By Claude Mills, Staff Reporter WHEN THE Port Royal Ferry resumed its service with several round trips on Saturday, November 1, the vessel had a special seafaring 'first-timer' aboard - Member of Parliament Phillip Paulwell.
"I rode the Ferry for the first time in my life, and boy, did I enjoy it!" Mr. Paulwell told The Gleaner Monday, chuckling. "The trip took about 20 minutes, I loved the sea, and the staff was pleasant."
VIABLE ENTERPRISE
"They have undergone some training, are aware of the importance of customer service, and the need to give tourists some knowledge of Port Royal so we are in the process of familiarising them with a script," the East Kingston and Port Royal MP said. He urged the public to support the ferry so that it can be a "viable enterprise."
According to Mr. Paulwell, plans are already afloat to extend the service to include weekend harbour cruises, and in the very near future, the service will be extended to include trips to Portmore, St. Catherine.
"The Portmore service will be implemented shortly after the infrastructural work is completed at Rodney's Arms," Mr. Paulwell said.
The ferry will form the centrepiece of the marketing campaign to help kick-start the $100 million Port Royal project, which according to Mr. Paulwell, "will be divided into areas which small investors can handle".
"There is a whole lot of interest being shown as we've been getting calls from a number of hotels in Kingston to get the schedules for the Ferry. Plus, we are in the process of writing to a major cruise line, inviting them to next year's Port Royal Fish Festival. The ship can dock in Kingston Harbour and we can use the ferry to transport tourists across," Mr. Paulwell said.
SEA-READY
According to Charles Penny-cooke, managing director of the Port Royal Ferry Services Limited, that is just the tip of the iceberg for the sea-ready Ferry.
"We want to operate educational tours of Kingston Harbour geared towards visitors and schools as well," Mr. Penny-cooke said. Other Port Royal attractions which will be marketed include the naval cemetery and the bird sanctuary.
The service begins each weekday morning at 7:30 a.m. with a trip from Port Royal to Kingston, and there will be five trips during the day before the final trip leaves Kingston at 5:00 p.m.
On Saturdays, the service will start at 8:00 a.m from Port Royal, with two other trips in between until 1:00 p.m. when the ferry leaves Kingston for Port Royal, while on Sundays, the service starts at 12 noon from Kingston.
