In Reply to: Balinese Script translation posted by 1434joey on Friday, 4. December 2009 at 06:11 Bali Time:
The reason that the cruise ships now choose to dock at Benoa rather than Padang Bai is due to the Padang Bai Fiasco.
The Padang Bai Fiasco occurred this year. A cruse ship anchored offshore and the passengers were tendered to the jetty. A local official decided to charge $US75 for each passenger to land. Following protests from the ship owners, he lowered the "fee" to $US25. Meanwhile, 2,000 pedlars crowded the jetty.
Each passenger had to be ferried to the jetty where they had to pay the "fee" to land. Then they had to elbow their way through the 2,000 pedlars crowding the jetty.
Many passengers watching the fiasco from the ship decided to stay aboard.
Before the Padang Bai Fiasco, the government was predicting that 400 cruise ships would visit Padang Bai each year.