I had house guests last week. They were from the US and this was their first visit to the Bahamas. I thought you would like to hear their impressions as they told them to me.

First, the good news. They loved the people! They met many of them as they went about sightseeing and shopping. They found Bahamian people friendly and helpful. They loved the beach. They spent most of their time at Goodman's Bay. However, they talked about the people the most. They like us Bahamians!

Now the bad news! (here we can learn.) Everything was too expensive! They have a few bucks themselves so it is not like they are poor. They could not get over the cost of beer! (Even when we brought it from a shop. At a bar or hotel! Forget it!) They felt the food was too expensive in Restaurants, but the quality was good. They were a little shocked by the food stores. They had never seen steaks that had green edges!

They felt that the place looked untidy. Public garbage cans were full to over flowing. Bottles etc. were to be found on every beach they went to. The national monuments (Forts etc.) Looked run down and were not being used to there full advantage. The roads were full of bumps and holes, and the local drivers! They said it was like driving in a "Demolition Derby." They kept asking me if there were any road rules here!

I asked them the BIG question. "Would you return to Nassau for another visit?" There was a long pause. Yes, they would - to see my wife and I. But if we where not here, no, they would not. I also asked them if they would recommend Nassau to their friends. They said, "only the rich ones!"

It seems, folks, that we are pricing ourselves out of the market!

Interesting... My mother and her husband, my brother and his wife will be here this weekend for the first time, not as tourists just seeing Bay Street.

My wife (bahamian) and I live in the Coral HArbour / Adelaide area.

I will keep you posted as to how they view Nassau on the otherside.

lol, I was planning on taking them to Cable Beach and Lyford Cay supermarkets to give them an idea how much things cost here, after they fill my vehicle up with gas.

dreeve, I will look forward to your report!

The report is:

They were shocked when I took them shopping at the Super VAlue in Cable Beach. I picked this store because it is the cleanest in New Providence. If I had taken them to any other food store, they wouldn't have eaten the food.

I was told the prices there are twice that in the states right now. The meat prices stunned them. $14.95 per pound for steaks? The price for shampoo and toilet paper shocked the sh&t out of them.

I did have a small wish list and they brought over some items. After seeing the items in the store, they understood our list.

They came over by cruise ship, but as we spent the day at our new place on the beach, with an extra room, they will be back soon and spend the weekend, rather than a day and bring a cooler of meat...lol

It was great seeing the look on their eyes when I unlocked the gate and viewed up the driveway. Sister-in-law asked how close is the ocean to you here. Just 30 feet past the porch I told her. WoW they all said when they got out of the car and viewed the calm ocean.

Before we took them back to the ship, I stopped to get gas. I paid $3.12 a gallon in Coral Harbour. They cried.

One thing they enjoyed was our place on the beach out west "On the Beach" for $700.00 a month rent.

My brother found a live conch and many other new things while we went out snorkling. I told him to put the conch back down as it was undersized. He was recovering from a poision Ivy thing and the salt water soothed it. They ilv3e in Stuart, Florida, yet never go to the beach.

In all, we had a really nice day. Their last trip was for our wedding party almost two years ago.

Hope you enjoyed the update.

Dreeve

Yes, dreeve, I did enjoy your report. Thank you. It seems that they liked our country. However, they were shocked at the prices! No surprise there!

Has anyone else out there entertained visitors? Let us hear from you.

I've entertain a few...

One didn't like the dogs ova here. they said it's the first time they eva seen that the cars gatta wait on the dogs and there r so many all over the place........it totally shocked him.

Next the roads ohh my, one lady from texas said u can't be pregant an come over here, u'll loose the baby....they didn't really like it.

Yes and the prices.....well one say u can expect it since we import but it is totally rediculous.....they went well ova there income....an i mean u can go into one supermarket/city market an find one price and go in the next and find another...y can't they be the same....it's terrible...

