DESTINY JOHNSON
Royal Caribbean International (RCI’s) Paradise Island Royal Beach Club Project is
slated to open in 2025.
General Manager of RCI and president of the project Philip Simon said recently that
the company has been holding a serious of workshops for potential RCI vendors in
preparation for the opening.
The workshops have been ongoing on for a few months with the aim of offering the
most authentically Bahamian products to visitors.
“It provides us an opportunity to really dig deep into the minds and the thoughts. You
know, we believe that Bahamians are the most creative and innovative people in the
world. I’m very biased with that, very prejudiced in my beliefs in our country.
“And to participate in an event where we can come together and collaborate and share
thoughts on what makes something authentically Bahamian, you know, for that true,
true Bahamian experience that we want to provide to our guests. This is the
destination; this sets us apart from everywhere else in the world. And what better
place to increase that separation and thought than to be speaking directly with
Bahamians for a Bahamian product,” Mr. Simon said.
Suggesting that there may be fears regarding the new project, particularly with the
Downtown, Nassau Straw Market vendors earlier this year voicing concerns that they
are being left behind with all of the big developments surrounding them. However,
Mr. Simon sought to allay any fears.
“I mean, there’s no reason to have trepidation or fear. We’ve had several of these
workshops, we’ve had dozens of charrettes and meetings and all with one intent to see
how best to partner, to see how best to provide as many opportunities as possible.
“You know we have the equity model, up to 49 percent Bahamian, 51 percent Royal
Caribbean. Again, we’re exposing every single aspect of the business to Bahamians
and that opportunity to outsource,” he said.
Over the past few months, RCI has been met with numerous complaints from the
Atlantis Resort, vendors on Nassau who believe the project will result in a cut in their
revenue as well as residents and conservationists who worry of the environmental
impact.

Mr. Simon said he believes all of those concerns have been squashed and he now sees
the opportunity for a partnership with the Atlantis hotel in the future.
“Controversy [equals] opportunity. You know, for me what we had were various
stakeholders because again, the partnership is diverse. We have neighbors over there
in Paradise Island that express concerns. We had environmentalists that express
concerns and we’ve been very transparent and open with every single one of them.
“We’ve answered every question that was presented, and we made adjustments where
necessary. And so, I wouldn’t consider it controversial.
“It was a very robust conversation, no doubt about it and we’re still in that process
towards finalizing at least the environmental aspect of the project,” of the project Mr.
Simon said.
As for a timeline of when the RCI project will begin construction, the RCI president
said demolition is expected to begin by the end of the year.
“We’ll have another series of workshops in October. We’ll continue throughout the
next several weeks to have meetings and charrettes both with scaled businesses and
those to have the potential to be scaled. After that we hope to complete the
environmental process, obtain our CEC, and then move towards phase one of the
project, which would getting our Architectural documents.
“We get ready for phase one, site prep demolition; hopefully we can begin that before
the end of the year and begin in earnest the construction of the Royal Beach Club by
the beginning of quarter two of 2024.
“All of this is ambitious but again, the timeline for opening is some of 2025. So we’ve
got some work to do,” Mr. Simon added
So far hundreds of Bahamian businesses have attended the workshops vying for a spot
on the Royal Beach Club.
Mr. Simon said he expects that number to continue to rise as more workshops are
held.
When asked how many businesses they are looking to actually have on at the beach
club, Mr. Simon said that number is yet to be decided.