Today (October 30, 2018) marks the official opening of the 2018/2019 cruise season with the arrival of MV Celebrity Summit of Celebrity Cruises.
The ship will arrive at the Roseau Cruise Ship Berth bringing approximately 2,500 passengers to Dominica’s shores.
The ship is scheduled to be docked at the Roseau Cruise Ship Berth from 8:00am to 5:00pm.
The MV Celebrity Summit is scheduled to make ten calls to the island for the 2018/2019 cruise season.
The anticipated nine calls by the MV Celebrity Summit to the island, will allow our many cruise stakeholders to earn a livelihood especially those who sustained tremendous loss post Hurricane Maria.
Service providers are consequently all geared up for an active 2018/2019 cruise season.
Activities to commemorate the opening of the 2018/2019 cruise season will include a series of cultural entertainment to be held on the Dame Mary Eugenia Charles Boulevard from 8:00am to 5:00pm.
A ceremony will also form part of the day’s activities during which the Minister of Tourism & Culture will declare the season officially open.
Preschoolers of the SPICES Centre and Bright Beginnings preschools, will form part of the welcome ceremony to greet cruise visitors’ upon arrival, by waving the national flag.
A total of 189 cruise calls are projected for the 2018/2019 cruise season which equates to approximately 304031 cruise passengers.
Dominica expects to welcome nine (9) new cruise ships to its shores. Inaugural ceremonies to include plaque exchanges will be held aboard the respective ships.
DDA solicits the cooperation of all tourism stakeholders in ensuring a welcoming and enjoyable experience for the cruise visitors.
The Government of Dominica will continue its effort in promoting Dominica as a desirable cruise destination so as to increase cruise calls to Dominica.
I agree with what was said about the children.
I once witnessed this two years ago and I have to say:
They were so incredibly cute!!
But I also thought “Why are they here? Are they forced to be here? Did the parents agree to this? Why so these children have to ‘work’ here instead of being in class?”…
Years down the line some of these children (now adults) will be wondering why their parents failed them when they were allowed to be abused ( waving a flag in the hot sun) to serve someones belief it is the right thing to do.
And like me they will never ever forget the experience .
i still ask myself today, decades later , how and why did my parents have me standing in the hot sun , walking up and down (marching ) singing ”God save our gracious Queen” then fooling me with bribes of ”cool aid and rough cake” , ahhhh margway sar , what abuse, lifetime embarrassment . I remember a little girl fainting beside me and to this day, now as an adult ,her greatest fear is the repercussions of ever fainting again.
They’re teaching our children to bow and beg to the foreigners
That’s what the House of Cards economy Skerritt has built is based on
Hi Fellow D/cans: I just came home for the action. I am a Shabine Doway. I came by plane not on a cruise liner. Been to most of the activities. I cannot find my favorite wig any one finding it please contact Q95FM, DBS ,Voice of Life, Radio under mango etc. Just say WIG 4 THE WIG LADY- a reward is in the offering.
I need my wig badly.
Cruise ships visiting Dominica, that’s good. Taxi drivers, vendors, tour guides and other locals getting work, that’s good. The economy getting a much needed injection of funds, that’s good. The visitors getting a taste of local culture, that’s good. The youngest children taken from schools to wave flags to strangers, that’s bad. Having these preschoolers standing in the sun, waving flags to strangers, missing instruction time, is backward thinking. In tourism, high hotel occupancy is where the bulk of the money is made.
Dominica is by far the most naturally spectacular country in the Caribbean yet has the lowest tourist arrivals in the OECS. Why is this so? This is a direct result of the impotence and the intellectual ineptness of Skerrit and his amateurish bodyguards (Cabinet Ministers).
The Time for Change is NOW! For their 18 hears of the deplorable mismanagement of Dominica, not one seat they deserve.
“Preschoolers of the SPICES Centre and Bright Beginnings preschools, will form part of the welcome ceremony to greet cruise visitors’ upon arrival, by waving the national flag.”..
When these kind of activities are to take place, does the parents/guardians of these children give consent to take them out of the classrooms and onto the streets? What significance if any does waving a flag by school children bring to the visitors coming off the ship? I get so overwhelmed being in that area at these times let along the kids.