WITH cruise ships set to arrive in June, a proposed exclusive "bubble" arrangement between the vessels and tour operators at Freeport Harbour is not sitting well with local taxicab drivers and straw vendors.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line expects to begin sailing to the island on June 12. It will be the first return of a major cruise line since the shutdown in March last year due to the COVID pandemic.

The Tribune understands a notice was sent out about a proposed bubble arrangement allowing only cruise passengers who purchased tours to leave the ship on buses to their respective tours and return to the ship.

Passengers not purchasing tours would not be able to leave the ship to take a taxicab or go to the straw market and the stores at the harbour or Port Lucaya Marketplace.

When contacted for comment, Grand Bahama Taxicab Union President Harold Curry said he was made aware of such an arrangement, which would exclude some 600 taxicab drivers on Grand Bahama from moving cruise passengers at the harbour.

Mr Curry spoke with cruise officials via Zoom on Wednesday about the matter and is hopeful some agreement can be reached for the benefit of taxicab drivers at the harbour.

“I just came out of a Zoom meeting with the cruise ships and they are telling me now they are going to work with taxi drivers to try to get taxis included they said they will get back to me,” he said.

“We had a problem with that proposed arrangement…in June about operating in a bubble and that passengers could not come off the cruise ship if they did not purchase a tour.

“Anyone who did not take a tour would have to remain on the cruise ship, and that meant…. that only passengers booked for a tour would come off the ship and go straight on the tour bus to be taken to the Garden of the Groves or Taino Beach at Bahamas Adventures, or snorkelling. If you are not in the bubble, then you remain on the ship.”

Mr Curry explained that those passengers would not have the chance to come off the ship and go to the straw market. He said cab drivers would not be getting any jobs.

“We think that would be unfair to taxi drivers and straw vendors because we were just advised by the Ministry of Tourism during the pandemic about protocols, and they know we were living up to the required protocols for taxis to have plexiglass separation, hand sanitizers, wearing masks, and gloves,” he explained.

He also noted that they have reduced their carrying capacity to half, just like the tour buses. And some cab drivers have already been vaccinated, Mr Curry said.

“So (we wanted to know) why we are not being treated the same as the tour buses when we are doing the same things, and some of our drivers have already taken the vaccine?” he said. “We were wondering why we were eliminated from moving the tourists.”

Mr Curry stressed that there are some 600 taxicab drivers on Grand Bahama who are anticipating the return of the cruise ships.

“These cab drivers ain’t work for over a year-and-a-half and something got to be wrong with that (arrangement).”

Mr Curry said he reached out to Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson at the Prime Minister’s Office in Freeport, who turned him onto Grand Bahama tourism official Steven Johnson.

“Mr Johnson put me onto the vice president of the cruise ship and we arranged a meeting. So, they are working on some kind of agreement to make sure taxicabs can also be included when the cruise ships come in June. Right now, it is looking good moving forward.”

Mr Curry said he is waiting for cruise officials to get back to him.

Straw vendor Grace Maycock said that they are struggling to survive. She represents more than 60 straw vendors at the harbour.

She said that a bubble arrangement will only benefit the cruise ships and tour operators.

“That is going to affect us tremendously,” said Ms Maycock. “From last year we were out of a job. We are hardly making ends meet; we are just struggling.”

She said vendors have been experiencing hardship for the past two years.

“We were out of work for six months after Dorian. Then, the pandemic came, and a lot of people ain’t catch themselves yet.

“And here it is, we are looking forward to really going back to work, and then we hear it is going to be a bubble, and only passengers that book tours will be able to come off the ship and go straight onto the tour bus and straight back on the ship, while the other passengers will remain on board the ship.

“What about us straw vendors out here and the store owners and other folks depending on passengers to come off the ship to spend a dollar with us?

“What they are proposing to do will affect the entire sector and the majority of persons in the tourism sector. We want the government to intervene so that we can get the benefit too,” she said.

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