Ministry of Tourism, Jamaica
PHOTO CAPTION: Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett (r) makes a point to Mr. Frederico Gonzalez-Denton (l), Associate Vice President, Government Relations of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL); as Mr. Adam Goldstein, President of RCCL and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association’s (FCCA) and Delano Seiveright (3rd r), Senior Advisor to the Minister note with interest. Mr. Paul Pennicook, Director of Tourism (partially hidden) was also a part of the discussions that involved growing interest in a Cuba, Jamaica cruise itinerary.
KINGSTON, Jamaica; February 13, 2017: Years prior to the Cuban Revolution in 1959 that saw the communist Fidel Castro regime come to power, Cruise ships from Miami regularly stopped in Cuba and Jamaica as part of their northern Caribbean itinerary. Now with the easing of US/Cuba relations just under 60 years following the revolution and prompting by Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, Cruise executives are excited about the prospects for a surge in interest for the once charmed route which will prove popular and continue the upward trajectory of Jamaica’s cruise arrival numbers.
The development comes as Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), after receiving approval for a one day per week sailing into Havana, Cuba decided to drop Grand Bahama in the Bahamas from its scheduled four-day voyage, sending jitters throughout the tourism industry there. Interestingly, Swiss based cruise giant MSC Cruises has been promoting its itineraries spanning, Havana, Cuba; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico this year. Meanwhile, the Cypriot-owned 1,200-passenger Celestyal Crystal cruise ship has been sailing seven-day Cuba itineraries year-round on a people-to-people cruise and land itinerary out of Montego Bay and Havana.