There’s not a lot of hotel space in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. It’s a small city of 150,000 (give or take). So delegates and media attending the Summit of the Americas are lodged in two luxury cruise ships docked in the harbour.

The carnival décor and amenities that usually characterize such an environment make a cheesy backdrop for business folk, summit delegates and self-important members of the fourth estate.

It all seems to work and it had better. Port of Spain is counting on the same arrangement when the Commonwealth heads of Government meet here in the fall. The Queen may regret giving up her own boat, Britannia, in the 1990s.

- Keith Boag