Progress is inevitable, I suppose. If we are to lengthen the cruise ship pier to receive larger ships, and if the cruise trade picks up again, just imagine this: a 4,000-passenger ship on one side of the pier, a 4,000-passenger ship on the other side of the pier, and a 4,000-passenger ship in the harbour!
How are the passengers to be moved around? Provided with toilet facilities? Provided with something to do and places to go? They can’t all be shipped over to Cane Garden Bay, especially when a north swell is running.
I think Crafts Alive should be rethought altogether. It is too far from the dock. How can a walkway be made past the Central Administration Building and Maria’s by the Sea?
We need to make the “secure area” at the dock much smaller, and to build a good quality retail park in that area, with substantial modern buildings; shops that incorporate the craft stores and the tent vendors; toilets; a tourist advice bureau; refreshment bars and so on. Tour buses and taxis could have a specific area.
I see that taxi drivers are now taking ship visitors straight to Long Bay, West End for time on the beach, rather overpowering the area for hotel guests and residents. It’s only a matter of time before that practice extends to Smugglers Cove, though I doubt that Brandywine Bay will ever make it onto the tourist trail.
I also see that tour bus drivers are still using handheld microphones while driving with one hand. This should be banned, particularly with those overloaded rickety safaris and given our topography. The practice just isn’t safe. The buses also take up a length on the wrong side of the road at the “murals,” a practice that was condoned by a police car the last time I was up there!