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That allowed for the opening of a Ferry Service from Harvest Caye to the Placencia Municipal Pier, where the guests will be able to access to their privately booked tour package. Our news team travelled to Placencia to see the first Harvest Caye visitors go on their own tours from the Placencia peninsula. Daniel Ortiz reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
After 6 months of keeping its Harvest Caye guests exclusively on the island, NCL has finally opened the way for Belizean tour operators to get access to their Norwegian cruise passengers. This morning, about 38 guests were the first to be ferried from NCL's exclusive paradise to the Placencia mainland.

Their arrival marks a first where cruise guests can finally get to explore southern Belize as they see fit.

Noriko Gamero - Director, Destinations and Cruise, BTB
"Today tour operators will have the opportunity to not only host the overnight sector, but to also host the cruise passengers."

Eworth Garbutt - Rep., Placencia Cruise Control
"Today is a great day and a great example for what I believe meaningful benefit should be for stakeholder and local entrepreneur."

And for Placencia and its surrounding tourism areas, this new venture represents a significant economic opportunity.

Noriko Gamero
"An additional traffic flow will create an economic boost for restaurants, artisans and operators, bringing in an additional 350 people on any given cruise day. Sometimes you can walk around Placencia and you are solely dependent on the overnight sector. Now you are creating another opportunity so that linkage now becomes as an economic boost for the villagers."

So, how does it actually work? Well, the local tour company, Placencia Cruise Control, won the bid to provide the tendering service. Guests at Harvest Caye buy tickets to board the tender boat to Placencia.

Eworth Garbutt
"The simple way the tender work is Harvest Caye sells the tickets for $20US round trip and actually have a lady, Ms. Lloydia Westby, a dispatcher and she sells tickets as well, but there are some tickets that are sold pre-book."

From there, they are greeted by officials at the Placencia Pier. At this tour operator's Sales desk, the guests get the opportunity to browse brochures for tour packages, or peruse local restaurants and business establishments that they can choose from.

Eworth Garbutt
"Right behind me we have a welcome center. The guy right there Akeem, it's our first day, so you bring your brochure for instance, you put it at the desk and we sell the trips from there. This morning for instance we got these guys from Belize City - I think they were the only pre-book guest, they go to our welcome center, our people at the desk will dispatch where they could go and all the questionnaire that they have for whatever they want to go, maybe Cozy Restaurant, D-Thatch or Tipsy Tuna - all that will be easily accessible by our front desk."

We spoke to a Harvest Caye guest who said that this was exactly what he and his friends were looking for, and so, they immediately left the NCL paradise when they learned of this opportunity.

Alex Benda - Harvest Caye Tourist
"This is our second time cruising and the thing that we really enjoy is that you get to experience the culture when you cruise, you get to go and see people and things you are not familiar with and you get to expand and grow as human being and learn more about the world. When we found out about Harvest Caye, we found out it's an island that Norwegian built and that's not what we wanted. We are in a big group, we are actually at a wedding and a honeymoon - 2 honeymoons and a wedding. So some of us are going floating down the Rio Grande, some of us are going to see some Mayan ruins and I think there are some of us who actually have no plans, but they are coming over here and they are just going to walk through the town and learn more about it and have an experience and we all get back together and share and show photos and try to make the most of it and learn as much as we can."

Elsa Villanueva - Chairperson, Placencia Village Council
"Majority of our local villagers they are excited, they are really ready for it, so everybody calling me and say they have their brochures and can you take them down there for me and they are really looking forward for the extra penny, especially in this slow time, because its already hitting the slow season."

But, while cruise passengers are definitely looking to explore the Peninsula, they still have to the hoteliers from the overnight sector who remain convinced of the negative impacts of mass cruise tourism. The Chairlady said that she can't and won't try to convince them otherwise.

Elsa Villanueva
"I haven't try to win them over you know. Trying to win them over is going to be a hard-fought battle. As I said before they will just blend right it - just become a part of it."

Noriko Gamero
"We've work at least since I've taken over the position in August of last year, tediously nonstop in trying to ensure that all those comments and the recommendations that came from those that opposed it were addressed."

Elsa Villanueva
"Most of the overnighters, at least those locally owned properties, they are looking forward to it, because they see the possibilities that these passengers come back and do over night."

But, for those villagers who can look past the negative aspects of cruise tourism, they have to admit that NCL has opened up a money-making opportunity to the Placencia locals.

Daniel Ortiz
"Would you say that this is a show of good faith from the principals at Harvest Caye because when they first came here the concern was that here is a multinational who will hoard all profits possible."

Noriko Gamero
"I would say it's definitely a good faith. I think we on the government's side have lobbied strongly for this opportunity to become available to the locals."