course there are historic precedents of subsidising selected tourism partners. Carnival Corporation benefited from a massive ‘marketing support’ subsidy often quoted as amounting to $400,000 annually for six years. We should also remember the outstanding loan of US$15 million to charter the Carnival Destiny for CWC 2007. Whether this is part of the disclosed ‘non-performing’ debt owed by our local tourism industry and frequently referred to by the bankers association, is any taxpayers guess.
The current Government agreed to waive a minimum estimated $10 million annually in VAT to a single accommodation provider, based on minimum quoted room rate and almost full occupancy, while every other lodging option is bound to pay at least 7.5 per cent and most other sector partners, the higher rate of 17.5 per cent. This gross disparity will be further compounded when VAT is levied on what are by many considered staple commodities like potatoes and rice.
A simple conclusion that could be reached is that the general populous will be paying for the subsidy given uniquely to Sandals through increased VAT collection.
Some sceptical or perhaps more realistic people may interpret this as a modern day analogy of a Robin Hood reversal scenario, by robbing the poor to pay the rich.
Barbados Underground 
for your idea to work Barbados better act on it fast, if the port of Havana has not been thought of by virgin I would be very surprised, locking up some arrangements before the yanks are fully in there. British war ships and cruise ships have docked there in recent times and I am sure there docking rates would be very reasonable. I saw a show where brancomb was buying another island near his I wonder if that would be a stop like a lot of other cruise lines do with islands that they own outright . In my mind Barbados should be making themselves, a have to be place rather than we will pay you to come place for business
LikeLike
What BU would like to see is some of those millions spent on the Barbados product to do simple things like keeping Barbados clean, a bench or two placed at certain locations …
LikeLike
@David,
A solution MUST be found to deal with the Sargassum problem.
LikeLike
@Hants
So far no solutions.
LikeLike
@Hants June 29, 2015 at 3:01 PM “A solution MUST be found to deal with the Sargassum problem.”
I hear that the sargassum seaWEED is just as good as the other weed for certain things…as soon as we get enough people smoking it…problem solved.
LikeLike
Sargassum is also cultivated and cleaned for use as an herbal remedy. Many Chinese herbalists prescribe powdered Sargassum in paper packets of 0.5 gram, to be dissolved in warm water and drunk as a tea. It is said[who?] to remove excess phlegm.[citation needed] When sold in this application it is commonly referred to as Seaweed Sargassum Tea.
Source Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargassum
There are one billion+ Chinese, and a lot of smog, so a lot pf phlegm in China’s major cities. Now if only we can arrange to ship them billions of 0.5 grams sargassum packages we could solve our sargassum problem, their phlegm problem and our foreign exchange problem all at the same time.
LikeLike
nothing is going to happen when the govt believes it is temporary or one storm may take it all away. Please make sure the beach at dover the skip at dover are cleaned up and the beer is on ice before I come in a couple of weeks. and put a couple of benches in since I need a place to sit for a couple of minutes here and there as I stagger home from berts
LikeLike
@Lawson
Please explain why you keep on visiting the island?
LikeLike
Pure and simple I promised my wife if I could do nothing else for her, I would make sure she got home every year. Now you only have one chance to make a first impression and when I first came in 1980 you must have been having a good year because I was really impressed. Gradually things have changed as other places have picked up their game Barbados chose to rest on its laurels. So it is not as pretty as I first remember, not as safe, not as clean, a little less friendly but all and all it is still fun and if you can overlook what it is from what you thought it was you can still have a wonderful time.
LikeLike
Sargassum seaweed is a massive problem that will have massive effects on the economy if not dealt with. Last week the build up of seaweed on Miami Beach was as much as 10 ft wide and 4 ft high. It is creating a dam preventing waves from their natural flow on to the beach. Where the waves hit the seaweed dam they are creating a deep drop off. When I drove by Miami there was not one person on the beach. From the North to the South I could not find one clean beach. The West around Brandon seems to have, for the moment avoided the problem. This is becoming a national disaster. Doing nothing will not work. It is a sad sad thing to see our beaches being destroyed.
LikeLike
@ SITH
…what do you not get about a NATIONAL CURSE?
These things do not get better by themselves – only worse….
LikeLike
@ lawson June 30, 2015 at 4:02 AM,
Your comments are very insightful. My only issue with them is that the average tourist visiting Barbados for the first time will not have that thirty-five experience in their locker. You understand the nuances, the negatives and the positives of Barbados but you can still enjoy yourself. Barbados is special because of her people? Visit a rum shop or talk to a Bajan and you will always be entertained.
The average tourist will not have that time to build up their portfolio of experience on Barbados and her people. They will visit the island once but will never return. I had a friend who recently did a cruise of the Caribbean. He said that he preferred Barbados out of all the islands because it was a lot cleaner than the other islands. This is hardly a ringing endorsement of the Caribbean.
@ Bush Tea,
It would seem that we have slapped some sense into Lawson. Money Brain must be getting worried! LOL.
LikeLike
LOL @ Exclaimer
Money Brain must be getting worried! LOL.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Leave Money B …. dat is Bushie’s friend yuh.
