Port-of-Call: Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe (FWI) - coming soon!

Thwarted by a cold! I meant to post a guide for Windsurf passengers stopping in Basse-Terre by this evening, but I've been stuck at home all week nursing a cold. However, I am going to Basse-Terre tomorrow for the market and will be able to do some of the research I meant to do during the week. Hopefully, I can get some at least a draft version up by tomorrow evening.

Windstar Cruises: The Windsurf in Basse Terre

Above: Windstar Cruises’ Windsurf (1).

Two weeks ago, when M. and I were in Basse-Terre doing our weekly shopping, Windstar Cruises’ Windsurf happened to be docked at the port. We’d seen the Windsurf during the previous cruise season, and had always wanted to get a closer look, but never had a chance. Approaching the pier, a man with that tell-tale American twang was giving directions to some cruise ship passengers. I couldn’t help but introduce myself. He introduced himself as Shawn, an American living in Guadeloupe for the past 8 years and who has been working with the tourism office of Basse Terre to welcome Windsurf’s predominantly English-speaking passengers. He told me they needed help, as English-speakers are hard to come by, and so I decided I’d start going to the pier the days when Windsurf was in port.

Yesterday was my first day. Between 7AM to after 12 noon I greeted Windsurf passengers, giving directions, answering questions, and wowing them with my impeccable accent. It was physically exhausting to stand for 5 hours straight, but I enjoyed talking to the passengers. I was particularly happy to meet a couple who spoke Cantonese, and a couple from New York!

Windsurf is in port at Basse-Terre for only 5 hours - an appallingly short amount of time given all that Guadeloupe has to offer. It is, however, a good indication of Guadeloupe’s general inability to capture and retain market share in cruise ship tourism. I have been told that Windsurf weighs anchor here principally for unloading waste. Sad, isn’t it? And the fact that Basse-Terre does not figure as a port of call for Windsurf’s 2010 season seems to give weight to the rumor that even in this, Guadeloupe has failed: Apparently, Windstar has found some other port that charges less for the privilege.

But no one ever got ahead by dwelling on the negatives.

According to its excursion brochure, Windsurf offers only three options for Basse-Terre port of call. One excursion leaves Basse-Terre by the west, driving up the leeward coast of Basse Terre to Malendure beach for a ride on the Nautilus, a glass-bottom boat, with a chance of snorkeling, at the Jacques Cousteau reserve. The second excursion leaves Basse-Terre by the east, driving north towards Capesterre-Belle-Eau for the Carbet Falls. The third excursion is a walking tour in Basse-Terre.

Only a handful of passengers seemed to have signed up for even these three excursions (the walking tour was even canceled since too few signed up). The vast majority came down from the boat just for a quick tour of the city. And most came down well past 10AM, having been told, it seems, that there wasn’t much to see or do. Basse-Terre is certainly not well known for its sites, but to say that there isn’t anything to see or do seems to me an appalling lack of curiosity and a willful condescension.

We had nothing to offer the passengers except a few maps, but we soon ran out. And to be perfectly honest, I personally did not find them incredibly user-friendly.

I happen to have gone on a great number of cruises for my young age - eight, in fact, and I am not even thirty. I have also traveled quite a bit off of cruise ships. So, I feel like I know what kind of information a tourist is looking for.

I might have tried to propose writing an English-language map and guide for the Basse Terre Tourism Office and getting paid for it, but seeing that that our little stand on the port had absolutely no signage, no pamphlets, and just a few maps, that they do not even have an actual office, I think it would be a waste of my time. Still, I am sorry to see Basse-Terre (and Guadeloupe in general) so thoroughly maligned - nothing to see, indeed!. So, I am determined, in my own small way, to remedy this. I am going to put together my own little guide for Basse-Terre with an accompanying map and will post it here. Hopefully, I'll have written it up properly so that Google will pick it up and show it as a result.

There are five remaining cruises where Windsurf makes a call at Basse-Terre (2). I'm going to try to have the guide up by next Saturday, December 19, before Windsurf passengers leave home for their cruise.




