CRUISE BLUES

By Jason Moore THE Palma Port Authority has been talking about enlarging the port for many years because of the enormous demand from cruise ships. Unfortunately, while all the talking has been going on there are reports that the cruise-ships are going elsewhere. In other-words the cruise ship boom in the port of Palma is coming to an end. It will still be a vibrant industry but the golden days are over. It appears that some Britons prefer boarding a cruise ship in Dover or Southampton than doing the same in Palma. Also, there will be a reduction in the number of cruise-ships which are based in the port next summer, with one vessel spending half the summer in Greece (and the other half in Majorca). This will be quite a blow. So, taking all this into account is it really worth making the port any bigger? I think not I feel that it would be much better if Majorca was able to exploit the cruise ships which are visiting the port. What about extending the actual cruise terminal to include a small shopping centre? What about free shuttle buses to the main consumer heartlands in Palma? What about an actual handicraft market in the actual cruise-line mooring area? Plenty more could be done without having to ruin more of Majorca with an even bigger port.