The coronavirus pandemic has devastated the cruise industry, and this firm operating out of the Port of Palm Beach is feeling the pain.
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, known for its quick, inexpensive trips to the Bahamas, has sold one of its two cruise ships in yet another indicator of the economic calamity brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bahamas Paradise sold Grand Celebration, which began sailing out of the Port of Palm Beach in 2015, hoping to trim costs and raise money at a time when it and other cruise lines have all but stopped sailing because of new, strict and expensive safety protocols required by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cruise line, which has operated two ships at the port since 2018, stopped cruising in March.
“When we resume cruising, we will do so with a focus on our core two-night Grand Bahama Island micro-cation cruises onboard one ship, Grand Classica,” the company said in a statement to Cruise Critic, a travel site that first reported the news of the sale of Grand Celebration. “The decision to focus on one ship will make it easier for us to implement all necessary safety protocols and ensure that our business is sustainable long-term, so that we can continue providing a safe and enjoyable vacation to our guests well into the future.”
The Classica is slightly smaller than the Grand Celebration, with space for 1,680 passengers vs. 1,800. The Celebration, built in 1987, first pulled into the port in January 2015, replacing the Bahamas Celebration, which ran aground in Freeport on Halloween weekend in 2014.
When the Classica began sailing out of the port in 2018, it was the first time the port hosted two multiday cruise ships. At the time, the port projected revenue of $54.3 million to $62.9 million from the two ships over 10 years.
“Though sad to have to say good-bye to (the ship) it will allow the company to regroup after seven months of some pretty turbulent waters, as I know you can appreciate,” Cruise line Vice President Anita Mitchell wrote in an email to friends of the cruise line. She did not return a call for comment.
While the pandemic has brought economic pain to all cruise lines, Bahamas Paradise’s financial devastation has been particularly acute.
In August, the company and its crew members reached an $875,000 settlement for back pay after crew members had been required to work without pay for months.
Many of the 500 crew members of the Grand Celebration, which sails between Port of Palm Beach and Freeport, were kept aboard after the U.S. government halted cruises nationwide in March. Most were denied pay and passage home, while the U.S. or their home countries would not allow them in airports or on commercial flights, or the company resisted more expensive charter flights.
“These workers had no other options than to stay on these ships when the pandemic began,” Michael Winkleman, an attorney for a crew member who filed suit, told The Palm Beach Post in August. “To ask them to stay in their place of business without pay is the equivalent of forced labor.”
Bahamas Paradise’s travails represent a sharp departure from the stature it enjoyed in September 2019, when it used Grand Celebration to evacuate 1,400 refugees from the Bahamas, which had been devastated by Hurricane Dorian.
“We empathize with their situation,” Bahamas Paradise CEO Oneil Khosa said. “We have spent millions on it so far. We wanted to do the right thing.”
That evacuation did cause some consternation among Palm Beach County officials, who said they used more than $400,000 in taxpayer money to provide transportation, medication and housing for some of the refugees.
Despite those costs, county officials praised the generous impulse of Khosa and Bahamas Paradise.
“They have good hearts,” Deputy County Administrator Jon Van Arnam said at the time. “They’re doing it with the right intentions. You’re seeing the outpouring of support in the community. It’s been fantastic.”
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, known for its quick, inexpensive trips to the Bahamas, has sold one of its two cruise ships in yet another indicator of the economic calamity brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bahamas Paradise sold Grand Celebration, which began sailing out of the Port of Palm Beach in 2015, hoping to trim costs and raise money at a time when it and other cruise lines have all but stopped sailing because of new, strict and expensive safety protocols required by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cruise line, which has operated two ships at the port since 2018, stopped cruising in March.
“When we resume cruising, we will do so with a focus on our core two-night Grand Bahama Island micro-cation cruises onboard one ship, Grand Classica,” the company said in a statement to Cruise Critic, a travel site that first reported the news of the sale of Grand Celebration. “The decision to focus on one ship will make it easier for us to implement all necessary safety protocols and ensure that our business is sustainable long-term, so that we can continue providing a safe and enjoyable vacation to our guests well into the future.”
The Classica is slightly smaller than the Grand Celebration, with space for 1,680 passengers vs. 1,800. The Celebration, built in 1987, first pulled into the port in January 2015, replacing the Bahamas Celebration, which ran aground in Freeport on Halloween weekend in 2014.
When the Classica began sailing out of the port in 2018, it was the first time the port hosted two multiday cruise ships. At the time, the port projected revenue of $54.3 million to $62.9 million from the two ships over 10 years.
“Though sad to have to say good-bye to (the ship) it will allow the company to regroup after seven months of some pretty turbulent waters, as I know you can appreciate,” Cruise line Vice President Anita Mitchell wrote in an email to friends of the cruise line. She did not return a call for comment.
While the pandemic has brought economic pain to all cruise lines, Bahamas Paradise’s financial devastation has been particularly acute.
In August, the company and its crew members reached an $875,000 settlement for back pay after crew members had been required to work without pay for months.
Many of the 500 crew members of the Grand Celebration, which sails between Port of Palm Beach and Freeport, were kept aboard after the U.S. government halted cruises nationwide in March. Most were denied pay and passage home, while the U.S. or their home countries would not allow them in airports or on commercial flights, or the company resisted more expensive charter flights.
“These workers had no other options than to stay on these ships when the pandemic began,” Michael Winkleman, an attorney for a crew member who filed suit, told The Palm Beach Post in August. “To ask them to stay in their place of business without pay is the equivalent of forced labor.”
Bahamas Paradise’s travails represent a sharp departure from the stature it enjoyed in September 2019, when it used Grand Celebration to evacuate 1,400 refugees from the Bahamas, which had been devastated by Hurricane Dorian.
