FOLLOWING A three-year hiatus from Jamaica's ports due to widespread visitor harassment, Princess Cruise Lines is back and with a full slate of vessels. The cruise line made four calls in Ocho Rios last week and will send vessels throughout the duration of the season which ends next April.
Local tourism officials, stung by the cruise line's abrupt departure in September 2000, see the return as not only a plus for the local cruise shipping sector but also as a testament to the "tremendous work" that was put in to curtail the badgering of visitors on the streets of resort towns.
"The pull out by Princess Lines of all their vessels in 2000 was indeed a low point for the industry," explained Dr. Wykham McNeill, Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism. "We had to do a careful examination of the cruise shipping industry and come up with a number of strategies to regenerate the sector. This we have done and are now seeing the benefits. With Princess joining Carnival and Royal Caribbean as the major cruise lines calling on Jamaica, the country should by mid-December, for the very first time, be welcoming its one millionth cruise visitor in a single season."
Princess Cruises, whose ships bring more than 100,000 passengers to the island each year, had pulled its vessels the Sea Princess, the Crown Princess and the Grand Princess from Ocho Rios to other Caribbean destinations. Tourism officials were at the time trivialising the move as a redeployment exercise, arguing that there was nothing unusual about ships being deployed "from one port to another."
Officials from the cruise line however immediately rebuffed the argument, pointing out that harassment of their passengers was chiefly to be blamed for the pull-out.
Residents of Ocho Rios, particularly the business community, are ecstatic with the news of the cruise's return. "We depend a lot on cruise shipping and having the Princess back can only help," said Mildred McCalla, president of the Ocho Rios Craft Market.
"Taxi drivers were hard hit by the pull-out of Princess three years ago," said David Lambie, a JUTA taxi operator. "It was really a low point for the country, especially with rumours that other cruise lines could follow." Sanju Chatani, owner of the Taj Mahal Plaza in Ocho Rios, was, however, more pragmatic. "It's great having the Princess back for a full season but let's not get carried away," he said.
"Visitor harassment was the reason why the cruise line left in the first place and we have to be careful history doesn't repeat itself. I am very disturbed by the fact that the resort patrol has been taken off the streets...one can only hope that this will not open the gate for tourist harrassers...the country can ill-afford that at this time."
