“I want to hit this one straight at the head because the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard in my life is that I went to Miami and signed an MOU with the cruise ship, giving them full authority to come out without being vaccinated,” the Premier said at a press conference late last week.

The Premier said when he met with industry representatives earlier this year, it was a courtesy visit paid out of pocket.

“I was in Miami on my own personal time to my daughter’s graduation and took it on myself and my own funds to ask the Pier Park to schedule visits. Just courtesy calls, helping the country on my own time – family time — at the expense of my wife getting angry and just letting the cruise industry know that we’re still there,” the Premier stated.

He described his encounters with officials as simply ‘casual conversations’.

Back in June, Premier Fahie received an endorsement from the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) of the BVI as a travel destination for cruise passengers, underlining the strong partnership it holds with the BVI; particularly the territory’s leadership.

At the time, Premier Fahie announced in a Facebook post that he had hosted a series of meetings with United States cruise lines to discuss the restart of local cruise calls for fully vaccinated passengers.

In the same social media post, the Premier was seen photographed with the head of another stakeholder in the industry — the Senior Vice President of Commercial Development at Norwegian Cruise Line, Steve Moeller.