There haven't been any cruise ship arrivals in Belize for 13 days and after Carnival Cruise Lines made cancellations last week because of Hurricane Dean, widespread panic has enveloped the cruise industry. Today Minister of Tourism Godfrey Smith led a delegation to Miami where he will meet with executives of Carnival Cruise Line to urge them to come back to Belize. Smith says he will stress that no damage was done to the tourism infrastructure. But damage was done to the north, and we are informed that Smith has circulated a disaster relief wish list and will be asking the cruise lines to contribute critical needs such as generators, zinc sheets, nails, rice, beans and flour.
Before Hurricane Dean, three Carnival cruise ships visited Belize regularly; they are the Valor, the Glory and the Legend. The Valor and the Legend with their 6,000 passengers were expected to make a call on Belize last Thursday but the calls were cancelled because Carnival wasn't sure how badly Belize had been damaged by the storm.
And the 3,500 passenger Carnival Glory that normally would have come tomorrow, has been deployed to the Eastern Caribbean indefinitely. But the good news is that according to local agent Eurocaribe Shipping, the Carnival Legend and the Valor are scheduled to return next Thursday September the sixth.
