7 News Belize

Harvest Heaven
posted (December 16, 2016)
As we told you last night, the media was taken on an all day tour of Harvest Caye yesterday. We gave you just a small preview last night - but tonight we have the story of all the attractions at Harvest Caye, and why Norwegian is banking big on this hundred million dollar investment:...

Colin Murphy - Senior VP., Destinations & Strategic Development, NCL
"When I'm here, I'm usually the only guy that doesn't actually have much to do so I walk around and I talk to the passengers and I would guess that speak to a thousand passengers a day and response has been overwhelmingly positive. I hear comments like best port ever, best port on this Itinerary, wish we had more time. So it's been overwhelmingly a positive reaction from passengers."

Daniel Ortiz reporting
On the Ground at Harvest Caye, it is very easy to see why any tourist who lands here, may immediately want to spend his or her entire day right in this location. All around, it is a paradise, conducive to fun, rest, and relaxation. With so much to do and enjoy, more than likely, you'll want to stay longer.

Norwegian gave us but a small taste. We had just 5 and a half hours to take in as much of their multi-million dollar investment as we could, and we ended up having to extend our stay past our scheduled time of departure.

So, what's the experience like?

Well, once the guests exit their ship, they walk onto the island from Harvest Caye's berthing facility - the only one in the country. There, they walk past this gate, which resembles those entrances at mega theme parks in the US.

They have now entered the Village, and they are greeted by a number of gift shops, mostly selling Belizean goods. Southern artisans and craftspersons have all their local wares on display.

Colin Murphy - Senior VP., Destinations & Strategic Development, NCL
"We have a beautiful retail village with lots of local retailers including 8 kiosks which is designed for local artisans to have access to the market."

After the guests have had their fill of shopping or browsing around, they have a number of activities to choose from.

It's an Island, so it makes sense that one would go straight for the waterfront. Harvest Caye's beach is spacious and can comfortably accommodate hundreds of guests who want to lounge, sunbathe, or take a swim in the sea.

Colin Murphy - Senior VP., Destinations & Strategic Development, NCL
"We have a beautiful beach here. We say its 7 acres but think it's more than 7 acres and that's very popular. We have 2 thousand 3 hundred lounge chairs and again it doesn't seem busy when the passengers are in because they are walking around."

For those guests who want a resort-experience, they can sign up for one of these villas off to the right side off to the right side of your screen.

For a drink or something to eat, the island's food and beverage providers are never too far away, and the waiting staff is always ready and willing to take orders. Provisions Belize has bar and grill joints set up at strategic locations all over the island.

Dustin Bowen - CEO, Provisions Belize
"It's a food and beverage venue called Horse-eye Jacks obviously that's a local species of fish that we catch and we try to keep that true coherent to Belize, but we have all the villas over here for the guests and this main food venue for them Horse-eye Jacks is what gives them all this food and beverage services. Just so you can get a look at Laughing Bird bar and grill obviously all local hardwood. These are actually bush sticks that we used. I believe this is cabbage bark, the stain that it has on it all commercial high technology equipment that we are using in the bars, top of the line food grid equipment."

But, the island's main restaurant facility is the Landsharks Bar and Grill. It's an indoor and outdoor restaurant with an upper deck which opens up the view to almost the entire island. Here, Bowen's staff have prepared themselves to accommodate the highest volume of customers on all those busy cruise ship days.

Dustin Bowen
"Landshark Bar and Grill the Jimmy Buffet brand restaurant that we have here on the island. So the entire restaurant itself main floor and upper deck and patio area we seat about 3 hundred people. If we include the pool, the pool and the lounge chairs an additional 350 lounge chairs out there so capacity of about `650, 700 with the standing room alone. This is our main bar as you can see again all high technology equipment, frozen beverage machines, island oasis, blenders we make a multitude of different drinks and so forth. I wanted to take this opportunity to show you something that we are really proud of and that's our 1 of a kind kitchen. I don't think any other kitchen like this in the entire country."

He's particularly proud of the amenities of the Kitchen area. It has all top-of-line equipment set up to take on any culinary challenge that might be thrown at them.

