Welcomed news for local officials, businesses and residents

After an 18-month absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise ships are set to return to the pier of Falmouth, starting on November 8.

The Italian liner, Costa, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, will be making a much-anticipated call to the Trelawny capital. This is welcome news for Falmouth’s Mayor, Colin Gager.

Gager explained that the return of cruise vessels to the town is being met with much optimism by local officials, businesses and residents, declaring that it “represents a glimmer of hope for bigger things to come”.

He told the Jamaica Information Service, “it has been a tough 18 months for all concerned. It was a case where our cruise sector was booming where we were used to seeing the ships coming in their numbers and then came the coronavirus, forcing the lockdown of all cruise ports”.

Plans have been put in place for the Italian liner

Highlighting that plans are in place to welcome the Italian cruise liner, Gager advised that once cruise shipping resumed in Ocho Rios over two months ago, Falmouth had started to do some “on the ground preparation”.

These include improving on basic infrastructure in anticipation of “our turn to bat”.

These efforts, he said, intensified over the past few weeks when the confirmation came that Falmouth “will be getting its turn at the wicket on November 8”.

According to the Falmouth mayor, “we have been walking the ground with the superintendent of police to ensure that we have everything in place and that there is nothing we are leaving to chance. We know the importance of a good first impression and what it means to the future of Falmouth as a major port of call”.

Delano Seiveright, chief strategist/adviser in the Ministry of Tourism, made the point that Ocho Rios, which has been welcoming cruise passengers since August, has proven that Jamaica is adequately prepared to host ships during the COVID pandemic.

This, he argued, bodes well for other destinations, including Falmouth, and will open the gates for a plethora of ships to call on the island’s other ports in the coming months leading into 2022.

According to him, “…by the middle of 2022, our cruise shipping sector should be rocking again. We have put in the work, and we have been having the dialogue. Our people need this, our people deserve this, especially with what we have all been through over the past 18 months”.