Tourist Information:

Starting 60 miles off the coast of South Florida and stretching as far south as Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, The Bahamas is a archipelago of 700 islands, but only 29 of which are inhabited. The biggest hotels are located in the two main cities of The Bahamas. The capital city of Nassau on New Providence Island has lot of downtown traffic, big resorts at Cable Beach (and many – like Atlantis - on adjacent Paradise Island). It is the center of government and commerce. Cruise ships make regular stops in Nassau and Freeport, Grand Bahama Island on their Caribbean routes. Specially on Fridays Nassau cruise ship passengers are very disappointed about unfriendliness of downtown business, "ridiculously high" taxi prices and "lackadaisical" transportation because there might be up to 10,000 arriving tourists. Boats for the Out Island will leave from Potter´s Cay at the foot of the Paradise Island Bridge.

In Nassau, there are two Tourist Information Centres at the airport, one downtown in Market Plaza and another at Rawson Square. In Freeport/Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island, you will find Tourist Information Centres at the airport, the International Bazaar, Port Lucaya Market Place and Freeport Harbour.

Bulletin boards becoming a important part of the travel industry is a problem and a conflict of interests between potential tourists on the one side and the whole industry on the other side. More and more travel boards like www.fodors.com, www.bahamas-mon.com or www.bahamas-on-line.com  are getting monitored. Commentators will be banned or negative comments deleted because they are hardly real travel forums anymore but they are commercial travel websites selling travel packages, books and advertisements.

Travel journalists should be prepared to initiate controversial debate on destination areas like the Bahamas. In the long run it is better for the Bahamas to stop publishing wrong  informations and marketing slogans like "It is better in the Bahamas". In fact there is wide spread crime, corruption, injustice, drug  trade and a high murder rate in The Bahamas. Visit also www.bahamas-travelboard.net.tc 

For those who like to visit the Family Islands, the price for being away from Nassau or Grand Bahama is the little inconvenience of local transportation problems. The major Out Islands are The Abacos, Acklins/Crooked Island, Andros, The Berry Islands, Bimini, Cat Island, Eleuthera/Harbour Island, The Exumas, Inagua, Long Island, Mayaguana and San Salvador.

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Airlines: 

Air Canada, Air Jamaica, American Eagle, American Airlines, AA, A.O.M., Bahamasair, British Airways, Comair, Continental, Gulfstream, Delta, Chalks, US Air, Air Tran, ATA, Can 3000, Skytrek, Mexicana, Sun Country, Reno Air, Ryan Air, Funjet, Air Europe, Island Express, Twin Air, Falcoon Air, North American  

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Cruise Lines:

Carnival Cruise Line, www.carnival.com
Fantasy, every Friday and Tuesday
Ecstasy, every Saturday
Celebrity Cruises, www.celebrity-cruises.com
Century, every other Friday (twice monthly) seasonal-winter months
Costa Cruise Line, www.costacruises.com
Costa Romantica, every other Saturday
Costa Victoria, Twice monthly, seasonal-winter months
Disney Cruise Line, www.disneycruise.com
Disney Magic, every Saturday and Tuesday
Disney Wonder, every Friday and Monday
Holland America, www.hollandamerica.com
Westerdam, once weekly Friday or Sunday, Jan - April
Volendam, Rotterdam, Noordam, every week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Premier Cruises, www.premiercruises.com
Oceanic, every Saturday and Tuesday
Ocean Breeze, every Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday
Royal Caribbean International, www.royalcaribbean.com
Sovereign of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas,  Enchantment of the Seas, every Tuesday and Saturday
Norwegian Cruise Line, www.ncl.com
Premier Cruise Lines, www.premiercruises.com
Princess Cruises, www.princess.com
Radisson Seven Seas Cruise Line, www.rssc.com
Royal Caribbean International, www.rccl.com
Cruise International, Crystal Cruises, Discovery Cruise Line, Dolphin Cruise Line, Majesty Cruise Line, Regal Cruises, Royal Olympic Cruises, Seabourne Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises

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Money Matters:

Currency: 
The Bahamian dollar is on par with the US dollar, and you can use either throughout the islands. Be carefull that you do not have to much Bahamian currency which has hardly any value abroad. According to the regulation you would not be able to change at the day of departure a amount of 500 Bahamian Dollars into American, Canadian or British currency for instance.

