but it's Bruce here with travelling of Bruce hi do and today my video today is
basically a reaction of my viewers to a video that I made not too long ago
talking about how more and more passengers are not getting off of cruise
ships at certain ports you've a little bit of history here back in 1970 in
Miami you'd have five cruise ships like this
getting loaded up with a total of five to seven thousand passengers today six
ships at a time easily being taken care of in Miami up to thirty thousand
passengers per turn around in Fort Lauderdale over here and up to seven or
even eight ships in one day can come out of here you can be handling up to 40,000
passengers a day this is a whole different business look at this picture
here this is st. Martin beautiful place but my god there are six cruise ships in
port we're talking 20,000 passengers that are gonna be in that downtown area
it wasn't built for that look here this is foul-mouthed Jamaica we got two ships
here total passenger count could be up at upwards of eight thousand passengers
all getting squeezed into that little area here is Oka Rios and Jamaica same
thing it's designed to handle passengers get them on buses and get them out if
you're on an organized tour fine but if you're not on an organized tour
you can ask yourself do I really want to get off these ships at these ports what
will I see what will I do complaints from my viewers run the gamut but one of
the complaints they talk about to me is you know what Bruce I get off the cruise
ship doesn't matter where it is it can be in Cayman Islands here like
Georgetown Cayman Islands to get off the ship in dumb Cozumel I get off the ship
and in st. Thomas it's the same retailers each and every time it's the
same diamond sellers the same jewelry stores the same perfume shops they got
the same names it's like I'm in the same shopping mall again and again and again
and the reason for that is these retailers are paying top dollar to be
here to the cruise line and the port facility in rent they are paying dearly
so passengers then complain well if I don't shop there and I want to go for
just a sightseeing tour I can grab my own cab
I want the problem is which one of these guys is licensed legal and which guy is
a fly-by-night er I have no idea there are horror stories of people who have
taken cabs gone for rides and have ended up being robbed I've been you know been
taken to obscure places other horror stories our passengers are telling me
they going on organized tours only to find out that they're being driven to a
flea market somewhere out in the country they're being dropped off here for two
hours at a time and they have to buy something otherwise they can really
can't get back on the bus it really is a an intimidating thing other organized
tours like here in the Cayman Islands you're going to Stingray City used to be
cool when there was one or two boats it's not cool anymore now there's 1012
boats at a time hundreds of people in the waters this is not natural here's
another problem we have vehicles in third world countries that are not
maintained up to any kind of standard so how do you know when the last time the
brakes were checked on this vehicle do you know that the person driving this
vehicle is licensed to do so yet don't and there are accidents reported every
year by cruise ship companies and this is just causing nothing but headaches
injuries and deaths and so we come back to the ship itself my viewers tell me
look Bruce why should I get off the cruise ship even if it's in a port of
call if I've already been to Nassau four times in the last seven years what is
there to see if I am NOT gonna pay a $200 of expense to take an organized
tour and I've got family of four for example it could cost us $1,000 for the
family for to have a six-hour excursion doesn't make sense
leave the kids in the organized a daycare facility that they have on the
ship supervise staff they'll be kept busy mom and dad can head for the spine
on wine wasn't that the point of the cruise in the first place was to relax
and forget about troubles at home the other kids grown-up kids oh god they can
have so much fun on this ship they don't want mom and dad around they want to be
on their own they got the water slides they can do the obstacle courses they've
got all kinds of things to do if mom and dad want to spend time with the kids
play foosball do the obstacle courses apps
absolutely it's all there it's all on board these ships we ships never were
equipped like this 20 years ago now they are from toddlers right up to the
teenagers you got it made anyway this is the reason why more and more passengers
are not getting off of cruise ships in growing numbers they're afraid of
assaults robberies ripoff tours they don't want to do this I've been there
done that routine anymore they're afraid of the
drug dealers to some of these countries security concerns and the same retailers
at these ports again again and again so that's why more and more of them are
staying on the ships and the ships are just perfectly laid out to accommodate
your needs for the entire cruise join me Monday to Friday five o'clock Eastern
Saturdays at 2:00 we talk cruise ships six days a week live we love cruising
and we love to compare notes subscribe today give the video a thumbs up and
we'll talk too late everybody bye for now