Hotels in the Bahamas
Bahama Islands News, Articles and Information
Trouble in paradise: Crime in the caribbean
Accounts published in Caribbean news media and on locals' blogs indicate that break-ins at small hotels or vacation rentals are occurring more frequently on some Caribbean outposts and in parts of Bermuda and the Bahamas.No overall regional statistics are available on vacation home thefts affecting tourists in the Caribbean. However, the most recent U.S. State Department consular information sheets, which give up-to-date safety information on countries around the globe, cite break-ins in the past year in St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, Aruba, Bonaire and St. Maarten. The reports also have begun recommending that visitors lock valuables in hotel safes and other properties on almost all Caribbean islands, Bermuda and the Bahamas.
Until recently, the biggest worry facing most tourists in the Caribbean was petty crime: aggressive soliciting, muggings and purse snatchings.
Couples make event out of making a baby
When Lucinda Hughes heard she would have to down sea moss elixirs while vacationing in the Bahamas, she was sure it would make her sick. Three months later, Hughes is very sick -- every morning -- and expecting her first baby in April.As Hughes and her husband, Kemry, lounged on lush beaches and swam in their hotel's infinity pool, they sipped pumpkin soup and enjoyed couple's massages and reflexology. It was all aimed at enhancing the odds of babymaking during their three-day Procreation Vacation at the Westin at Our Lucaya Grand Bahama Island.
It's part of the latest trend that has hotels around the world luring conception-minded couples by providing everything from onsite sex doctors to age-old fertility boosters promised to hasten the pitter-patter of little feet.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 - Floating hotels for Barbados
Barbados will have 14 cruise ships docked in its port, six of which will be permanently berthed as floating hotels, during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, says that country's Minister of Tourism, Noel Lynch.The eastern Caribbean island, which will host the World Cup finals in April 2007, has secured the cruise ships to complement its existing 8,000-room stock.
Minister Lynch was speaking at a press briefing at the start of the Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-29) being held in Freeport, Grand Bahama, in The Bahamas from October 20-25.
"We are expecting about 20,000 fans for the finals. Of that number, our ports will accommodate some 12,000 and the land-based entities the other 8,000 people," he told The Gleaner.
According to the minister, the ship accommodation was sold out immediately to the Asian market, "The Indians, particularly, have eaten up all of the rooms," he said.
Let the workers decide
There is one very good reason why the Bahamas Hotel Maintenance and Allied Workers Union (BHMAWU) and the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU) are engaged in a heated dispute over which one of them should represent the non-managerial workers at Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort. That reason is money.For years, the BHCAWU, thanks to a 1979 amendment to the Industrial Relations Act, has been a cash cow, arguably the richest union in this country.
The amendment gave the union the right to establish an "agency shop" in hotels throughout the country, once it had gained the support of more than 50 percent of the employees of a hotel.
The establishment of an agency shop empowered the BHCAWU to have a set amount deducted as dues, not only from the salaries of its members, but all employees.
Procreation vacation?
MIAMI -- When Lucinda Hughes heard she would have to drink sea moss elixir while vacationing in the Bahamas, she was certain it would make her sick. Sure enough, three months later, Hughes is very sick -- every morning -- and expecting her first baby.
She got pregnant after she and her husband went on a three-day Procreation Vacation at a resort on Grand Bahama Island.
It's part of a trend in which hotels around the world are luring couples who are trying to have a baby. Resorts are offering on-site sex doctors, romantic advice and exotic food and drink calculated to put lovers in the mood and hasten the pitter-patter of little feet.
Even some obstetricians are promoting the trend. Dr. Jason James of Miami said he often encourages couples trying to have a baby to sneak away for a few days, and he often sees it work.
Aruba Woos Visitors, if They've Got Passports
Revamped passport rules that make it harder to travel aren't usually the kind of thing that excite us. But a group of clever hoteliers in Aruba plans to make the best of an otherwise bad situation. You see, starting on January 8, 2007, all travelers leaving the US will need a passport, even if they're headed to countries like the Bahamas, Panama or--you guessed it--Aruba. Previously, you only needed a photo ID and maybe a birth certificate to get back into the US. What's the big deal? Well, aside from the monumental headache involved in filling out the forms and waiting up to eight weeks, it now costs $97 to apply for a passport. All this for a little book containing an easily hackable microchip!Now the good news: To combat what they expect will be a drop in tourism from the US, five Aruban hotels are offering up free food and car rental vouchers for guests that get down to Aruba before the end of 2007.