The Georgian style town of Falmouth, located on Jamaica’s north coast, welcomed the return of cruise tourism after eighteen months of no ships coming into port, a result of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ship, the Emerald Princess, arrived in port on Sunday November 14 with about 1700 passengers and crew signalling what many believe to be the continued return to some level of normalcy in the local tourism sector. Another two ships made berth that same week with the arrival of the Aida Diva on Friday and the Celebrity Equinox on Sunday.
According to Director of Tourism, Donovan White, the return of the vessels to Falmouth is a sign of the growing confidence in the local tourism sector. “The return of cruise to Falmouth is an additional vote of confidence for the destination by our cruise partners. This is a positive move as we continue the recovery of the tourism sector and we will continue to welcome visitors safely” he had remarked.
During the return on Sunday, at least half the number of passengers disembarked the vessel who went and participated in various activities. One of the activities was shopping at the nearby craft market where majority of the vendors were finally returning to their shops after months out without any business taking place. There was also a pop up event at the newly built artisan village where passengers were given a sneak peak of what to expect when things get going.
Gay Bambury, Treasurer for the Craft Vendors Association, related that the vendors have welcomed the return of the vessels and were pleased with the initial response so far from the passengers. “We had a number of the tourists coming into the market and so some persons made sales” she remarked. She also noted that during the course of them visiting, they managed to ensure that the safety protocols remained in place throughout such as only craft vendors were allowed in the market during the time. She further notes that vendors are now looking towards the other ships slated to come in over the weekend. “
For Mark Hylton, manager for the port, things went pretty smoothly with the arrival of this vessel. “We had things going smoothly on Sunday and a seamless integration between the various stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, the Port Authority, our private partners to include ground transportation as well” he remarked. He noted that safety protocols were firmly in place and the passengers were able to move through quite easily.
Throughout the course of the day, cruise passengers boarded ground transportation and departed on various excursions. It is expected however that tourists venturing into the town, as was customary prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, will not happen currently but may change in short order depending on how things pan out.