BUSINESS BYTE: Long-time tourist hot spot Ruins Rock Café welcomes passengers from first major cruise ship post-Maria

Last Sunday, January 28^th, Ruins Rock Worlds Heritage Café, one of Dominica’s hottest tourist spots, welcomed hundreds of tourists to its unique, cozy confines. These tourists were all passengers of the MV Mein Schiff 3 of TUI Cruises which became the first major cruise ship to visit Dominica after the passage of Hurricane Maria.

The proprietor Serge L’Homme, a heritage advocate who is fluent in 7 languages, gave a speech in German.  He expressed his gratitude to the visitors and told them that despite the destruction and difficulties caused by the last hurricane, Dominicans remained strong and resilient.  He told them that the hurricane was not able to break the nation’s spirit and the rebuilding effort is well underway.

The visiting cruise passengers received those statements with rousing applause and enthusiastic cheers.

Ruins Rock Café even unveiled a program for these tourists that its management and staff have prepared especially for that day.  Dubbed “Give Thanks Sunday”, the program included rum punches and other cocktails prepared especially for that day; local food, exotic rums, DJ music and a live band that provided the much-appreciated entertainment and got the crowd dancing, jumping, and cheering loudly.

“Indeed, we rolled out the ‘green carpet’ of the Nature Isle for them.” L’Homme said.

L’Homme also expressed appreciation to the cooperation shown by the various local tourism stakeholders and the support shown by various Government units like the Ministry of Tourism & Urban Renewal and the Discover Dominica Authority and other key tourism non-governmental organizations like the Dominica Hotel & Tourism Association (DHTA).

Tourists were also quick to note that aside from the unique, cozy ambience of the place, they also appreciated the local rum punches and warm customer service provided to them not just by the service crew but by L’Homme himself.

“We had a number of new staff who served that day with some help from some old reliables. But I believe we did quite well. We are investing in a good training program for our staff precisely for that purpose: to provide our customers the best possible service and to be able to represent our country the best way we know so all our guests would end up having good words about our nation.” L”homme explained.

Accompanied photos showed some of the scenes last Sunday. More photos and videos were posted on the Ruins Rock Worlds Heritage Café Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RUINS-ROCK-Worlds-Heritage-Café-188675788354735/.