Gov warning travel to Bahamas

[kwokpot]

5 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

I visited Jamaica one time in 2003 on my first cruise before I knew their history of homophobia. My now husband and I and a couple other passengers on different excursions all encountered veiled homophobic comments. We will never set foot on that island again as a result and I have always chosen itineraries that do not include Jamaica since then.

I agree about Jamaica. Having said that what I find interesting is that the cruiseship employees we have encountered that are from Jamaica have been friendly, respectful, and actually go out of their way to interact with us. I could care less how they really think about us, that's not my business, as long as they treat my husband and I with the same respect as all other passengers. Jamaican cruiseship employees all seem to do that and I and thankful for that. 

[mahdnc]

48 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Yes, but New Providence Island where Nassau is located has 296,000 people versus Chicago which has 2.7 million. Not the same thing at all…

 

I didn't say it's the same thing except they are both sad.

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

Yes, but New Providence Island where Nassau is located has 296,000 people versus Chicago which has 2.7 million. Not the same thing at all…

Now factor in all the cruise guests that visit yearly. 

[Mangrove Snapper]

On 1/29/2024 at 12:17 PM, oatbagg1 said:

Is anyone else concerned?

 

No. 

 

On 1/29/2024 at 12:24 PM, oatbagg1 said:

use caution when out at night anywhere in the Bahamas, "keep a low profile," be aware of the surroundings, don't resist if confronted by robbers, and have and review security plans.

 

Being aware of your surroundings is good advice, traveling or not.  Unsurprisingly, this same advice can be found on other countries' travel warnings for the US. 

[lorimay]

2 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

You’re not understanding what I’m saying.  There is Haiti, which is a poor and dangerous place to visit, and then there is this isolated compound that resembles a private island that’s protected.  It may be in Haiti but it’s not Haiti

We were once in Labadee having lunch at the food area close to the fence. There was a crowd of people begging for food on the other side of the fence. When security would walk by they would duck down, then pop up after they left. They were holding bowls and plates. It was difficult to enjoy our all-you-can-eat buffet with hungry people only a few feet away on the other side. We had an interesting discussion with our kids about it. 

 

Back on the ship we mentioned it to one of the crew. She told us they actually pay a lot of money to the fisherman's village near by and that no one was starving in the area. I think that's the RCCL party line. I will never go back to Labadee.

[Charles4515]

12 minutes ago, lorimay said:

 

Back on the ship we mentioned it to one of the crew. She told us they actually pay a lot of money to the fisherman's village near by and that no one was starving in the area. I think that's the RCCL party line. I will never go back to Labadee.

I had a coworker who immigrated to the US from Haiti and the Cap Haitian area near Labadee. I asked him what he thought of Royal Caribbean and Labadee. He was very positive. They and the provide a lot jobs and aid to the local people. 

Edited January 30 by Charles4515

[oatbagg1]

23 hours ago, markeb said:

 

 

Not good numbers, obviously, but the population of Chicago is over 2.5 million and the population of Philly is over 1.5 million.

 

The population of Nassau is somewhere around 260,000. So roughly that's roughly 10X the rate of Chicago...

 

Not a fan of Nassau as a port stop either. It never felt like a great place to walk around. Last time we stayed onboard for a nice, relaxing day.

exactly.  I'm familiar w/Chicago. I live there.

[Whinenowine]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

I had a coworker who immigrated to the US from Haiti and the Cap Haitian area near Labadee. I asked him what he thought of Royal Caribbean and Labadee. He was very positive. They and the provide a lot jobs and aid to the local people. 

Having lived in an overseas cruise ship destination port for many years, I think this is true more often than not.  There are negatives to be sure, but the boost to the local economy is huge from the cruise lines and tourist dollars.

[WonderMan3]

4 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I agree about Jamaica. Having said that what I find interesting is that the cruiseship employees we have encountered that are from Jamaica have been friendly, respectful, and actually go out of their way to interact with us. I could care less how they really think about us, that's not my business, as long as they treat my husband and I with the same respect as all other passengers. Jamaican cruiseship employees all seem to do that and I and thankful for that. 

