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Carnival Agrees to New Cruise Port in the Bahamas

Joe817

By Joe817,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Joe817

Joe817

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I haven't seen this before. 

"

Carnival has finalized an agreement to build a new cruise port in the located on Grand Bahama Island near Freeport.

Carnival to Build New Cruise Port Near Freeport

The cruise company which owns some of the world’s major cruise lines like Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Holland America has completed an agreement to build a major cruise port on Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas which is expected to cost the cruise company around $100 million."

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-agrees-to-new-cruise-port-in-the-bahamas/33755

 

 

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Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos

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This story has been floating around for several months now. Carnival is billing it as their largest cruise port in the world. Sounds interesting, I wouldn't mind checking it out when it's done. I think it's projected to be finished sometime in 2021. I read an article that said the Nassau government is worried it'll pull tourist dollars from them. I don't think Carnival would drop Nassau altogether, but it'll be interesting to see if they sail there less just to redirect people to this monster port once it's up & running.

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jimbo5544 "Live from...." Rare

jimbo5544

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6 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

I'm all for the new projects in Freeport. Freeport has some great spots, but the current port is very underwhelming. I think this is a great thing, and will likely result in me taking a few more 4 day cruises that include Freeport

Would like to see more info, but agree.

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Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos

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8 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

what would be so bad about that?

 

A while back, news broke that Carnival was granted a loan that will be used to make improvements to Half Moon Cay. The big addition will be a new pier so they no longer have to tender passengers to shore. Pretty much everybody welcomes that. But the report also mentioned that it would come with some land-based expansion projects as well. Several users were up in arms, worried that it's going to turn into another Coco Cay or Castaway Cay and ruin their beach day port. The same people who disparage Amber Cove as being nothing more than a Carnival money grab. The thing about Amber Cove is, you don't have to hang out there. You can still go off and do your own thing away from the port. Yes, there's some shops, an eatery, large pool, a waterslide, and zip line there. Terrible, isn't it? If you don't like it, don't spend time there. Pretty simple actually. Incidentally, I highly recommend the Teleferico (cable car) near Amber Cove. It was a lot of fun and an absolutely beautiful view.

 

In the case of HMC, if they do make some land-based improvements, the beach will still be there. It's not going away. There's a lot of people who don't care to sit and cook on a beach all day, like my family & I, so HMC isn't a very attractive port to us. But if there were some more things to do there, it'll be a more attractive port to more people. That's a good thing.

 

The same goes for the new Freeport port (that sounds so redundant LOL). If you don't like it, don't spend time there. Go do your own thing, take a taxi, go on an excursion. No one's forcing you to use what the port area has to offer. We haven't been to Freeport yet, but I haven't really heard anything good about it, so it didn't matter. But this new port will make it much more attractive to a lot more cruisers and, again, that's a good thing. We will be more than happy to see what it's like when it's done.

 

There's people who come to these forums and regularly attack other users who complain about some of the changes that Carnival makes. Now they're seeing a couple changes coming down the pike that they themselves don't like and they're bitter about it. Like it or not, these expanded private ports of call are proving to be a successful business venture. Disney's even looking to build a second one. It should be no surprise that other lines, that can afford to do so, will get in on it. In the case of HMC, as it is right now, it's pretty much an entire port stop that many people simply don't enjoy. At least with these big port areas, like Amber Cove and soon-to-be Freeport, everyone still has the option to go do other things. What's there to complain about?

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vettecruiser1

vettecruiser1

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Freeport is an unspoiled port in my opinion.  We got away from the port and went to Banana Bay and it was a dream having a beach with only 12 people and the best seafood I have had at a beach in a long time.  Reminds me of how cruising was years ago when you the corporations did have their hands on the islands.  Expand your horizons and Freeport is wonderful, the port is just not that pretty, but neither is most of the ports in Europe where you dock in the industrial areas.

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RandomUser123

RandomUser123

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I don't mind Nassau. When we went a few years ago we purchased a day pass to British Colonial Hilton and were very happy with it. I am not big into all the luxuries though, it's nice but not a necessity. Heck my upcoming cruise is the first time I ever got an Oceanview cabin as previous cruises have always been inside cabin (only reason why I got Oceanview for this one was because it was actually cheaper than Inside). 

 

For example with Freeport in our upcoming cruise our plan is simply to take a shuttle to the free beach and just chill there before heading back to the ship. 

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SecretSK

SecretSK

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I hope this is true! We were just in Freeport on the Pride last week. We had a great time in Freeport but the location and design of the port is not great. All of the “good stuff” on the island requires a drive and the port facility is really inefficient. 

 

Because of the big metal gate around the port buildings and with only one gate open at the forward end of the ship, the line to get back onto the ship was really long. They can easily fix these problems, especially with an improved facility. 

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