First the cruise ships stopped coming
Then the taxis stopped running
Then the jewellery stockpiled
Although it was stunning,
Cause no-one was buying
Cause no-one was coming.
When the cruise visits stopped
They pulled out the stops
To attract plenty locals
To shop in the shops,
But the cashflow flowed out
Because cruise visits stopped.
All the people who worked
Or waitered or clerked
Or cleaned up or tendered
All day, never shirked,
Now stood idle, were sent home
As penury lurked.
They stopped the Carnival
Because it wasn’t feasible
And the restaurants’ and bars’ food
Was spoiled and inedible
Cause tourists were absent
Cause they stopped the Carnival.
The Stingrays stopped feeding
When none came to see them
And the tour boats lay idle
Tied up in their moorings
Cause cruise stayed away
Leaving tourism reeling.
And the tour buses rusted
On their wheels, encrusted
With dusty reminders
Of a world once entrusted
To bring a hard living;
Till cruises stopped coming.
So then the embargo
Was lifted on cargo
With daytime unloading
Of stuff, cause there were no
Cruise tourists each day
Though they searched high and low.
A man - wise enough to be dangerous - said,
‘If we build a cargo pier here instead,
We can earn enough money
For our daily bread.
If the cruise ships aren’t coming
Then that’s what’s needed.’
(So they did just that
And did it quite fast
And the cargo boats came
And divested their cache
Of goods, bads and uglies
In a pierside dash.)
Meanwhile, in Falmouth, Cuba, Cozumel
The number of tourists was starting to swell
Beyond all proportion;
The packed streets were hell
Cause the cruise ships kept coming.
Then the cruise boss said, “Well,
Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for a change
To our routes, just once more,
to expand out the range
Of what we can offer.
What can we arrange?
The cruise ships need places
To dock, not too strange.
I hear there’s an island, not much of a shock,
That’s just finished building a new cargo dock
They’re famous for turtle
And Ironshore Bock,
Perhaps we can visit
That two-by-four rock.”
So cruise ships started coming
And taxis began running
And the bars and the restaurants
All started re-opening
And cash started flowing
Cause cruise ships were coming.