Departure Tax: Each person leaving The Bahamas must pay a $15.00 departure tax. Children under 6 years old are exempted.

Tipping: It does not matter if you are satisfied with the service or not the usual tip is 15 per cent. Many resorts and hotels automatically add a service charge to cover gratuities.

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Ongoing Events

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Official publishes a calendar of ongoing events. Helpfull is also the travel magazine What´s on which you can free at the airport, in hotel or shops. Nightlife might not be what you expect. Long time visitors claim that there’s a shortage of nightspots and local talents to make a vacation day last long after twilight.   Many cruise ship passengers stay often on board because Nassau downtown is ghastly in the evenings Spring breakers should read also the travel warning which was published 2003 or visit www.your-bahamas-newsletter.de.vu.

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Newspapers - Online News:

Be careful if you read something about The Bahamas. Consider that most of the broschures are published by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. ZNS – the Bahamas TV and Radio station – is owned by the Bahamas government and lawyers (the Bahamas legal profession has a bad reputation) are shareholders of The Nassau Guardian which publishes also editions for some Out Islands. Therefore we recommend specially a leading newspaper called The Tribune,

www.bahamasb2b.com as well as some outside sources like www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news (search for Bahamas) or

www.bahamasnews.com. And visit

www.travelboard.net.tc for travel related comments.

http://www.jonescommunicationsltd.com/journal/

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/

http://www.znsbahamas.com/

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/

http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/cat/ce785a18ec739f45/

http://www.travelboard.net.tc

http://www.thenewbreed.tv/

http://www.miami.com

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Population:

The last official census result was in 1990. At that time, there were 171,542 people living in New Providence, and 254,685 in The Bahamas. The projected estimate for this year is more than 300,000.

One in every 200 Bahamians is in prison. The rate of imprisonment in the Bahamas, 478 per 100,000, is the 8th highest in the world and four times that of the UK and Canada.

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism draws the picture of The Bahamas is colorful lights but increasingly negative aspects are published. Read for instance: The www.boycottbahamas.com website is attracting international attention to our incompetent, insensitive, corrupt and disreputable government, making us all look like a nation of greedy, insensitive pirate bafoons, when truthfully, only 70 per cent of the population fits into that category. Take the widly popular boycottbahamas, add to it issues and derogatory Web sites created by the ripped-off investors, spice it up with the international reputation of our pirate-like judicial system, sprinkle it with our ever increasing crime rate, add a pinch of money laundering and financial crimes, throw in a dash of international copyright violations and top it all off with the human rights violations, contained in the Amnesty International report, and you've got a great recipe for the failure of a nation. Visit also www.bahamas-international.net.tc

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Prices:

The problem in the Bahamas starts already when you enter the country. In the Bahamas is a deep-down dishonesty in action every day. Bahamian thieves are relieving the local store chain of between $3 and $4 million a year (published in July 2003), pushing up the food prices by an extra 15 - 20 per cent. Stealing is wide spread even in companies and hotels. Compare some prices: One pound of bananas costs in Nassau 1.25 $, in Florida 0.39 $, a bag of crackers costs in a Bahamas shop 1.78 $, in Miami just 0.99 $. For a 2 ltr. Coke (produced in Nassau) I had to pay at a supermarket on Paradise Island even 3.25 $, one week later in South Beach I got a big bottle for just 0.99 $.

Tourists claim that they do not get real value for their money in the Bahamas. Check this: water & sewerage rates for water 1000 gal.: 0.90 $ in Toronto, 12 $ in Nassau. Air flight from Nassau to Fort Lauderdale (180 miles) 200$, in Canada you pay 100 $ for 1800 miles. A can of beer costs 5 times what you pay in Europe. Strange: even the local Bahamas Kalik beer is cheaper in Miami than in Nassau. Costs are scaring tourists away!

