KEY POINTS:
Three massive cruise ships glided into the harbour in Antigua at dawn today. By mid morning all three were neatly lined up, and their hundreds of passengers streaming into the island's main city St John's.
For many Caribbean nations the cruise liner business is a fundamental part of the tourism industry.
The American and British passengers they bring, albeit mostly only for one day for each island, pump millions of dollars into the pockets of the locals who's economy is otherwise dependant on crops like bananas and sugar cane. And if the hurricane season is vicious, these suffer the most.
It must be a nice way to travel. Arrive at dawn, spend the day shopping or taking in a local attraction, then a quick dip at the beach and back on board for a dusk departure.
The Caribbean island's operate on a dual currency system so for the American travellers there is no hassle with changing currency.
For the British seafarers, and the less common other nationals who choose to cruise, this can be frustrating.
Most white-skinned (or pink-skinned if very new to the sunny isles) travellers are assumed to have wallets full of greenbacks.
Most shops have a pricelist showing both Eastern Caribbean Dollars and US
dollars, but a lot of the time you have to ask which one is being displayed.
I am now used to the assumption I am American and I can do a US/EC/NZ
dollar conversion without a calculator.
But the frustration was obviously too much for one British chap I saw
in the cell phone shop. He could not understand why the shop assistant would assume he was American and after unsuccessfully trying to convert his British Pounds to US dollars in his head and on a scrap of paper, he shouted "You islanders - you should get your own currency and stop relying on George Bush" before storming out.
The shop assistant didn't even flinch.
After all, there are plenty more tourist dollars to collect. And it doesn't matter where they are from.