(1) Photo taken from windstarcruises.com
(2) These are the dates that Windsurf calls at Basse-Terre: Nov 27 2009, Dec 11 2009, Dec 22 2009, Jan 15 2010, Feb 12 2010, Feb 26 2010, Mar 12 2010.

Americans Tourists in Guadeloupe

While doing some internet research this morning, I came across this review in the NYtimes. The writer compares the Guadeloupe to what it was 15 years ago, noting the major changes that the island has undergone in those ensuing years. Its a very different perspective, one that carries odd assumptions (the writer is astonished not to hear a word of English spoken during his two-week stay - why would he? The island is French), and a bit of misplaced nostalgia (the writer laments the rise of local cuisine at the detriment of classic French cuisine). The review was published 4 1/2 years ago, but it is actually still an accurate depiction of tourism on the island: the inconvenient flight connections, the mad driving. At the end of the article, one is certainly not convinced about choosing Guadeloupe as a vacation destination.

While I can neither claim a long nor profound acquaintance with the Guadeloupe, I certainly saw the substantial barriers to American tourists and wrote about it here and here. So it was no surprise that I also found incredibly negative reviews of the island from American tourists:

"Stay Home, Unless You Speak Fluent French: Walking on the "beach" next to our "resort" turned into a nightmare for us when a local accosted us, asking us if we were American and calling us criminals and generally ranting about all the problems of the world and how American criminals were at the center of them. Honestly my wife and I felt a bit out of place even before this, with all but a few people on the island treating us in a courteous manner. We honestly did our best to communicate and to act politely, and in my opinion did not stand out really compared to any of the mostly French tourist that happened to be around. Stares from the locals were quite disconcerting, and after the beach incident we decided to leave...Apparently American standards of sanitation are very high...All in all from the information we gathered regarding Guadeloupe we learned very little that is current and or timely. The resentment toward Americans is obvious, the populated areas are dirty, and somewhat unseemly. The flora and fauna are absolutely beautiful, and I'm sure that this island is world class as far as its beauty. Too bad the rest of the island is not."

"Go Someplace Else!!!!:
Pros: Beautiful island
Cons: They hate Americans!!!
The Bottom Line: Travel to a more pleasant island where the locals are a bit more friendly."

Both reviews were taken from epinions.com. To be fair, these 2 reviews were the only completely negative reviews out of 9. But, to be fair, the other 7 repeated many of the same complaints. I imagine also that the strong anti-American sentiment was related to the time period (both reviews were written in May 2003, which marked the end of the Iraq invasion and the beginning of the occupation), and that American tourists would find attitudes much altered (read my posts about Barack Obama).

What I can say is that Guadeloupe should never be the destination of choice for (White) tourists seeking to (re)live the good 'ol colonial days. Nor should it ever be for those simply looking for Caribbean sun and surf served with rum cocktails. There are far better (and cheaper) destinations that meet the (arguably high) expectations of Americans. Those Americans who would venture here should be interested in the life and culture of this island that I try to describe here - the politics, the music, the food, etc. - with, of course, a bit of sun, surf, and rum thrown in.

Cruising to Guadeloupe

My mother wants to visit and has been looking into cruises that have Guadeloupe on their itinerary. But she's stumbled upon a problem: nobody goes to Guadeloupe. She did her search on Expedia.com, and out of 64 cruises offered in the Eastern Caribbean, only one makes a stop in Guadeloupe.

As I have mentioned before, Guadeloupe is not the destination of choice for Americans vacationing in the Caribbean. Several related factors make Guadeloupe an unpopular cruise destination also. For example, according to a report published in 2003 by the Inter-American Committee on Ports, market share is directly proportional to the distance from US mainland. Therefore, "the islands closest to the US such as Nassau, St Thomas, San Juan and St Martin, experience the highest market shares" (1). In terms of distance from the US, Guadeloupe is not well positioned. The report also notes that "historically, the English speaking destinations have dominated the industry," which is yet another constraint to Guadeloupe.