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Hotels:

During the quarter, hotels experienced a 4.4 percent reduction in income. Industry-wide, hoteliers actually got a little more per night for their rooms - $146.64 on average. But occupied room nights decreased by 6 percent with the average occupancy falling to 57.5 percent from 63.7 percent during the same period the year before. This past September was the worst September Bahamas hoteliers have experienced in more than 25 years.

According to Bahamas Consult tourism growth weakens also due to increasing reports about crime, corruption, drug trafficking and attacked spring breakers and other tourists. Bahamas visitors would also more and more claim that in big hotels like Our Lucaya in Freeport, Wyndham or Radisson Cable Beach Resort in Nassau, Sheraton Grand and even the two towers at Atlantis Resort and Casino (Paradise Island) would not attrack so much because those hotels with 500, 1000 and more rooms would not garanty the real tropical experience. Room rates are much higher till april.

The Nassau Town Planning Department of The Bahamas Ministry Of Works will not win any award because those hotel objects are nothing else than big offences against caribbean designs.

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Transportation:

Taxicabs, rental cars and motor scooters are available in most areas in The Bahamas. Driving by a motor scooters is not highly recommended in Nassau. Remember that you must drive on the left, and look right when crossing streets on foot. You may use your driver's license for up to three months, after which you must obtain a Bahamian one.

Buses are also a way to get around-in Nassau and Grand Bahama, jitney buses run daily from 6:00am to 6:30pm.

Taxi Warnings from Bridaltips.com: No caribbean vacation resort ever warns you of the things to watch out for, so I'll tell you here. One suggestion if you take a taxi anywhere from Atlantis Resort, ask the taxi driver before you get into the cab, how much your fair will be.  To go to downtown Nassau it should not cost more than $5, it's only 1 mile away, and a 3 minute ride.  Make sure they don't try to charge you $5 for each person, it should be $5 for the entire vehicle, and make darn sure you and the taxi driver are crystal clear on that point.  There's no laws, no meters, nothing to protect you.  You have to be a lawyer to take a taxi in Nassau.  There are quite a few tricks the taxi drivers pull so you must be ready to outsmart them.  Don't rely on the Atlantis Hotel valets to quote you a price, each taxi is different and the valets really don't know the price.  The valet could tell you it's $5, so 6 of you pile into a taxi, then at your destination 1 mile away the driver wants $30 for the whole car load, so watch out.

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Weather:

Keep in mind that December, January and February can be rainy and not only for just for a half an hour. The best time is from middle March till middle of May. June is the wettest month of the year in the Bahamas and is the beginning of hurricane season which can last till November. The Caribbean Sea can churn out a tropical storm formation even in December like it was in 2003. It's effects had been felt in the Bahamas for days. Strong winds from the storm and another high pressure system over the Atlantic have battered the islands. This is also important for cruise ship travellers

Unfortunatelly you won´t get those informations on the www.bahamas.com website or any messageboard in order not to scare tourists away but it was interesting to hear that the Bahamas Electricity Corp. blamed bad weather for the series of power outages and a line fault for blackouts. "Those problems were totally related to the rainy weather and the lightning storms. There were a number of areas that were out because the whole island experienced stormy weather. It is also very difficult for workmen to be out there on the power lines with a lot of lightning“, BEC confirmed.

We recommend to check the forecasts at the weather channel and consider that the summer months are very hot anyhow. Why do you want to sweat even at the beach. Consider that the feeling temperature can be easily 110 F. Visit  Weather Channel

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Health:

It is correct that all places which serve food & drink to the public, including native restaurants, are licensed and inspected by Bahamas health authorities but after repeatedly lifting the lid on unsanitary practices in several food establishments Ministry of Health should think about a new system of inspections in restaurants and hotels. Since Tamarind Hill at Village Road was closed due to various reasons (also rats) for instance people in charge should have called already for better investigations. It is interesting for tourists too because Tamarind Hill was visited mostly by tourists. Restaurants in the Mackey Street and East Street area have been found in violation of health rules recently.

It is well known that the city water has a terrible quality. Most visitors prefer drinking bottled water. Reports are saying that bottled water can carry bacterias after they have been stored or carried to long in the sun.

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