Dominica welcomed the MV Viking Orion of Viking Cruises on Thursday, October 28th, 2021. The vessel arrived at the Roseau Cruise Ship Berth at 7:00am and brought approximately 797 cruise passengers to the island’s shores. This will be the first of the ship’s two (2) scheduled calls to the island for the 2021/2022 Cruise Season.
MV Viking is a 47,861 ton cruise ship operating for Viking Cruises. She measures 228 meters in length and has a 29-meter beam.
A customized wooden plaque and local gift items were presented to the ship’s captain by the Minister of Tourism, International Transport and Maritime Initiatives, Hon. Denise Charles and Marketing Manager of HHV Whitchurch & Co. Ltd, Ms. Michelle Joseph. Cultural musical entertainment was also provided for disembarking passengers.
The island is scheduled to receive a total of 274 cruise calls during the 2021/2022 Cruise Season. This translates to a total of 413,577 cruise passengers. Of the 274 calls 17 will be making their inaugural call to the island.
Since the resumption of cruise calls in July 2021, the island has received a total of 10 cruise calls as of October 19th, 2021. Calls were received from the MV Seabourn Odyssey and the MV Celebrity Equinox. Together the ships brought the 4,433 cruise passengers to the island’s shores. Of the 4,433 passengers received, 2,023 engaged in tours to the island’s signature sites such as the Emerald Pool, Trafalgar Falls, and Ti Tou Gorge. Passengers also engaged in activities such as whale watching, snorkeling and river tubing.
Efforts towards the destination’s preparedness and improvement of the island’s health and safety protocols are ongoing. Service providers to include taxi drivers, craft & souvenir vendors, and tour guides, have undergone health and safe protocols training over the past months. Site upgrades and necessary health and safety measures are being implemented at major cruise sites.
DDA solicits the cooperation of all tourism stakeholders in ensuring a welcoming, enjoyable, and safe experience for the cruise visitors. The Government of Dominica will continue its effort in promoting Dominica as a safe, desirable cruise destination to increase cruise calls to the island.
For more information on Dominica, contact Discover Dominica Authority at 767 448 2045. Or, visit Dominica’s official website: www.DiscoverDominica.com, follow Dominica on Twitter and Facebook and take a look at our videos on YouTube.
Cruise ships benefit only a few local businesses and vendors, yet pose a huge risk to Dominica, who’s health workers are already stretched to the limits coping with the delta variant covid surge. Other variants have been identified elsewhere in our island chain. This is the way they are likely to spread to Dominica.
Since late July the cruise-ship blight again infests our shores
Inviting deadly delta to march right through the door
Delta has evolved with stealth to sneak past all our checks
Remaining dormant long enough to bypass many tests
So vaccinated carriers, they travel unaware
That they transmit the virus, ships bring in from elsewhere….
For the rest of this poem click on “delta” above, where you will also find links to covid related topics of interest.