Dominica sets eyes on January for opening of cruise ship season

Areas such as the Botanical Gardens are being cleaned

Tourism stakeholders on the island have made known their intent to have Dominica ready to accept cruise ship by January 1, 2018, despite the ravages caused by Hurricane Maria.

Tourism Director, Colin Piper said Heads and CEOs of cruise lines have been written to on the matter and a number of tourist sites are being worked on.

“The Honorable Minister (of tourism, Robert Tonge) has penned a letter and has sent out to the CEOs and the heads of each of the cruise lines indicating to them that Dominica’s intention is to have sites in the country in a state of readiness accept cruise ships by January 1,” he said on state-owned DBS Radio. “And so we have given ourselves a series of milestones by which we will review and see where we are along the way.”

Piper said the authorities intend to invite members of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and cruise lines to visit Dominica “and satisfy themselves” on progress made on tourism sites.

“It is also our intention to record and document the progress along the way so that we can through video indicate to them what is happening with the sites,” he noted.

He stated that a number of sites have been identified, such as the popular Emerald Pool and Trafalgar Falls and others, for cleaning and making sure they are free and clear of debris.

“That means vehicular access to the sites and that also means walking to the sites,” he explained.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Tourism has partnered with the Ministry of Forestry, with the help of Cuban volunteers, to take care of fallen trees in areas such as the Botanical Gardens and Emerald Pool, “which has already begun and soon to begin is Trafalgar Falls.”

“We have asked the tour operators – understanding that some of these sites will be ready – to get your packages ready and begin discussions with the shore excursion managers of the cruise lines,” Piper noted.

 

 

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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.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.

17 Comments

  1. RastarMarn
    November 11, 2017

    Open for What fore tourist to see and do What!!!

    The Only thing Dominca can offer to any visitor for the next 5 years is to see What a category 6 hurricane can do,,,

    What does inhabitants on an island where there is no Commercial industry sustaining their economy, do in times after a major natural disaster,,,

    The opening should be an educational Excursion rather than a pleasure and fun trip,,,

    Tourists’ destinations are places where there are actual activities and engagements for the Tourist to participate in that will generate income for the inhabitants as a whole, like where there are Horse racing, dog racing, and golf courses, casinos for gambling where the House always wins, or events which will generate commercial sponsors,,,

  2. Living in exile
    November 10, 2017

    Are Dominica Breweries still in business to make Kubuli? I have not heard anything about that? I hope their business is not damaged too badly because I really like their beer and Loubiere water simply is the best.

  3. Be happy
    November 10, 2017

    Just take a moment and listen to you all selves and also read your comments over……Negative minds and politically blinded by politics…..Instead you all be happy for your country all that you can do is critize….Don’t you know there are other islands that are also devastated and already preparing for the cruise ship season as early as next month…..I’m in the USVI we going under recovery just like Dominica the place is still full of debris and many blues roofs are still visible buildings are still destroyed and yet to repair, but still they are ready to open up the cruise ship season ….No one is complaining over here because everyone will be happy for the little tourist dollars….But Dominicans nothing is never good enough for some of you, you all sit on ur backside and all some of you do is bring down the country and the people who trying their best to bring this country back on it’s feet….you all make things more complicated than it all is…. Be happy for your…

    • UK Dominican
      November 10, 2017

      Ah, but there is one big difference my compatriot. We have Roosevelt Skerrit and you don’t. Lucky you!

    • Me
      November 10, 2017

      Be Happy you say? You must be a masochist.

  4. CIA Agent
    November 9, 2017

    Your neighbour (Cuba) is volunteering to help clean your house so you can entertain a “friend” (USA) which is throwing stones (sanctions) at that same neighbour’s house.

    Don’t worry about that fly in your soup, The spider on your bread will soon get it.

  5. My name
    November 9, 2017

    Take your time. A lot has to be done. Please help the people with building g materials to start and cover up their homes. You all want the world to believe that is is usual as business in Dominican. Alas!