Money has been ‘worrying’ ever since the housing crisis and the fall in stocks….
Arguments that exclude the accumulation of wealth in assessing success worry Money B. this completely warps his understanding of reality….
Bushie is concerned about how Money and Lawson will handle the situation next year when the shiit REALLY hits the big fan…Greece is just the tip of the berg…
LikeLike
BT what you think germans are dumb????? they have been preparing for this greek tragedy since the last bailout. Reached at the beach the new greek prime minister said what problems we have no sargassum here. lol greeks don’t like austerity .
You should pay closer attention to Puerto rico it is nearer , here is a country very much like yourselves except the americans consider it part of them so help may come. But they have gotten to this point by
understating the true budget deficit
corruption
lack of transparency of public finances
bad statistics
massive tax evasion/ underground economy
Stop me if anything sounds familiar
No I think it may turn out alright for MB and myself in the true north because the fact of life is …you will work hard when your young or work hard when your old,, your choice. See us ants envy you grasshoppers until retirement.
LikeLike
Steupss @ Lawson 🙂
…how the hell can Bushie argue with you when you continually make such valid points…?
LOL
Your only area of weakness is in understanding exactly HOW HARD the coming stuff bouncing off the fan will hit in YOUR neck of the woods….
Remember that Bushie can sleep on the beach in December….and drink coconut water to wash down some roasted breadfruit……while your donkey will freeze solid just from a serious power shortage….
….better make that ticket ‘one-way’ yuh….. LOL ha ha ha
LikeLike
Since the Tourist Industry is the lifeline of this country I expect that the Government to be aggressive in their approach in tackling this problem. BUT NO… they are watching the seaweed pile up on the beaches each heap getting higher and higher. Now this needs money and creativity to help solve this problem. Instead of building a new sugar factory put that money towards saving our Tourist Industry. If Tourism dies because of the weed problem then wunna better take to the hills and dales because the Government going for wunna bank accounts. Minister Sealy you are very quiet on this problem what the are you waiting on? A KICK?
LikeLike
islandgal246 July 1, 2015 at 10:52 PM #
Perhaps the brown seaweed seen through a tinted MP car window, or rose tinted glasses ,the standard eye wear of our illustrious leaders, appears white/silver ,and can be easily mistaken for sand.
LikeLike
A traveller to England on Virgin Airways paid $235 Barbados dollars for ‘an underweight’ second piece of luggage so beware. Corporate high flying thieves and conmen masquerading as astute businessmen they all are.
LikeLike
the greeks have found a way out of their financial crisis….they want reparations from the romans. lol No BT we have igloos up here that keep us warm when the winter hits and all that extra fat that we tourists carry is just for that very reason making sure we have something to live off just in case some tiny island economy goes bust
My buddy who was hired 3 years before me and I were talking about retirement and I he said he was retiring in a certain year and I said ,,,,me to. He said you cant you haven’t worked as long as me, I said I can retire any time I want I will just get a little less pension. So all that to say BT how do you know I will not be on that beach as well.
LikeLike
@ Lawson
Touche…
The way things looking bout here, the damn beach will be owned by Trickidadian ‘community leaders’; managed by Sandals; …and dominated by sargassum.
…how comfortable are you with gullies??
LikeLike
Today’s Nation newspaper carries a picture of a surfer standing at the mouth of the Carenage on a build up if sand.
Strange.
LikeLike
Worst drought in five years ,worst sarggassum in years , worst govt in years, but just in case you think is only Barbados that is suffering my new bmw only gets 135 mpg in the city and not the promised 137………..just kidding ….if you cant laugh you will probably kill yourself. Time has a way sorting everything out as you said BT you are on the beach.
LikeLike
At least the great beach clean up has started. Lets hope that it is properly supervised to get the most out of those many “temporarily employed”,and to prevent undue damage to the beaches.
LikeLike
If the Canadian media and analysts are to be believed the Canadian economy is heading to recession. What does it portend for us?
LikeLike
@David,
Generally Barbados is not a good place to invest when the CDN dollar is at $1.60 BDS.
The Canadian economy is getting hit hard by the drop in oil prices.
Barbados Tourism could take a hit.
LikeLike
The political point of view. Playing a defensive shot. lol
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-s-economy-isn-t-in-recession-despite-report-joe-oliver-says-1.3137159
LikeLike
From “problem” to crisis.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/69595/bhta-concerned-about-sargassum
LikeLike
Eventually they will come to recognise that we are subject to a SERIOUS CURSE as Bushie has been pointing out.
Like all brass bowls, it will probably take them a while for this obvious fact to be seen….
Hopefully they catch on BEFORE the passover….
LikeLike
@Bushie,
They waiting for the rain to wash it off the beaches and for the tides to change direction. lol.
LikeLike
A member of the BU household toured the coastline of Barbados on the weekend – we have a problem.
LikeLike
International news media is spreading the word.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/severe-seaweed-invasion-fouling-barbados-beaches/article24243713/
LikeLike