Well it's been quite a few days since I last wrote. I have been caught up with a major redesign at the AntiguaNews site at http://1-by-1.com.AntiguaNews . When I first threw the pages together we were just a few days after the hurricane and I was trying to get the word out amongst rebuilding business at Island Arts and cleaning up the yard. Now, a month after the storm, we are just finishing that process and so it was time for me to consider the future of this impromptu creation..... AntiguaNews.
One of the major problems that I faced in this endeavor was the difficulty of people finding the site. It can take as long as 3 months to get pages into the major search engines, so as I hadn't previously set up a page for emergency conditions....... there was no way to find it when the need arose. As I considered the possibility of registering a Hurricane Hotline I realized that between my AntiguaLinks page, the Community Notice board and A small virtual tour of the island, that I already had the making of a substantial Antiguan web entity.
Consequently I have been redesigning the AntiguaNews pages to become part of a much bigger permanent site that will emerge in a couple of weeks under the name AntiguaToday http://AntiguaToday.com . I must say I am quite pleased with the new look and cant wait until the other segments are redesigned to the same format so that AntiguaToday can be properly developed. Do go to http://1-by-1.com.AntiguaNews and take a look.
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THE RETURN OF MONARCH OF THE SEAS
I promised you photos of the return of Royal Caribbean's massive cruise liner Monarch of the Seas. Well I finally got the second roll of film processed and they are online.
Norwegian Sea was the first ship to dock at Heritage Quay after the storm and Monarch of the Seas followed the very next day. It is a testament to Royal Caribbean's confidence in the recovery process in Antigua that they sent Monarch of the Seas back here only two weeks after hurricane Georges raged over the island. After hurricane Luis in 1996 it was 3 months before the ship returned!
As you can see from the photos, the cruise ship dock leads directly into Heritage Quay Duty-free Center where one of my galleries Island Arts is located upstairs. With almost no tourists on the island at that time..... and no business...... you can imagine how pleased we were to see the ships return.
Heritage Quay comprises of 44 duty-free shops (currently being extended) to cater to every tourist's souvenir and holiday gift needs. Deluxe jewelers like Colombian Emeralds and Little Switzerland offer glittering gems (and some tempting deals) and other stores provide everything from swimwear to perfume. Of course our sponsor Benjie's Photo Lab is located there too to process holiday snaps in an hour or so!
Several of you have written asking about my galleries and artwork so excuse me if I make the most of this ideal opportunity to take a moment for a quick commercial break...... and tell you about my gallery at Heritage Quay Duty-free Center.
I can usually be found signing prints at Island Arts, most Thursdays when the ship comes in. I choose Thursdays for this weekly ritual because Thursdays are big cruise ship days. Royal Caribbean runs information about me in Monarch's cabins, (as do Celebrity Cruise Lines), partly because of my association with Star Wars and other movies, partly because I give their passengers 25-35% off the international list prices of my artwork...... the lowest prices anywhere in the world! I offer discounts to some hotels, those that send me many customers, too. If you visit us in Antigua but aren't staying in one of those hotels I will extend the 25-35% offer to you ..... just tell the sales girl you visited the AntiguaToday site. Island Arts is a rather compact gallery and sometimes there can be quite a crush as passengers clamber to invest in the growing value of my artwork. We specializes in affordable Caribbean Art, my prints and hand crafted miniature Antiguan houses that I designed.
Getting back to the cruise ships, you may remember that I previously reported that my friend Conrad La Barrie (labarrielc@candw.ag) was very upbeat about Cruise Ship Facilities in Antigua when he happily reported to The Caribbean Hurricane Page that both cruise ship docks in Antigua are in good shape and that he expected business to continue as normal. Conrad continued by saying that extensive clean up is ongoing throughout the island and Nelson's Dockyard will be operational soon.
Conrad's company, Destination Antigua Ltd, (hosted by me at 1-by-1.com), is agent for fourteen cruise lines. They and sister company Bryson's Shipping, are expecting a bouyant cruise season for 98/99.
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I'm taking my time shooting off the 3 rolls of film sponsored by Benjie's Photo Lab to adequately record the recovery process. However now that I have back the second roll you will see several PhotoFeatures added to AntiguaNews next week.
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That's all for today. See you in Antigua...............
regards
Nick
