Cruise projection on track – Piper

Piper said Dominica is likely to see a 3 percent growth projection
Piper said Dominica is likely to see a 3 percent growth projection

Chief Executive Officer of the Discover Dominica Authority (DDA), Colin Piper says projections, in terms of cruise ship arrivals for the next season, are on track.

Piper told Dominica News Online on Thursday that a projected three percent growth, “we are likely to see.”

“Once we know the itinerary, we basically can tell you how many people are coming into the island, short of cruise lines cancelling because of high seas and so on,” he said. “The question now is once they come on board, once they come on shore are they participating in the activities.”

According to him, there is still a vibrant tour market in Dominica.

“So indications are that yes according to plan for the cruise season and the hope is obviously is to getting ships added to the itinerary,” he stated. “And if you get a 3,000 passenger cruise line added to the itinerary and it comes 10 times that is 30,000 more people that you have.”

The 2014/2015 cruise season opened on October 28th with the first cruise ship being the Celebrity Summit.

According to officials, 191 cruise ship calls are expected which is a slight increase from 188 calls last season.

The cruise season is expected to end in May.

A cruise ship in Roseau
A cruise ship in Roseau

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

15 Comments

  1. may
    March 29, 2015

    For this cruise season for example there were over 70 ships with less than 500 passengers, some as low as 65 cruise passengers. And we must not forget the many cancellations we had, many of them had nothing to do with high seas!!!

  2. March 29, 2015

    The Dominica Swiss Diaspora Association ( DSDA) is Planning 2 events this year

    Diaspo Dominique in Switzerland August 7,8,9, 2015

    First EVER Miss Dominica Diaspora Contest in October Just before the WCMF commences.

    The Association wish, is for the Miss Dominica Diaspora Contest to be on the the Line up for the WCMF

    Please Visit our website which will provide all the information you require
    http://www.diaspodominique.ch

    We ( The members of the DSDA) are seeking the yes from the Executives of the WCFM to be part of the line up

    We are also seeking the support of the Dominica people and the Diasporians and any other persons who have an equal interest in the Arts to help us through funding/donations to make these events come alive.

    Many thanks to everyone

    Alix Warrington. more information on the website

    • Tjebe fort
      March 30, 2015

      Just do it Alix and worry later. Knowing these guys here they first want to set up a committee, produce a paper and and discuss your idea in cabinet for approval to see who can benefit.

  3. Baba
    March 29, 2015

    More projections for sal Roseau. Excellent.Great Job.

  4. Merlot
    March 28, 2015

    See how EASY that was to find. Those people in authority really need to stop mamaguiling people. Then again, Dominicans do not bother to do any research. They just accept ANYTHING as is, no questions asked. Smh.

  5. Malatete
    March 27, 2015

    I find the most useful data source for consulting cruise ship schedules to be http://www.cruisetimetables.com
    It tells me for instance, that 18 Nov, of this year will be an extremely busy day for Roseau with four cruise ships calling simultaneously, the Britannia, Serenade of the Seas, Thomson Celebration and Silver Whisper. I am also very pleased to note from this site that Carnival will be back in the season 1 Oct. 2015 to 31 March 2016 after all, with five ships and eight calls: Carnival Liberty on 20 Oct., Carnival Sunrise on 5 Dec., 12 Dec., 25 Feb., Carnival Dream on 16 Jan., Carnival Pride on 31 Jan., 19 March. and Carnival Glory on 5 Feb.

    • Ma Moses
      March 28, 2015

      That is wonderful but can we move these ships out of town, to a more suitable, purpose-built location please. These ships are welcome but now it is chaos for tourists and locals alike.

  6. yesterday
    March 27, 2015

    It’s all a dream, a fools dream. What different have we as a country have done?? I’ll tell you…NOTHING. it going to get worse. I wish it were different. We are too believing of these officials. Remember we have no cruise business 6 months out of the year and that my friends have been so for the last four years and is to continue. So while we praise BS talk like what the door knob has stated, the truth of the matter is we have slipped, missed the boat (literally) and too slow in picking up ourselves to fix and improve the situation. The truth don’t care what you think.

  7. smart
    March 27, 2015

    Please clean the streets of Roseau. Read a lot of reviews on cruise critic and some visitors spoke about the garbage

    • MY 2cents
      March 29, 2015

      You mean nasty Dominican stop dirtying Roseau. Because as far as I can see Roseau Town Council is trying it’s best to clean up Roseau but because of the nasty Dominicans they are messing up the town faster than it is humanly possible to clean.

  8. Tampa
    March 27, 2015

    What are the actual figures for this year and last year’s cruise season? How do we rank in comparison to the other islands? We need statistics to show how we are performing from year to year. I see other islands publishing figures but we provide projections. So Mr. Piper can you give us some actual comparative figures? Giving the number of ships arriving does not tell us the number of passengers. Ships can be very small or very big. And what of the actual dollar value to the economy?

    • Peter Potter
      March 27, 2015

      I suspect the actual dollar income is very low. What Dominica needs is stay over visitors.

  9. Malgraysa
    March 27, 2015

    I’m happy to see more cruise ship arrivals but that does not necessarily mean more visitors. I suspect that mr. Piper’s figures are based on the passenger capacity of the ships that are scheduled to arrive during the season but not all cruises are fully booked so at best it can only be an estimate. he is correct in stating that what is important is the number of passengers coming ashore and the number of tours sold. I would also add that not all cruises are of the same quality, which translates into spending power of the visitors. Without prejudice, a Thomson cruise cannot be compared with a P&O or Holland America Line cruise for example. It would be of great help to all in the tourist industry if the DDA would publish a list of ships and their schceduled dates of arrival at the earliest so that everyone can plan accordingly. Believe me, the vendors and drivers have a very shrewd idea as to what to expect from a particular ship/line.

    • MY 2cents
      March 29, 2015

      Do your research before you comment to avoid looking . All vendors, drivers, hoteliers and all involved in the tourist business have the list with alllll that info. Ask any of the people involved in the business

  10. THIRSTY FOOLS
    March 27, 2015

    don’t be sure to have a healthy next cruise season due to the fact that Cuba has more to offer and that supreme leader who tries and belittle the USA.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available