Tourism Minister Senator Robert Tonge said the government is committed to making the necessary changes to ensure the experience of visitors from Carnival Cruise Lines is a great one.
He made that statement during a ceremony to mark the call of the ‘MV Carnival Sunshine’ on the weekend.
Carnival Cruise Lines pulled out of Dominica in 2010, after 21 years, citing high fuel prices. However, the company officially returns to the island for the 2015/2016 Cruise Ship Season which began on October 5.
Tonge described the return of Carnival Cruise as an important venture.
“Dominica sees this as a very important venture and we are listening as much as possible to what you have to say, to what your cruisers have to say so that we can make the necessary changes to ensure that the experience that they receive is a great one..,” Tonge said. “We are going to do everything in our power, put the additional regulations in place to ensure that the cruisers have a great experience.”
He continued, “The government of Dominica and the stakeholders are very much interesting, have been working together, have been speaking to them on a regular basis to ensure that we put all things in place so that the guests and crew so the cruisers will better ensure the country.”
Meantime, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Dominica Air and Seaport Authority Benoit Bardouille said Dominica will never let the company go away.
“It is always a pleasure to welcome Carnival ships to Dominica because of the history…,” he said. “It’s like a marriage, you have a special relationship and that is how important we treat Carnival, it’s as important as that relationship in a marriage in that we will never let Carnival go away.”
He added, “The thing is things may get hot, things may get cold, but we always want you back, and that is what’s important for us today to have Carnival back and to have Carnival really making a number of calls to us.”
Dominica expects 174 calls and approximately 200,000 passengers for the 2015-2016 Cruise Ship Season.
Eleven of those calls will come from Carnival Cruise Lines.
The season ends in April 2016.
This minister is just hopeless ..Lets change his name to hopelessness
Tonge is a waste of time
These people are talking about 174 calls and 200, 000 passengers , is that a great number to boast about? Dominca once had almost more than 200 calls and many more passengers. I remmber the days when there was four five ships in port. Where are they what went wrong. The numbers are droping every cruise season. The other Islands in the caribbean are growing in figures in the miiions.
If you invite a friend to your home you will make all necessary arrangement to make them feel welcome. Well the same principle applies for the cruise ships.
The first time the ship called at our port Roseau was actually stinking, the place was dirty, even the tourist commented on that. The german ship came and it was even worse someone had to pour bleach and some other disinfectant in the area. Please tell us why should the ships captain and it’s guests tell you what to do so they can come to our Island?
Well mr. Tonge I don’t think carnival should tell you what you should do to in your country to have the ship coming to Domaica. You should have things in place to encourage the ship to come.
Clean Roseau it smells.
tonge you got too much tongue . you are a waste of time ba- bye.
My boy you guys haven’t got it yet just talk and no actions, I hope it wouldn’t happen but the way things are soon later the passengers will give Dominica negative reports and Carnival Cruise will pull out again, Our town still in a bad conditions and some areas are duty, And customer service is poor these workers have no training they have no good approach for customers, Employers should train their employees before hiring them, And most of the taxi drivers are untidy.
Mr. Bardouille may be sincere but he is naive if the thinks Carnival ships visit Dominica because “We have a relationship”. That is not how Business works. Carnival will only, call on Dominica if it profitable for them to do so, not because they love us. |Ask the company’s shareholders!
That is so true. If they can make a profit they will come.
Well said Titiwi, i agree with your comment 100%
To expand on your statement, Carnival will only come to Dominica if it’s CUSTOMERS, who make them profitable, are satisfied with Dominica as a port of call.
No parking from Old Street to the BAY FRONT on Cruise Ship days
A clean Roseau
NO PAROS
Respect, Respect, Respect. Our people are too courteous for us not to be at the TOP of Cruise Ship satisfaction surveys.
DNO, if your headline on this article includes “necessary changes”… then what are these necessary changes???? This article is not well written and leaves the reader hanging. Can you all augment it with more relevant facts… like what changes are Carnival requesting, what will Dominica do to implement, when will they be implemented, how will they be enforced, and bla bla bla…
Are you admitting that carnival did not pull out because of high fuel prices?
I can read between the lines!
You haven’t mentioned a word regarding fuel to cruise lines.
Is this your response to the lgbt agenda?
Are you beginning your case for them underneath our laws?
Skerrit said over his dead body dat will take place!
I watching all you moves!
Robbie you failed miserably!
Robbie, you know Labourites love and appreciate you, but the following quote from you simply does not make sense… “The government of Dominica and the stakeholders are very much interesting, have been working together, have been speaking to them on a regular basis to ensure that we put all things in place so that the guests and crew so the cruisers will better ensure the country.” What in heaven’s name were you trying to say? I seriously read this quote more than 30 times trying to decipher what it was you really meant to say. I surely hope that you were not speaking under the influence of alcohol or any other mind altering substances. Mr. Tonge, as a representative of the blessed Dominica Labour Party, you should be a bit more intelligible in your statements and utterances. To be quite frank, many Labourites are sadly disappointed at what seems like an inability to credibly command the english language on your part. Quite saddened indeed! Better luck next time Comrade.
It good for all you. Mr. Tonge needs a new tongue cause tout ta i ouver bouche li say sot i kar parlay
I break this down to mean that all what is necessary will be done to prevent the cruise ship from staying away from Dominica.
Well done Mr Tongue. Continue to be positive. It is not what you say , but what you do that will show your efficiency. Do not let those naysayers who are full of negatives keep you down .Good job !
All Labourites are happy that the cruise ship is back. Many non Labourites are very happy for the opportunity to put money in their pockets. Benefits to be derived from the Tourist Industry are for all Dominicans. So we should be happy to embrace all the opportunity presented to us and stop all this negative bull . A negative mind is regressive and only supports negative life.
We are not English men. I see the same attack on our Foreign Minister for her language skills. They do not have to speak the Queen’s English. Even the British people do not speak it. It is not a fault or failure.
Robie speak how you dam well please. You do not have to speak like Linton for us to appreciate what you say. Linton is like Mr Malaprop who uses big words that he himself do not understand what he is saying. So people have to pretend that they understand his gibberish to be considered educated.
I hope this is not just another hot air balloon talking. We are very good at making statements with not much to back up our talk.
This is not talk. You saw the boat in the habour. The evidence is there. All Dominicans should be supporting him. He left a successful business to make a contribution to Dominica’s development. We should appreciate this. We are so unappreciative of our own people.