By Alita Singh
BOBBY'S MARINA--"If the harbour only wants me to drop off passengers at the centre of town, I can do that," said St. Maarten Tender Services Managing Director Robert "Bobby" Velasquez as he weighed in on the brewing issue of merchants complaining that water tenders are not servicing the Down Street jetty.
Velasquez said he didn't go to the Down Street jetty because the agreement with St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies was for him to service the "triangle" from Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities to Captain Hodge Wharf at the centre of town and to Bobby's Marina.
Asked if he was interested in servicing the Down Street jetty, Velasquez said, "No, because that is the territory of the other water tenders operated by Connecting Waves N.V."
Velasquez, a veteran businessman and a pioneer of St. Maarten's cruise industry, said it was time for the Harbour Group to regulate the operations of the water tenders better for "a fair chance and opportunity for everyone."
Etienne "Tochie" Meyers of Connecting Waves said his company took cruise passengers to Captain Hodge Wharf and the Down Street jetty as instructed by Harbour Group CEO Mark Mingo, but there must be a security presence in the area for the safety of the passengers. "People from the ship hate to go there [Down Street jetty]," Meyers said, "but they never give a clear reason why they don't like that area."
Meyers questioned why Velasquez didn't service the Down Street jetty as well. He added that there had been times in the past when Velasquez serviced only Bobby's Marina, his private place, and not Captain Hodge Wharf.
Mingo is already working on a targeted solution to the distribution of water tenders at the three points on shore: Captain Hodge Wharf, the Down Street jetty and Bobby's Marina. It is expected that a schedule for the two tender services will be drafted for the remainder of the season and for every subsequent one.
Merchants of Down Street have been complaining that they are suffering because the water taxis don't come to the jetty at Sea Palace and due to Front Street being closed off at the l'Escargot alley. That barricade on the street creates an impression that there are no other stores farther down the street, according to the merchants.
Guaranteed shopping
Velasquez also was very critical of the onboard publications distributed to cruise passengers that offer listings of "guaranteed shopping" and a map of the recommended stores and water taxi drop-off and pick-up points.
In the booklets of Celebrity Cruise Line made by Royal Media Partners, Bobby's Marina has been left out as a water taxi stop. In others, printed by US-based Onboard Media, the marina is indicated. However, the Down Street jetty is not shown on any of the maps.
Velasquez called the Down Street jetty "the laughing bird pier." He explained that the only users of that pier were the laughing birds. "It was built for millions of guilders. It was such an emergency; it had to be built overnight."
Asked about the omissions on the maps, Onboard Media Vice President Cruise Operations Noelle Sipos said in an e-mail, "Our maps are dynamic and are updated frequently if there are changes to a port destination. Our maps also include transportation information for both land and water taxis."
Sipos added, "We have not been advised that the Port Authority in St. Maarten has committed the water taxi to making consistent stops at the Down Street pier. Therefore, Dr. A.C. Wathey Pier, the town pier and Bobby's Marina are the stops currently plotted on the map for water taxi drop-offs. Should the Port Authority decide to make consistent stops at the Down Street jetty, we would be more than happy to add that location to our map."
Going after the "guaranteed shopping" recommendations, which are basically stores and establishments that pay to advertise onboard the cruise ships, Velasquez said, the companies producing the booklets "don't pay taxes here," but are allowed to dictate where people should shop. "This is where the Chamber of Commerce should come in, and government too, to stop this."
Contacted by The Daily Herald about the "guaranteed shopping," Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) President Michelle Paige said, "Everyone is given a fair chance to advertise. It's all uniform and fair to everyone." She added that it had been up to the cruise director in the past to recommend the shops and sights, now it is in a booklet. "Some people choose to do it [advertise, ed.] or not to do it."
Paige said St. Maarten had been successful in giving cruise lines and their passengers options and showed innovation.
As for the Down Street jetty, Paige said it was useful to spread out cruise passengers as much as possible when multiple ships were in port.
Centre point
Moving from the onboard advertising to the onshore ones, Velasquez said the largest jewellery chain ? Diamonds International (DI) ? was trying to corner the market by "dominating town with signs" and TVs aboard Connecting Waves tenders and another large jewellery chain ? Joe's Jewelry ? was attempting to do the same.
His point was that these stores were paying to have cruise passengers funnelled only to the centre of town ? Captain Hodge Wharf. He had a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Discover Shopping flyer from November 2009 that offered a DI raffle along with "important points to remember." That flyer advised cruisers to "only get off the water taxi at the town pier. If you see a marina, do not get off."
The "unfair tactics" to lure cruise passengers to certain stores should be halted, Velasquez said. "Government should make sure there is equal distribution" on Front Street and the Great Bay beach promenade. He pointed to businesspeople who had invested in developing their properties that abut the promenade such as Tini Tinitali of Pasanggrahan Royal Guesthouse, Leroy de Weever and Boolchand's.
Velasquez said, "I don't blame him [DI Managing Director Moshe Hakimi, ed.] as much as I blame government and the Chamber of Commerce for not regulating the situation."
Responding to the accusation of unfair business practices, Hakimi said DI had being doing business in St. Maarten for more than 20 years and during that time had had stores in many locations. "DI bases its strategic placement of locations based on a common business-sense approach to market and traffic fluctuations."
With the Courthouse and the Cyrus Wathey Square being the centre of town and the surrounding concentration of businesses, Hakimi said in an e-mail, "It makes good business sense to concentrate our locations as close to the centre of action as possible (although not exclusively). Just as it is normal for cities throughout the world to have strategic business centres that attract the highest real estate and rental prices, it is no different in St. Maarten.
"We hear a lot of hearsay about the causes of traffic flows, but the bottom line is they are dictated by market forces and supply and demand, and not gossip, rumours or minority interests. The cruise ship industry is a very finely-tuned business that aims to satisfy its customers by taking all factors into consideration."
Further, "Speculation that DI somehow influences the traffic flow is putting the cart before the horse. Do you think if we opened a store on Kim Sha Beach the cruise ships would suddenly start sending their passengers there? It is a ridiculous notion."
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