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But Belize's tourism officials aren't blinking, they have a line and they are sticking to it. CEO Lindsey Garbutt and Director Of Tourism Seleni Matus laid out government's bottom line for us today.

Seleni Matus; Director, B.T.B
"The government has provided a very firm position to Carnival and we have been working with the few tender service providers to submit proposals to Carnival that would come close to meeting their requirements. We have signaled out that the price point that they have set which is US$5 per passenger manifested is economically unviable for our tender service providers. Yes we understand the need for cost cuts all around and I believe that our operators have been honorable and have tried to as much as possible to bring their prices down to the required price point of US$5 fee per passenger manifested, in the end we know that that price point is economically unviable. Additionally, on the issue of the tender line up we continue to hold, to stay our ground in terms of requiring that whatever business arrangement they end up agreeing to with the various tender service providers that have submitted proposals to them that the lineup needs to include meaningful and high level participation by our small tender operators."

Lindsay Garbutt, CEO, Ministry of Tourism
"What is not negotiable is a tender service that does not include the local Belizeans that have operated. From the very beginning, we said that we need a transition time during which government was prepared to assist the local tender operators to come up to the standard that the cruise ship is demanding, but it is not negotiable that there is any tendering service right now that does not include local operators at all."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it a case of seeing who blinks first, or is it case that there is a point upon which none of us, neither will blink and what happens will happen."

Lindsay Garbutt; CEO, Ministry of Tourism
"I don't know what negotiating ploys carnival is using, except for the obvious one which is the big stick."

Seleni Matus; Director, B.T.B
"I think that where we are is basically a function of unreasonable demands and all so a high level of unity demonstrated at the destination level."

Jules Vasquez
"Unreasonable demands on the part of Carnival?"

Seleni Matus; Director, B.T.B
"Of course."

Lindsay Garbutt; CEO, Ministry of Tourism
"But I think as a destination at some point we need to define what is non-negotiable because big companies keep coming at you, they keep coming at you, they keep coming at you, and at some point Belize is going to have to make a determination on what it has that is non-negotiable and for which there is not even room for discussion."

Jules Vasquez
"Where you guys punked? The Prime Minister went there, you all went there and good faith negotiations were held and yes the outstanding issue was the price and that remains the outstanding issue, but at some point you have to feel or it's been said that "uno get punk", you all went there and they said ok they are gone let us do what we want."

Seleni Matus; Director, B.T.B
"I don't understand the perception, your perception when in fact government for once in the history of cruise tourism has taken a firm stand, and I think that, that in and of itself is unprecedented and demonstrates the firmness and seriousness with which the government entered these negotiations and has stewarded the process to where it is."

Jules Vasquez
"Can we survive, cruise tourism industry, can we survive without Carnival curse lines?"

Seleni Matus; Director, B.T.B
"We will have to survive. While Carnival is the biggest cruise line in the world, there are other brands that continue to come and whose business we would work actively to increase over time and so that would be the strategy."

At this hour, Carnival's decision for next week is not known but only the Carnival Legend is scheduled for next week Thursday.

Of course the losses to the industry this week alone have been tremendous, with 9,600 cruise visitors not coming to Belize. Carnival Cruise Lines accounts for 70% of Belize's Cruise arrivals and the annual revenue from that are in the tens of millions of dollars.

Presently Carnival is fielding bids from two Belizean groups - as they work around that desired price of five dollars a head.

We'll keep following it….