“We empathize with their situation,” Bahamas Paradise CEO Oneil Khosa said. “We have spent millions on it so far. We wanted to do the right thing.”
That evacuation did cause some consternation among Palm Beach County officials, who said they used more than $400,000 in taxpayer money to provide transportation, medication and housing for some of the refugees.
Despite those costs, county officials praised the generous impulse of Khosa and Bahamas Paradise.
“They have good hearts,” Deputy County Administrator Jon Van Arnam said at the time. “They’re doing it with the right intentions. You’re seeing the outpouring of support in the community. It’s been fantastic.”
It’s been anything but fantastic for the cruise industry since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
One early indicator of the rapid spread of both the virus and fear of the virus came in spring when a handful of cruise ships were denied permission to return from sailings because some passenger and crew members had contracted the virus.
Those instances raised questions about the safety of cruise ships in the face of a virus that spreads rapidly and is particularly lethal for seniors, a critical customer base for cruise lines.
In March, the CDC issued a no-sail order, which was extended in April, July and again in September.
The CDC does allow some cruises, but cruise lines must adhere to the new safety protocols. And, according to information on its website, the agency still “recommends that all travelers defer cruise travel worldwide.”
Bahamas Paradise is an important player at the Port of Palm Beach. As of Thursday afternoon, the port’s website had not yet been updated to reflect the sale of Grand Celebration.
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, known for its quick, inexpensive trips to the Bahamas, has sold one of its two cruise ships in yet another indicator of the economic calamity brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bahamas Paradise sold Grand Celebration, which began sailing out of the Port of Palm Beach in 2015, hoping to trim costs and raise money at a time when it and other cruise lines have all but stopped sailing because of new, strict and expensive safety protocols required by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cruise line, which has operated two ships at the port since 2018, stopped cruising in March.
“When we resume cruising, we will do so with a focus on our core two-night Grand Bahama Island micro-cation cruises onboard one ship, Grand Classica,” the company said in a statement to Cruise Critic, a travel site that first reported the news of the sale of Grand Celebration. “The decision to focus on one ship will make it easier for us to implement all necessary safety protocols and ensure that our business is sustainable long-term, so that we can continue providing a safe and enjoyable vacation to our guests well into the future.”
The Classica is slightly smaller than the Grand Celebration, with space for 1,680 passengers vs. 1,800. The Celebration, built in 1987, first pulled into the port in January 2015, replacing the Bahamas Celebration, which ran aground in Freeport on Halloween weekend in 2014.
When the Classica began sailing out of the port in 2018, it was the first time the port hosted two multiday cruise ships. At the time, the port projected revenue of $54.3 million to $62.9 million from the two ships over 10 years.
“Though sad to have to say good-bye to (the ship) it will allow the company to regroup after seven months of some pretty turbulent waters, as I know you can appreciate,” Cruise line Vice President Anita Mitchell wrote in an email to friends of the cruise line. She did not return a call for comment.
While the pandemic has brought economic pain to all cruise lines, Bahamas Paradise’s financial devastation has been particularly acute.
In August, the company and its crew members reached an $875,000 settlement for back pay after crew members had been required to work without pay for months.
Many of the 500 crew members of the Grand Celebration, which sails between Port of Palm Beach and Freeport, were kept aboard after the U.S. government halted cruises nationwide in March. Most were denied pay and passage home, while the U.S. or their home countries would not allow them in airports or on commercial flights, or the company resisted more expensive charter flights.
“These workers had no other options than to stay on these ships when the pandemic began,” Michael Winkleman, an attorney for a crew member who filed suit, told The Palm Beach Post in August. “To ask them to stay in their place of business without pay is the equivalent of forced labor.”
Bahamas Paradise’s travails represent a sharp departure from the stature it enjoyed in September 2019, when it used Grand Celebration to evacuate 1,400 refugees from the Bahamas, which had been devastated by Hurricane Dorian.
“We empathize with their situation,” Bahamas Paradise CEO Oneil Khosa said. “We have spent millions on it so far. We wanted to do the right thing.”
That evacuation did cause some consternation among Palm Beach County officials, who said they used more than $400,000 in taxpayer money to provide transportation, medication and housing for some of the refugees.
Despite those costs, county officials praised the generous impulse of Khosa and Bahamas Paradise.
“They have good hearts,” Deputy County Administrator Jon Van Arnam said at the time. “They’re doing it with the right intentions. You’re seeing the outpouring of support in the community. It’s been fantastic.”
It’s been anything but fantastic for the cruise industry since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
One early indicator of the rapid spread of both the virus and fear of the virus came in spring when a handful of cruise ships were denied permission to return from sailings because some passenger and crew members had contracted the virus.
Those instances raised questions about the safety of cruise ships in the face of a virus that spreads rapidly and is particularly lethal for seniors, a critical customer base for cruise lines.
In March, the CDC issued a no-sail order, which was extended in April, July and again in September.
The CDC does allow some cruises, but cruise lines must adhere to the new safety protocols. And, according to information on its website, the agency still “recommends that all travelers defer cruise travel worldwide.”
Bahamas Paradise is an important player at the Port of Palm Beach. As of Thursday afternoon, the port’s website had not yet been updated to reflect the sale of Grand Celebration.
“I believe the sale of the Grand Celebration was a good business decision for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line,” Port Commissioner Katherine Waldron said in an email to The Post. “We are looking forward to the CDC allowing cruises to begin sailing again, once the organization feels it is safe to do so.”
Waldron said port officials said have faith in the economic viability of Bahamas Paradise.
“While this year has been extremely difficult for all cruise lines, we have the utmost confidence in BPCL being able to once again set sail out of our port and resume its two-day voyages to Grand Bahama Island,” she said.
