With Hurricane Earl missing the Bahamas, the island nation not only dodged a bullet with the storm, but enjoyed a bonus from the cruise industry as well.
With storms dogging the Windward Islands and the Southern Caribbean, major cruise lines shifted around destinations and Nassau was one of them.
The Ministry of Tourism in the Bahamas disclosed yesterday, that so far, four large cruise ships were diverted to Nassau instead of their usual destinations. The Carnival Pride called at Nassau instead of Grand Turk Island.
The largest cruise ship in the world, the Oasis of the Seas was switched from the western Caribbean to the Eastern Caribbean and called on Nassau. In addition, Norwegian Cruise Line's Epic spent extra hours in Nassau as did the Jewel.
In addition, the Royal Caribbean Monarch dropped its Coco Cay destination in favor of Nassau. At Coco Cay, the passengers must be taken off the cruise ship by smaller ferry boats, and the seas were deemed too rough.
All in all, the Minister of Tourism estimated that the gain for the Bahamas was about $1,000,000 in economic activity, but this was offset by the loss of $400,000 by other cruise ships cancelling their itineraries completely.
Residents of Nassau, including this iReporter await how Tropical Storm Fiona will play out as well as a potential storm putatively called Gaston might make an appearance as well.