Bermuda received two rejections on the cruise ship front recently, which may cost the Island in the future.It’s a far cry from the days when cruise lines were knocking down the door to serve the Island.Although a fair amount of blame is being shared around, Carnival’s decision not to take up its weekend slots next year should not come as a great surprise.Having a ship arrive in Dockyard at 4pm on a Saturday and sail again 24 hours later was never sensible and Bermuda’s failure to prepare for the visits compounded a poor decision.That does not mean the visits had no value. but if such a schedule is revisited, a serious effort needs to be made to ensure that the visitors actually have something to do when they arrive, as opposed to being confronted by shops closing their doors.Similarly, the decision of Holland America’s Veendam to cancel its calls in 2013 is not a great surprise.Brought in to boost St George’s but too big to bring into the harbour, the solution of having her lie in Murray’s Anchorage was never satisfactory. It would have been better, then and now, to have her come into Hamilton for the whole visit.Still, Bermuda’s whole cruise ship strategy needs to be revisited. The construction of the Heritage Wharf has created a cruise ship hub at Dockyard with capacity for more than enough visitors to serve Bermuda well.But the last year’s experience has shown that you can have as many berths and calls as you like, but they serve no purpose if transport and services are not laid on. If they are not, then all it means is that there are more people to complain and spread the word about how bad Bermuda is.The movement to larger ships has made Hamilton and St George’s uncompetitive, and a decision needs to be made on whether to widen the channels to enable larger ships to call. There’s a better case to be made for Hamilton, although if this is wrapped into a larger Front Street development it could be decades away.What’s more important is for Bermuda to decide how many cruise ship passengers the Island wants. It’s an accepted fact that cruise visitors leave less money on the Island than air visitors. That’s not all due to a difference in discretionary spending. But cruise ships do not have staff in Bermuda and they do not buy supplies in Bermuda. So their net value to Bermuda is much lower, regardless of how much each passenger spends in shops and on tours.In general, however, they spend less anyway. It’s common sense to eat your meals onboard a ship if you have already paid for them.That does not mean they spend nothing, or that they have no value.But Bermuda would do better concentrating on increasing the number of guest beds available on the Island and making Bermuda a competitive air visitor destination than begging cruise lines to bring their ships here.That may also have the benefit of not overburdening the Island’s infrastructure further as well.All of this predicated on the idea that Bermuda can increase its hotel bed capacity. This does not have to be through new hotels or resort expansions. It can be achieved by bed and breakfasts and guest houses which can offer more competitive rates and make up for the lack of facilities with superior, personal service.The big question is whether Bermudians are prepared to make the effort.