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One of the critical issues is in that discussion is who knew what and when did they know it - that is, who failed to tell the tender operators that they needed to upgrade or face extinction? They were given no notice and in his press conference yesterday, the PM made it clear someone was to blame:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In terms of the tender operators, they had no notice, we cannot allow in my view for their business to be eliminated in one fell swoop without any prior notification. Certainly I can't understand why there was no prior notification of the desire to change policy. One answer to that that has been given was that there was such notification, that in fact Carnival contracts tender services, who in turn sub-contracts, and that main provider was told some time ago that these are the changes that Carnival wishes to make and it is my understanding that Carnival felt that that main provider would in turn inform the sub-contractors. Now that wasn't done. At this juncture I have to confess to you that I still am not certain where - and I am not going to shy away from the word - the fault lies in terms of not giving the owners of these smaller tenders any opportunity to transition, any opportunity to prepare for the shift in policy."

That shipping agent is Eurocaribe and they issued a press release this evening saying it's not their fault. The release says, quote: "We were informed about Carnival Cruise Line's new policy on January 3rd, 2011 at a meeting in Miami. This information was relayed the same day, to all the tender operators who are contracted to do tendering for CCL." The release adds that the trend of upgrading tendering vessels was set in 2001 by the arrival of the 150 passenger catamaran, "M.V. Big Momma", owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. The result of those Miami meetings will be made known at a press conference on Monday…