Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Careen Prevost has said that the return of Carnival Cruise Lines is very significant for Dominica.
She made that statement while addressing the media on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning the island welcomed Carnival Cruise Lines vessel, Carnival Fascination, as the company resumed regular summer calls to Dominica since 2010.
“This is very significant for us, particularly Post-Hurricane Maria, [ten (10) months after Hurricane Maria] and we all know what the state of tourism was on September 18th,” she said. “So today, Carnival being here after an 8 year absence is very significant for us in the Ministry of Tourism, it is very significant to the tourism sector and as you are seeing we do have a number of guests who are coming off.”
According to Prevost, the ship carried over 2000 guests and it was expected that they would visit the available sites.
“All of our sites are opened and we do expect that today will be a very successful day and we are very grateful that the Ministry of Tourism for having Carnival back here today,” she stated.
Prevost explained that over the past few years the Ministry of Tourism and the Government of Dominica have been negotiating with Carnival Cruise Lines.
“Post-Hurricane Maria, we hosted a delegation from Carnival Cruise Lines in January. They did a site inspection and they also returned two weeks ago to monitor the island again to determine whether we were ready for Carnival Cruise Lines and based on the inspections, based on our meetings and all the work that we had done, rehabilitating the sites, getting Dominica prepared we have Carnival back here today,” she said.
She mentioned that so far there are ten (10) scheduled calls for the summer and, “we are hoping that if everything goes well for these calls then we will see the return of Carnival full-time.”
“These are summer calls for now and we do know that summer calls are very critical to the tourism industry…,” Prevost said.
“We are very proud of this particularly after Hurricane Maria and almost Tropical Storm Beryl,” Prevost adding that a number of new features were introduced to enhance the welcome of Carnival Fascination.
She said government has invested over $6 million Post-Hurricane Maria in site reconstruction and rehabilitation, “that’s just to get the sites ready.”
The Kalinago Dancers, live entertainment at the newly-renovated Roseau Cruise Ship Berth and on various sites, as well as a painting done by the Waitikubuli Artist Association formed part of the cultural aspect of the welcome for the visitors.
There was also increased security on the ports and various sites.
Carnival Cruise Lines pulled out of Dominica in 2010, after 21 years, citing high fuel prices.
The company officially returned to the island for the 2015/2016 Cruise Ship Season. According to DDA officials, the cruise line was expected to make eleven calls during that season.
My people are so talented. This painting is beautiful. Do they take private painting jobs?
What is back to normal, Before Maria nothing was normal so not now it will be normal. Again we loved abnormal things in Dominica.
Don’t care much for Carnival Cruise Line with our recent experiences. Wrote the cruise line regarding our issues but I guess they weren’t important enough to them to warrant a reply back. Would never recommend anymore in the future.
I am sorry you had this experience. There is nothing inherently wrong with Carnival. The Fascination is one of the older ships in their Fantasy fleet. It is 34 years old this month. It does lack certain amenities, found in newer vessels but I would say it gives value for money. In common with most hotels, cruise ships also have a star rating, with the Fascination rated 3.5 stars, compared with P&O at 4.0 Cunard’s three Queens at 5.0 and Princess at 5.5 stars. If you really want to push the boat out I would recommend Regent’s Seven Seas ships, rated at 6.5 stars, but of course, you will pay accordingly.
FYI . If you have a problem with Carnival Cruise line it us best you call their customer service line if you write a letter and gave it to someone at the customer serv desk as you disembarked the letter may remain on the ship as i did about my complains after a while i did a follow up call to the carnival cruise line I talk to one of the staff personal and they informed me about protocol and my issues where handled to my satisfaction …So Stop Bad Mouthing. Carnival. Cause you didn’t get a response did it ever cross your mind they may have never received your letter. Come on a few more steps to resolve your problem ..I waited a couple of months then I called
ms screen prevost, one saved really isn’t always saved. it’s a great shame that after being brought up in the seventh day Adventist church and given a good education at the Caribbean union college one would expect you to associate yourself with respectable members of society. yet here you are following this evil regime. your face look like you are a robot under a dark spell being controlled by evil force. Skeritt and his band wagon has sidestepped so much that these days it sounds morally wrong to use labor and seventh day Adventist in the same sentence. repent and be baptized while time still lingers on for you wicked one because God is not pleased. not asking you to switch to the other side just asking you to give up the ghost
I think you just need to mind your business! Thats all!
I do not want to accuse Careen Prevost of deliberately misleading us and therefore she must be ignorant of the facts. She correctly mentions the ten Carnival arrivals in Roseau for this summer, as reported by me yesterday and details of which were already known by Feb. of this year. However, after the last arrival by the Fascination on 6 Nov. 2018, no further Carnival calls are scheduled for either the rest of this year, the whole of 2019 or the cruise season ending on 29 April 2020 for Roseau. I would agree with her that this is significant but in entirely the wrong sense. Perhaps she knows more than the people at Carnival or Cruisemapper and I would be happy if she could share any positive news in that regard with us.
thanks for bringing back the ship but the main street to morn bruce needs to be repaired to many pot holes.
Yeah Go W.A.A this is a magnificent painting.. very warm and welcoming . Well things take time hopefully everything well be back to normal for Dominica