Wayne.B wrote:
"Armond Perretta" wrote:

Now I am the owner of a superb set of Bermuda documents and charts
that is just sitting around and doing me no good.

That sounds like a good reason to sail there again ...

I don't want to discourage the original poster, and maybe it's just a
question of getting older and having made the trip many times, but Bermuda
really has changed since I began cruising and racing there in the 1980s.
There was a time when the government actually limited the number of cruise
ships visiting Bermuda. At one point cruise ships were even refused
berthing along Front Street on weekends because they blocked the view (yes,
this actually occurred). These days officials have gone in the opposite
direction and decided that the hordes visiting on cruise ships should be
encouraged, and this trend may be coming back to haunt them. For many
years most visitors arrived by air and stayed at hotels, but that is no
longer the case and has not been the case for some time. This really
changes the character of the islands and the Bermuda experience. I think
this trend will only increase in the near future. If this sounds elitist, I
would suggest that Bermuda is elitist in the first place, and has always
encouraged the view that Bermuda must not be confused with other island
destinations.

For example there is currently a vast construction project at the Dockyard
to expand wharfage available to cruise ships. Last summer there was space
for 2 ships alongside, and the expansion was designed to double this. The
question then becomes what to do with these hordes berthed at the extreme
end of the Islands far away from the other facilities and attractions on the
Islands. This is why the high speed ferry business has mushroomed in recent
years. One of the hottest topics in the local press was what the cruise
ship business has meant for local merchants, particularly in Hamilton, since
retailers and restaurant owners no longer had an automatically captive
audience. There were even gaping holes in the architecture on Front Street
where some of the old stalwarts had either moved or gone out of business.
In Bermuda this is some sort of heresy. The retail scene at St. Georges
reminded me of how the hordes of cruise ship passengers are "processed" at
the Straw Market in Nassau, Bahamas. Not a good scene.

Another hot topic was how officials should respond to the demands of cruise
ship operators who want to open casinos on board ship while in port. This
would also have a negative impact on local businesses. The cruise ship
operators seem to be saying that if Bermuda refuses their demands, they'll
simply take the ships elsewhere. It reminded me of a hostage situation,
where the genie was now out of the bottle. Look for casino gambling in
Bermuda soon.

Finally, there appears to have been an increase in drug traffic and violent
crime that once would have been totally out of character in Bermuda. In
times gone by the police blotter in the local daily paper would include an
occasional case of public drunkenness or a stolen bicycle. That's no
longer the case. Gun crime is up, and tourists have actually been murder
victims in recent years (well, at least one). It is also quite likely that
race relations that in the past almost never seemed to be an issue, have
become an issue. In other words, an enlightened attitude I always
associated with Bermuda seems to be under attack and changing.

I am trying to report this in an understated manner, but I don't know if
that's how it comes across. Sorry to report these things, but my
impressions are based on much exposure to the Islands and considerable
thought about these things.