Vendors with retail spaces at the redeveloped cruise port have been handed their keys and are outfitting their spaces in preparation for the port's grand opening on May 26, Chief Executive Officer of Nassau Cruise Port Limited (NCP) Mike Maura told Guardian Business, adding that the spaces are 100 percent leased.

Maura said with the marine work complete and the land-side development coming to a close, the commercial spaces were handed over. He said it is expected the retail spaces will be fully open for the port's grand opening.

"The tenants are all outfitting their spaces," said Maura.

"Some are faster than others, but the expectation is at the time that we have our grand opening on May 26th, everybody's open and serving our guests."

Maura, who is currently at the Seatrade Cruise Global conference, said Royal Caribbean International voiced strong support for the redeveloped port during a panel discussion at the event.

"They applauded the progress that has been made to improve the destination of Nassau," he said.

According to Maura, NCP's bookings remain strong, with confirmed bookings for 2023 at about 4.2 million passengers, and confirmed bookings for 2024 exceeding 4.5 million passengers.

"So that tells you there's high demand for Nassau as a

destination," said Maura.

He explained that the port's grand opening will include a friends and family day on May 35th, when NCP will honor construction workers, Bahamas Customs, Bahamas Immigration and Port Department representatives who have helped to get the project to where it is.

"We're excited to finally get the opening behind us. We still have some phase two plans that will come on stream in 2024, but the material elements of the project, our amphitheater, our Junkanoo museum, the marketplace, which is the legacy Ministry of Tourism tenants - they have the authentic Bahamian products - and then the port square, those areas will all be operational. So we're excited."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian