The 2021/2022 cruise season drew its curtains closed earlier this month. May second marked the end of the cruise season with a final call from mv celebrity equinox of celebrity cruises. Though the covid 19 pandemic has been a challenge during that period, Dominica welcomed two hundred and fifteen cruise calls.
Chief Executive Officer of Discover Dominica Authority, Mr. Colin Piper says the season brought visitors to some of Dominica’s major cruise sites which is a plus for the island. Over seventy-nine thousand of these cruise passengers off boarded the ships to explore what the country had to offer.
“What that means obviously is that the local stakeholders were able to make a living, especially with people going on tours, that means the taxi drivers, the tour guides, and in certain instances when they come back and visit the shopping zone, the vendors are able to make something. So we are pleased about that in terms of 21-22 and we are looking forward 22/23,” Mr. Piper stated.
Sufficient training of tourism stakeholders during the covid 19 pandemic was necessary to ensure safety protocols were maintained whilst Dominica continued its efforts to revitalize the tourism sector.
“The cruise stakeholders always work with DDA, they work with DASPA, they work with the Ministry of Tourism, and they understand the cruise business and they understand that even before covid, it was one of protocols making sure we dotted ‘i’s and crossed ‘t’s; making sure that certifications were in place and these sort of things. So they have always worked with us and we anticipate that they will continue to work with us. In the previous season, it was about making sure that the health protocols were in place, making sure that they had the right training and over the summer months we will look at training again from a customer service perspective and we will look at training in other areas that probable need to be enhanced. But we anticipate the full cooperation of the vendors, the taxi drivers, tour operators to ensure that the cruise season is a successful one,” the DDA CEO explained.
Mr. Piper hopes to see an increase of cruise calls to the island for the 2022/20223 cruise season.
“What’s important to note is that for 21/22 the vessels would have been coming in at about 50 to 60 percent capacity because of the covid protocols and what not. But in 22/23 we expect that there would be more passengers. So we are looking forward to an increase in cruise passengers coming to Dominica. So there would be significant benefits to the stakeholders even if the cruise calls do not increase. But we are anticipating that we will see a slight increase in the cruise calls; everything is still tentative at this point in time but we are optimistic,” he went on to say.
One of the most anticipated calls, the Disney Cruise is expected to make an inaugural call to Dominica for the 2022/2023 cruise season.
“As it relates to inaugurals, the ones that people are most excited about because I believe it is one of the few lines that have not come to Dominica yet is Disney, and right now we have a call that is tentatively scheduled for some time in July. So we will give more details as all the ‘i’s are dotted and all the ‘t’s are crossed. So kudos to the Minister of Tourism and to the Ministry, and to the CEO of DASPA for having such discussions and getting that done. It’s been a long time in the making and let’s hope that finally in July of 2022 it will come to pass,” Mr. Piper added.
Government will continue to up its efforts in order to promote Dominica as a desirable cruise destination to increase cruise calls to the island.