Cruise Companies Pouring Money Into Private Resorts

Above, Norwegian Cruise Line's Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last August, I took a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line to the Bahamas. It was on the Norwegian Sky.

Part of the cruise's itinerary was a stop at Great Stirrup Cay, a private island resort owned operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. While there, a friend and I went jet skiing. 

Above, at the Great Stirrup Cay jet ski docks.

This was the first I've heard of any cruise line owning and operating private resorts. Other cruise lines have done the same. It is a lucrative business and the cruise lines are pouring money into them.

It appear there's a backlash against overtourism and the cruise lines are using these resorts as a destination for their customers. 

Financial Times has posted an article on these private resorts.

They begin it with:

The world’s biggest cruise groups are pouring money into private destinations for their customers as booming demand rubs up against a backlash against overtourism in many popular spots.

The biggest operator, Carnival, is in the midst of developing the $600mn Celebration Key on the island of Grand Bahama. The “first-ever exclusive destination to be purpose-built” for the company will open next year.

Meanwhile, rival Royal Caribbean is planning to spend a similar amount building the 200-acre Perfect Day Mexico resort on Mexico’s Caribbean coast in Mahahual. It will have beaches, water parks and other entertainments and is scheduled to open in 2027.

Another major operator, Norwegian Cruise Line, is building a two-ship pier to its own private island Great Stirrup Cay to allow it to double visitor numbers to 700,000 from 2026.

By 2025 passenger capacity at cruise company-owned private islands in the Caribbean will have more than doubled from 2019, according to Christian Savelli, cruise analytics director at Tourism Economics.

To read the full article, go here.