Calls and emails to Carnival Cruise Line by me have not been answered, but a reservations agent for the company did confirm that their itineraries no longer include a stop at the island of Grenada. Not all news is controversial however. The goal of course, is to give the cruise ship passengers such a fabulous time and value when they arrive that they want to return on a land based vacation and stay a week or more. Before the Carnival decision, the number of cruise ship passengers had doubled from 1996 to 1998, but just as the tourism number crunchers began to celebrate, the number of hotel rooms actually shrunk. That's no real coincidence.
Hoteliers have to pay occupancy tax, income tax, social security and more.
It is an uphill battle. Cruise lines pay only port charges, which is a fee that each port city charges to dock there. Grenada, St. Lucia and their neighbors would like to raise taxes on cruise passengers, but the cruise lines have fought every attempt to do so. The cruise lines were not appreciative of the idea, and let the governments know that in no uncertain terms. They informed the governments that if they went ahead with their plan to impose the tax, the cruise lines would discontinue visiting those islands altogether.