Beyond the geographical and cultural issues, I suspect that there may be some logistical problems. I've seen the Holland America ships (Maasdam and Staatendam) that dock regularly in Basse Terre, and they are very small (2). The ships sit right against the shoreline so the water must not be very deep. I've never seen the dock or terminal in Point-à-Pitre, but Costa Atlantica (3) dock regularly, so the dock must be a good deal larger than the one in Basse Terre. The dock is only a few years old though.

But, is it possible that the industry itself is turning American passengers away from Guadeloupe?

Costa cruise ships make stops in Guadeloupe. What is peculiar is that only ships originating from Europe make a stop in Guadeloupe. At least, according to the American page for Costa. Checking the French page, there are itineraries for the Eastern Caribbean, originating in the Dominican Republic, and making a stop in Guadeloupe.

It is clear that ships originating in Europe are cost-prohibitive to Americans and so becomes an effective barrier to Americans to visit Guadeloupe. But, apparently, it goes beyond that. When my mother contacted Costa agents by phone and requested the ship with an Caribbean-only itinerary, making a stop in Guadeloupe, the agent told her she could not book her for that trip. My mother would have to call agents in Canada.

It would appear, then, that the cruise industry has decided for American passengers that Guadeloupe holds no interest for them.

(1) Atherley, Kenneth A. "Cruise Industry-Related Challenges Facing Caribbean Destinations." Organization of American States Inter-American Committee on Ports. Sep 2003

(2) For comparison, see statistics below:
Maasdam
Gross Tonnage: 55,451 grt.(One registered ton equals 100 cubic feet)
Length: 720 feet
Passenger capacity: 1,258

Staatendam
Gross Tonnage: 55,819 grt.
Length: 720 feet
Passenger capacity: 1,258

Freedom of the Seas:
Gross Tonnage: 154,407 grt.
Length: 1,112 feet
Passenger capacity: 4,370

(3) Costa Atlantica
Gross Tonnage: 85,619 grt.
Length: 960 feet
Passenger capacity: 2,114

Number 22

I was surprised to find that Guadeloupe made it on today's New York Times article, 39 Reasons to Go to the Caribbean This Year. The order in which the islands appear doesn't seem to correspond to any sort of ranking. Still, Guadeloupe came in at no.22, early enough in the list to escape being considered an afterthought, I think.

Guadeloupe remains largely unknown to Americans. A number of factors contribute to this. Americans need a passport to vacation here. And, of course, they need Euros to pay for it. French-speaking Guadeloupe presents language difficulties for strictly anglophone Americans. Considering the similarities between the various islands in the Caribbean, Americans choose the one that is least problematic.

The most significant factor, however, is the fact Guadeloupe simply doesn't offer what Americans want. No, its not the sand and the surf - Guadeloupe certainly has a lot of that. What Americans are looking for are the all-inclusive resorts, beach towel service and fruity alcoholic drinks with the little umbrellas. In fact, the article highlights that fact right in the beginning:

...with new hotels continuing to open, high-end resorts raising the bar on amenities, family-oriented getaways expanding their offerings and talented chefs starting restaurants that are transforming the region’s culinary scene, there are plenty of reasons for vacationers to seek some solace in the sand and surf of the Caribbean this winter.

Guadeloupe may have a few resort hotels, none are operated by large chains. Without that sort of capital, the resorts simply can't offer the dazzling grounds, or great amenities that can be had on other islands. Just reading the entry on Guadeloupe says it all: "...several established locations have undergone renovations for the coming season, as the island continues to modernize." Thankfully, Guadeloupe's tourism doesn't depend on the NYTimes to draw in the tourists. The description brings to mind out-dated hotels in the midst of a developing country. Still, I suppose its better than the treatment Martinique got: in a 60-word review, the writer uses a good 10 or so to describe the destruction of St.Pierre by volcanic eruption.