By Garwin Davis, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
ANOTHER CRUISE line is pulling its flagship from Jamaican ports of call for the next winter tourist season, the third to decide this route in the past week.
Costa Lines, which has been sending ships to the island for the past ten years, will not be sending back its flagship, the Costa Victoria, to the island after the end of April, the cruise line has confirmed.
A senior officer in the company told The Gleaner on Tuesday, in an interview from his Miami office, that the cruise line will be redeployed to another island next year. He, however, added that the cruise line could still maintain a local presence by sending its Costa Atlantica back to Jamaica next season.
"We have two ships coming to Jamaica at present but we have decided to send the Costa Victoria to another port," he said. "After the next couple of visits it will be leaving for good."
The source added that his company received the most passenger complaints from Jamaica but denied that was the sole reason for deploying the vessel. He conceded, though, that Jamaica was the only port that was being dropped from their itinerary.
William Tatham, the Jamaica Tourist Board's director of cruise shipping, confirmed the pull-out but was unable to state the main reasons for the company's decision.
The Costa Victoria's loss now means that Jamaica will be losing four ships come next season, which will cost the industry nearly a million and a half dollars in expected revenue.
Royal Caribbean has indicated that their Enchantment of the Seas will not be coming back while Princess Cruises will be sending their Sea Princess to Puerto Rico instead. The Grande Princess, which was supposed to replace the Sea Princess, will now be going to a Mexican port instead.
The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has been downplaying the significance of the pullouts and is insisting that they will not have a great impact on the industry.
But Lee Bailey, president of the Montego Bay Cruise Shipping Council, said that there is now an urgent need for a cruise shipping policy and plans for Jamaica with what he called "sensible people at the helm". According to him, the writing was clearly on the wall and only stringent measures would now suffice.
"Call it redeployment, rescheduling or pullout but the fact is that the vessels have left Jamaica and will not be returning for the next season. No amount of fancy speeches and excuses can change the picture."
Kumar Sujanani, vice president of the Inbond Merchants Association of Jamaica, said that he has gotten wind of information that the Costa Lines would not be returning to Jamaica at all next year.
