The Bahamian Government has signed an agreement for another new cruise port. Azul Destinations and Calypso Cove Destinations have committed to build Calypso Cove, a luxury resort and cruise port at Long Island.

The US$250 million private cruise port will include a port area and a pier large enough for two Oasis-class ships. The development will also include a casino, 200-room hotel, waterpark, 18-hole golf course and marina facilities for mega-yachts.

The development of the project is under the direction of former Carnival Corporation VP of global port and destination development, Carlos Torres de Navarra.

“We all had an idea for a destination within a very close proximity of what is the cruise capital of the world, and that’s the state of Florida and when we saw this property, we did our assessment, we noticed that from an environmental perspective, which was the most important thing to us that there was no roadblocks and we started the process of validating the site.”

Long Island is located south of New Providence and Carnival’s private island of Half Moon Cay. With a size of just under 600 square kilometres, it is home to just over 3,000 Bahamians.

Construction of the new cruise port and resort will start around the end of 2023 or early in 2024 and will offer employment for some 300 workers during the construction phase. Once complete, the developers say the port will employ thousands of Bahamians and provide business to local entrepreneurs.

“We are pleased to say that the project will employ thousands of Bahamians and independent Bahamian firms, so this is good for employment, but also good for entrepreneurship and the empowerment of Bahamians,” said Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper.

Once completed, the port will be able to handle 13,000 cruise ship passengers per day. The Bahamian government is also planning on improving the Long Island airport, to make it easier for resort guests to arrive by air.

Azul Destinations, a partner in the development, says it is already in talks with several major cruise lines for calls to Calypso Cove. The new project is not the only cruise port under development in the Bahamas. Back in May, Carnival Cruise Line broke ground on a new US$200 million cruise port on Grand Bahama Island.