The 22nd The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Conference and Trade show was held in Cozumel, Mexico from October 5 – 9, 2015.
The Dominican delegation was led by the Minister of Tourism & Urban Renewal, the Hon. Robert Tonge.
The opening ceremony was held on Monday, October 5th, where the Honorable Minister was called to the stage to accept cheques and plaques for this year’s senior winner of the FCCA Essay Contest, Montell Phillip from the Castle Bruce Secondary School.
The conference offered ample opportunities to meet with, learn from and pitch products to over 100 FCCA Member line executives during the numerous one-on-one meetings. Attendees were allotted meetings with their selected cruise executives from the lines’ various departments.
Meetings were held with Holland America Line, Carnival Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, MSC Cruise, Disney and Princess. Each meeting allowed 15 minutes for attendees to privately discuss with and receive personalized input from a cruise executive.
Discussions ranged from selling a product or shore excursion onboard, increasing cruise ship calls, tailor-making an excursion/product and developing infrastructure that the cruise lines and destinations need.
The FCCA’s unique tradeshow provided the opportunity to showcase Dominica’s cruise offerings and satisfy inquiring minds that Dominica is still open for cruise business. The traffic to the booth was overwhelming as cruise executives and other conference attendees offered empathy with regards to damages sustained by Tropical Storm Erika. Persons visiting the booth inquired about the island’s natural attractions, tours, cultural events, festivals and location. Cruise executives, tour operators and tourism students formed the majority of people frequenting the booth.
Exhibitors included other Caribbean islands such as Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, Martinique, St. Maarten and Antigua. Dominica secured a location between Grenada and Guadeloupe. The booth was beautifully decorated through the use of DDA’s retractable banners. Giveaway items with DDA branding were also exhibited. Cruise executives, tour operators, travel agents and the island locals visited the DDA booth.
People should understand that all the following cruise lines are part of Carnival Corporation & plc.: Holland America Line, Seabourn, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Princess Cruises, Aida Cruises. So any survey conducted for the influential Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (Carnival are based in Florida) will impact the company’s decision where to position their ships in order to maximize their return on investment.
The person masquerading as the brain on Matt’s program does Dominica a disservice by the denouncement and denial of such findings. These are the data used by the cruise lines and not the opinion of a labour plant with a conceited notion that he has the wisdom of Solomon.