Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line's private cay in The Bahamas, was voted "Best Cruise Line Private Island" for the second year in a row by online cruise resource Cruise Critic in its Choice Destination Awards, something Tourism Minister Dionisio D'Aguilar said he hopes will help to entice cruise passengers to take longer stays in these islands.
According to Cruise Critic, the choice of Castaway Cay was based solely on "consumer ratings submitted with reviews" on the website.
Cruise Critic found Castaway Cay to be the best private island, as well as the top-rated Caribbean island.
According to a press release from PR Newswire on the awards, Cruise Critic named the top cruise destinations across 15 regions worldwide.
"Itineraries are incredibly important to today's cruisers, who are more focused than ever on where they're going and what they can do while they're there," explained Colleen McDaniel, senior executive editor of Cruise Critic in the release.
"Cruise lines have focused on expanding their offerings to quench that thirst for exploration, and this year's list of winning destinations shows the wide array of adventures cruising offers. You can sail among the glaciers in Alaska's Glacier Bay, feel like a character on Game of Thrones in Dubrovnik or relax in a private island cabana in Castaway Cay - the options are endless."
The release said Cruise Critic is "the world's largest online cruise community, with more than 350,000 cruise reviews".
There has been much concern in the past regarding how The Bahamas benefits from private islands owned by cruise lines. The number of Bahamians employed on these islands is small, and there are concerns that the spending by tourists on the islands does not trickle into the Bahamian economy on any large scale.
However, D'Aguilar said he hopes the short trips to private islands made by cruise ships entices passengers to want to see more of these islands and come back as stopover visitors.

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