Dustin Bowen
"Stove systems, fire suppression systems, everything in place. Also previously with us at Riverside Tavern, Oscar is now with us at Landshark Bar and Grill. Oscar has been working with us and with myself for over 15 years. when we rolled out the menu in order to get it right and to ensure that we first took a look at quality and service and then we added more items to do the volume and add a little bit more variety in that menu so right now we are doing prep out here but this kitchen here will lend itself to all the pool goers. so now this is going to be the pool menu that we are going to execute here in this kitchen and it'll go through this window so the servers don't have to come all the way back around into the kitchen, they'll come up to this window, we'll pass them their food and they go straight out to the pool."

The Landshark Bar and Grill is directly connected to Harvest Caye's 15 hundred square-foot pool. It has swim-up access with chairs and a counter from which the waiting staff can take orders. It also has a dedicated bar of its own for passengers on the other end of pool.

Colin Murphy
"We focused a lot on the things that people can do without being charged. So the pool is obviously a great feature its 15 thousand square feet I'm sure it's probably the biggest in Belize. If it's now the biggest in the western Caribbean it's close to it. Even when the big ship is in 4 thousand 5 hundred passengers to pool it doesn't seem crowded."

For the kids, there is the splash house, which is kind of like a miniature waterpark ride, and does look a good time.

Colin Murphy
"What you are looking at here is the splash pad. This is very popular with kids. A great way to cool off I think you should try it before you leave. On the first day that the Norwegian Getaway came we had a thousand kids and this place was hopping. So it's very popular with kids. A great way for the kid to cool off and then we have benches for the parents to sit and watch their kids as they have fun."

On the lagoon side of the island, there is an area for watersports, such as kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, and electric float boating.

We did not have enough time to test those out, but we did take interest in Harvest Caye's "Flighthouse". It's a 136-foot high lighthouse with a twist. The island's designers have constructed a series of ziplines which takes you on a thrilling ride all across the island. The daredevils of Harvest Caye sweet-talked us into trying the Superman zipline. Being thrillseekers ourselves, it didn't take too much to convince us to immediately sign up and suit up to take on what the zipline staff says one of the scarier flights across the island.

Travis Roberson - Flight Deck Personnel, Zipline Staff
"We always talk to the guests in a well-mannered way making them feel as comfortable as possible because some of them are new to this experience and it's kind of scary the first time you go on and a lot of them of afraid of the height. A lot of them a very enthusiastic afterwards. they come with big smiles and they tell us that it was amazing I was scared for the first 10 feet but afterwards the thrill you get when you go out the whole course and your guides are always checking making safety checks to make sure they are safe and they feel the comfort so they know they are in good hands."

And if you are glutton for even more, or you've done all that and want a different experience, as a Harvest Caye visitor, you can sign up for a mainland tour with H20 Tierra. They're the contracting partner that NCL has engaged to handle all tours off Harvest Caye.

Tom Wilson - Owner, H20 Tierra
"We have 5 tours here currently 4 around shore and 1 is a marine tour."

So, for NCL, are they satisfied with how the Harvest Caye pilot project has been proceeding?

Colin Murphy
"We open on the November 17th, we had 2 ships that week and it's been 3 weeks since so you'll have to do the math I can't figure that out. We have spent more than we said that we would. We have invested more here than we said we would. We have hired more people than we have said we would. We have sourced most of the products and work man's here as we said we would. all of our boats for example the boats that you saw today were built in Belize City, which we are very happy with and we are hoping that we can build some more for export to use in some of our other destinations so we think that we have delivered. We think that we have created 1 of the best ports of the Caribbean and not only do we think that our passengers are telling that so we are delighted. The whole thing for us is about the guest experience. So our passengers are telling us that they love it. We are happy with that."

And while Norwegian is counting the money, here in Belize City at the Fort Street Tourism Village, they are counting their losses. Multiple tour operators we independently spoke to told us their losses in revenue are between 50 and 75% because now only one Norwegian Cruise comes to the city and that is every other week. Everyone we spoke to agreed that Norwegian cruisers were the ones who spent the most, and the other German cruise lines don't make up for it. The city has lost as many as 75 calls from Norwegian ships which now go to Harvest Caye.

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