Oh yes. Have encountered Jamaican crew members who have been lovely. Here in Provincetown where I live we have a growing Jamaican population, more of whom each year stay year-round instead of just the summer season, and they are great folks. The culture on the island though is just not a safe space for LGBTQ folks so I choose not visit.

[WonderMan3]

3 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Now factor in all the cruise guests that visit yearly. 

Okay. In 2023, that was 4.5 million people. Now factor in all the tourists visiting Chicago yearly which was around 49 million people in 2022.

 

Moving on…

 

[oatbagg1]

21 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Okay. In 2023, that was 4.5 million people. Now factor in all the tourists visiting Chicago yearly which was around 49 million people in 2022.

 

Moving on…

 

Can we stay on topic and not involve US cities where guns are omnipotent.

[WonderMan3]

6 minutes ago, oatbagg1 said:

Can we stay on topic and not involve US cities where guns are omnipotent.

Omnipresent…

 

And the point is that based on Nassau’s small population (even when tourists are factored in) the number of murders is of more concern compared to a place like Chicago which has far more people so it was an erroneous comparison regardless how omnipresent guns may be in the U.S.

[NutsAboutGolf]

19 hours ago, LA24 said:

Video is on tmz of attack 😬 . Who would go on this excursion 🤷‍♀️ in video doesn't seem like staff is at all prepared.

here is the news report….like i said video of attack is on tmz if u want to see.

glad the child will be ok.

 

 

 

At least most news outlets aren't claiming a "shark attack" because it wasn't one.  Many are saying it was a PROVOKED open-mouth glancing blow which is still very damaging/dangerous but the shark didn't even intentionally bite after it was straddled to whip its head around with its mouth open.  All shark bites are incredibly rare yet it's even more rare that sharks attack submerged humans.  However, a Tiger Shark did kill a scuba diver this past November, coincidently, in the Bahamas

 

[miched]

On the national news today it was reported that some cruise line are thinking of canceling the port.  
 

It is too bad as they recently put a lot of money into the area.   
 

It wouldn’t bother me if they change the stop to somewhere else as we normally stay on board when there.  The same when in Grand Caymen.   Don’t like doing the tender, plus  the restriction on bars being open.  I know, Celebrity found  a way to get around it but with all of the cuts they may decide not to  be so liberal and restrict it to the one bar period.  

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

[calicakes]

7 hours ago, lorimay said:

We were once in Labadee having lunch at the food area close to the fence. There was a crowd of people begging for food on the other side of the fence. When security would walk by they would duck down, then pop up after they left. They were holding bowls and plates. It was difficult to enjoy our all-you-can-eat buffet with hungry people only a few feet away on the other side. We had an interesting discussion with our kids about it. 

 

Back on the ship we mentioned it to one of the crew. She told us they actually pay a lot of money to the fisherman's village near by and that no one was starving in the area. I think that's the RCCL party line. I will never go back to Labadee.

Once I saw the food being offloaded from a Celebrity ship, sitting outside in the hot sun before it was brought over to the buffet area.  I thought " Nope, not going to eat that".  For me, it was the pregnant dogs walking around begging that was the nail in the coffin. 

[calicakes]

4 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

The culture on the island though is just not a safe space for LGBTQ folks so I choose not visit.

We're also a same sex couple, I would NOT visit Jamaica either.   I lived in Ontario, Canada with my Canadian ex wife.  We had a large Jamaican population that was there during the summer for agriculture.  Nice folks, but we had a few visit us at our yard sale and ask some very inappropriate questions.  

[SusieAV8R]

On 1/29/2024 at 3:00 PM, mahdnc said:

 

They need to put a bulletin out for my hometown of Chicago.  Sadly, we have 23 murders YTD.

You are a bit behind.  Now 31 murders YTD.  But who's counting??

[NMTraveller]

I have wondered why the government does not put out travel advisories for certain cities in the USA?  Some of them would be on the list if they were in a foreign country.