  6. Baron Sugar and Aloes
    November 9, 2017

    I heard them people saying Portsmouth is ready to receive visitors but all i reading in this article is about Roseau being ready… They say how Cabrits ready and yachts can come and cruise ships can come but i suspect just like how all them big apartments they build for Ross University sucking salt now so too will the tour guides and other people in tourism like Cobra and them boat boys in Portsmouth will suck salt too… :lol: :lol: :lol: Look show down

  7. Dominican
    November 9, 2017

    I hope they manage to pull it off but in truth I have my doubts. Cruise lines will already have altered their schedules since the hurricane struck us and devastated our infrastructure and sites.Why would they amend their new schedules at the last minute? I pray I will be proven wrong because our people, especially vendors and taxi drivers need the money.

    • Shameless
      November 9, 2017

      You are very smart indeed. Robbie and Piper know that but if they say what is being said now people will think the cruise ship operators listening to LL and Matt too much and so that is hurting the country. Fact is, Dca will not be ready for cruise tourism by January. The need to focus on getting things right and set their target for mid year . What are the tourists going to see? Devastation and misery? What are they going to spend on? Will Roseau be an invi night capital? The mere sight of a ship in doc is only one side of the coin.

      I don’t want to sound negative but rushing to bring cruise ships to Dca when it is not ready will only hurt us more. Think people, think!
      Assertive like D Trump! :twisted:

    • Dominican
      November 10, 2017

      Even if they may come in January, remember that cruise lines ask their passengers for feedback about their experience at any port of call. They use that to rate every destination and decide whether to either warn the rellevant authorities to make improvements or drop that call altogether. Cruise ships will not call here because they are sorry for us but because they are in business to make money by keeping their customers happy.

  8. Possie Direct
    November 9, 2017

    What? January 1 you said? These days the times and seasons have changed in Dominica. In the good old days 3rd of November was Independence Day but now under Skerrit it has become national mourning day. December 25 use to be Christmas Day but Skerrit turned the season into Election Division Season to the point that criminals even used that day to go bomb the house of GON Emmanuel; January 1 was New Years Day but thanks to Skerrit, January 1 has become ‘Dirty Laundry’ Day, as international news media let the world know that there is a small island in the Caribbean with a lot of dirty laundry by the name of corrupt “sale of diplomatic passports.” I don’t know what to expect this January 1, 2018 but they would be better off to open the cruise season on January 10, 2018 so our spin doctors could have enough time to bowl some leg break.

  9. CBS News
    November 9, 2017

    Let’s hope January 1, 2018 will not be like January 1, 2017 expose’ of CBS60 minutes that later resulted in the arrest of our own fugitive by the name of Aliereza Monfared. Maybe January 1, 2018 it might very well be CNN BREAKING NEWS. Corruption infects and then kills

    • Me
      November 9, 2017

      Watch the Paradise Papers! More revelations to come!

  10. Theresa
    November 9, 2017

    This might sound great, but people are having problem shipping barrels to their own people.

  11. Zor Sot
    November 9, 2017

    Very curious as to the reality of this. Cruise lines were hesitant in the past because as they put it ‘there was not a pull factor on the island; there was hardly anything to do”….. now that our tourist sites and centers have been beaten and very badly I might add, what will be our pull factor? Will we truly be able to have the infrastructure ready; roads to the site that have not be destroyed and just roads in general? Will we be able to have our few tourist sites and centers, which were already undeveloped, ready by January? Considering the fact we are in November.

    Sometimes it’s best we face the ‘real’ reality of this situation on Dominica and make slow yet strong long term strides, rather than haphazard, fast moves to give the impression that we are bouncing back and doing so at an impressive and rapid rate.

    ONE MAJOR COMPONENT OF TOURISM IS SAFETY AND SECURITY.

    TAKE YOUR TIME DOMINICA!

  12. Iloveda
    November 9, 2017

    A lot of cleaning up will have to be done in the this month and next month then. I really hope the ship can come. Agriculture down, cip probably not selling, exports down, how else the country getting money. Everyone will feel it since businesses will have less customers. We already lost a whole month of the tourist season.

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