The truth seems to be somewhere in between. No one should ever open for business in Bermuda expecting to survive on cruise ship passengers unless they are prepared to make hefty payments to cruise staff on the ships. That is a fact of life. Passengers are strangers in a strange country and they go where cruise staff encourage them to go because they feel comfortable. "We recommend'' or "we suggest'' is all it takes. It is not necessary for your operation to be "bad mouthed'' it is enough for you to simply be ignored in the promotions. Generally, a night club is not a drop-in place. Visitors set out to go to night clubs and if it is not on their recommended list they do not arrive.

It is a naive night club owner or a naive tourism official who thinks that it is only necessary to open a good facility in order to do good cruise passenger business. Bermudians in general hate the ideas of pay-offs but it takes kick-backs, no matter how many times that will be denied.

Cruise ships have no brief to care about Bermuda's night clubs. Asking a 30 percent kick-back on cover charges, as has been alleged, is fairly typical.

Often the complaint that the entertainment level in Bermuda is not good enough for cruise visitors is just an excuse. Quality is not a factor. They want their people to stay aboard and, if they are to come ashore, the staff want to be paid. A night club owner who complains is probably guaranteed not to get any cruise ship customers.

Do not think you are going to get any help to promote your operation aboard the cruise boats. You can provide all the literature you like and you can ask for all the help you like, you will be well received but help will not happen gratuitously.

Then, too, passengers have generally learned to like the on-board entertainment on the way down from New York. They are disappointed when told that Bermuda requires it be curtailed in port but they stick with what there is because it is included and it is convenient. Why would you come ashore to pay a cover charge for what you can get aboard? Then there are the problems ashore.

Why would passengers come ashore to see another version of what they already have aboard ship? Yet Bermuda seems to be reluctant to give visitors what they really want, island entertainment. That means calypso and steel bands and limbo dancers. Old fashioned? Yes, it is to us but it is what visitors expect.

Local entertainers who constantly complain about their employment chances are reluctant to serve the market. They want to be "international''. The truth is that good local entertainers, and some are very good, do not attract sufficient local custom so they have to learn to please visitors. That's just the way it is.

It does seem to us that cruise ships stretch the policy as it relates to entertainment in port but we have to remember that they are pressed to please their passengers. Not entertaining passengers does not mean they will come ashore. Many passengers will eat their dinner, stay aboard and be bored, which is not good for anyone.

Pier Six on Front Street was opened with the intent of providing harbourside entertainment for visitors. It is an excellent idea. We think it will be a success but it has to find the right entertainment formula. It will probably have to choose between locals and visitors as patrons because they want different things. Then it will have to attract regular visitors from the hotels and guest houses. They are in need of entertainment and they are the ones who complain of a lack of night life. Anyone night clubs might attract from cruise boats is a bonus ...... don't count on them.