Dominica expects to receive about 50 cruise calls for the remainder of the cruise season.
That was according to the Minister for Tourism and Urban Renewal Senator Robert Tonge.
“So we expect to have about 50 calls for the balance of the season one of the most important ones for us is to get Carnival Cruise Lines back, they had indicated that they would start sometime in June which means we would be getting back the summer season,” he stated.
He said that representatives from Carnival Cruise Lines were on island and made suggestions of areas in which needed improvement.
He said that the tourism ministry has taken into consideration the suggestions of Carnival and work is being done with Public Works to address them.
“We up to 80% of all of our sites back up and ready so they [Carnival Cruise Lines] are hoping sometime in the end of July they will return to Dominica,” Tonge revealed.
Tonge stated that prior to Hurricane Maria Dominica was expecting at least a 20% – 25% increase for the 2017/2018 cruise season.
However, he said that: “We gotten the commitment from all the lines that they will be back in 2018/2019 season and if we have the summer it will increase the numbers quite considerably.”
Meantime, Tonge revealed that over $3-million has been spent towards getting the tourist sites ready for the cruise lines.
“Between ourselves and Public Works specifically to tourism related interventions I think we spent in excess $3 million dollars to make sure that our sites are ready clean cleared, the roads were cleared the city was cleaned,” he said.
He remarked that as residents continue to put out the debris from Hurricane Maria on the streets it increases the cost of cleanup.
“And even now as people continue to put out the debris from their home we also have to come on a weekly basis to go out and clean these things so that continues to increase on the cost,” Tonge said.
There goes the worst tourism minister the world have ever seen, all he does is lie, he even trying to beat his boss at lying but you can never lie better than your boss. Skeritt will bit you any day in lying.
The roads in Dominica was in very bad shape and I mean very bad bc I was there and now it’s worse . Before you guys invite guests. Please fix the roads. My friend stop in Dominica on a Cruise ? and she said she never see such bad roads in her entire life like Dominica roads. I was so A shame . Dominica is one of the islands that got the most money and all these guys doing is taking care of their self and not the country.
Where did Mr Tongue go to school? What poor English for a Tourism Minister.
I hope Mr. Tonge is right. However, as of todays’ date the respected “cruisemapper” schedule lists only26 ship arrivals between now and trhe end of the current season.
– Prinsendam, 8 March
– Mein Schiff 3 ,11March, 25 March, 8 April
– AIDA Diva, 7 March
– AIDA Luna, 10 April
– Carnival Fascination, 1 May, 8 May, 15 May, 22 May, 29 May, 5 June, 12 June, 19 June , 26 June, 3 July, 10 July, 17 July, 24 July, 31 July, 7 August, 14 August, 21 August, 28 August.
– Ocean Insignia, 9 July
– Carnival Breeze, 26 Sept.
After that the first ship for the new 2018/1029 season will be the Celebrity Summit 0n 30 Oct.
It would be helpful if the minister of Tourism were more specific when making his statements. It is good to be optimistic, and he is free of course to challenge this listing if he finds it incorrect/incomplete but gilding the lilly does not help anyone.
Initially I wasn’t going to comment because I knew what Tonge was saying was nothing but the usual propaganda. Let’s count at the end of the season and once again call them liars.
You realise of course that the Carnival calls planned for August may not happen if the weather forecast is bad. We will be in the hurricane season after all.
If correct this means hardly one cruise ship call per week over a six month period, 2/3 of which accounted for by one ship, the Carnival Fascination. That is better than nothing but leaves us highly vulnerable and is not something to brag about without making ourselves look silly. Let’s be more humble while in the mean time we make more effort to improve this situation.
Malatete, if what you are saying is true then there will be 7 calls between now and end of season. Robbie is fully aware that cruiseship season ends officially in April in the Caribbean. So those calls listed from May to September are refered to as calls in the off-season. Robbie is the main propagandist in DA and it is shameful.
No, please read carefully. There would be 26 calls by 7 different vessels between now and 30 Oct.Some ships make only one visit, whereas others make multiple repeat calls.
Mr. Tonge is correct with his claims that 50 cruise ships calls are scheduled to arrive till September 2018. This is because in addition to the 26 cruise ships calls you listed above the tall mast ships like Sea Cloud will be making up the additional 24 calls.
Sorry to disappoint you. According to Cruisemapper the Sea Cloud paid its last visit to Dominica on 22 Feb. with no further visits foreseen for the rest of the season.
I hope the road at Antrim is high on the list for improvement. It is the major link from east to west and on the route to Emerald Pool and other tourist sites. At present the road is an impending disaster in which lives may be lost.
From the road, as dangerous as it is, you cannot get a true picture of its critical state. The extent of the problem extends above and below.
May I add that, whatever they decide to do this time around, I hope they get it right,. So far attempts at remedial work have been a catastrophic collection of blunders.
meanwhile most of the sites, all our roads and the Bay front and Woodridge Bay where the ships dock are a mess. You cannot invite guests into your home while your are cleaning. This is POOR hospitality. This was an attempt to put some money into the hands of people in the industry (vendors, taxi, etc) but overall it will severely affect our product. take the time to perfect your product which is the country, then come back and say this is us now, brand new and shining. but how we are now
What exactly is the Honourable Minister alluding to? What is he saying?
Prior to Hurricane Maria, our tourism sector was in poor shape – not enough funding from central government and private sector, poor infrastructure, customer service leaving a lot to be desired, etc.
If the tourism sector is the backbone of our fragile economy, more should be done to repair and further develop that sector.
We are supposedly doing what Carnival wants, which may or may not be enough to repair the damage to the sector.
Where is the consultation with the stakeholders to develop a plan of action, so that when all is said and done, our “product” – our beloved country, will be better than before.