But i learned...buy their groceries and let them shop from one place...

but it's kinda crazy ova here...if it aint one thing it's another...

until....................

good morning i work in the hotel for years and have a very close contact with all my guest that visit there,feed back that i get from them are
1.most of the people that the hotel put in position dont have customer services relationship they never answer the right question, they dont know much about their own country,some are very rude,take long to answer the telephone and when they do it is so bad,
2.stop the fake smiles
3.most of the places that they go are so dirty,
4.more loving people should get these positions

I hope we find a new industry soon because we are really losing our tourists. we're not listening to them.

Thanks, all of you, for your replies. Anyone else have something they would like to share with us?

I hope we find a new industry soon because we are really losing our tourists. we're not listening to them.
I think your right chancellor but whoes fault do you think it is?

I think your right chancellor but whoes fault do you think it is?


1-management for improper training.
2-management for not firing people when they dont do their job properly
3-governnment for allowing those labour boards to run things
4-the employees who need a new line of work

but in reality its typical in Nassau on a whole with most businesses. which means there is an attitude problem with Nassuvians on a whole.

I also asked them if they would recommend Nassau to their friends. They said, "only the rich ones!"

Hey, thanks for posting this.

I was thinking the very same thing. I want to move down there but it seems it would be best if I were rich. And I'm talking about building my own house on the beach and flyin' my OWN shyt in-rich.

Don't come here to live! Inefficient, costly, ignorance are just some of the better qualities you find in the Bahamas. The beaches are pretty good though only if you can find a clean one. :cool:

I was over on PI yesterday. I stopped into a shop there to buy a pen. Mine had run out of ink. There was one American lady ahead on me on the check out line. It seemed to be taking a long time to approve her Visa card. In the end the assistant said, "The lines is still down! We can't get approval. Do you have cash money?" The lady's bill for all the items she wanted was about $200.00.
"Can't you call and get a voice approval? She asked
"No, the lines dem is down from yesterday." Was the abrupt reply.
"Is there any way I can pay with a card?" The American asked.
The assistant replied, with what should be the Bahamas national saying, "I ain't know!"
The women left. Without buying.

When my turn came, I put down the cash and said, "Why don't you get a cell phone, someone here must have one or go down to head office may be they could lend you one. At least you could get voice approval. I assume that the trouble is only on the phone lines and not with Visa itself?" The assistant, who turned out to be the manager, sucked her teeth and said, "That cost too much." I replied, that it is expensive but how expensive is it to lose a $200.00 sale? How many sales are you going to lose today? A junior assistant said that sounded like a good idea! The manager said to her,"You want to go to all that trouble?" The subordinate backed off.

There is a store that is not ready for the new financial world that is coming upon us. It can't seem to handle the world we are in already.

The worst part was yet to come. As I left the store, the American lady was outside talking to her friends about the problem. As I passed by the group, I heard her say, "What a bunch of morons!" So, another group of tourist leave our shores unhappy.

CG,

That is definately a sad situation. If that was a Manager of mine, she would be no more! When you are in the service or sales industry you definately need to stay on your toes to please the customer and go out of your way to do what you can to complete the service or sale for those repeat returns or being recommended by that person to others! Sounds like she needs retraining and her attitude needs to be adjusted.

That is a drawback to technology though. With all the computerization going on now in many businesses and they have all of their items logged into a computer system, when that system goes down they shut down also.

I had an incident one day when I went to my regular grocery store and as entering it I was informed that the computerized registers were down and not expected to be up for another three to four hours. I inquired as to if that was going to affect me being able to purchase with cash? The Cashier looked at me and said; " Of course, how else do you think that I am going to be able to check you out?"
Technology is good but it has made a lot of people forget about a backup plan! When that Cashier answered in that manner I was shocked to find out that they did not have a way of simply adding your groceries up the "old fashion way" and using a tax chart for items that were taxable. Matter of fact, they don't use their 'God given brain' to think on even how much change they need to give you because the computer will tell them everything! Don't get me wrong, I am now spoiled by some technology but I am so happy that I haven't stopped relying on myself to know how to work without it.