Carnival Sunrise Plans Three Calls Per Month for Ocho Rios

With cruise ships once again sailing on the high seas worldwide, the world’s second largest cruise company – Carnival Cruise Lines – says Jamaica will remain an important part of its itinerary throughout the post COVID-19 recovery period.

Speaking with JIS News at the Ocho Rios Cruise Terminal in St. Ann following the arrival of the 3,100 passengers and crew aboard Carnival Sunrise on Monday (August 16), Vice President for Global Ports and Caribbean Government Relations for Carnival Corporation, Marie McKenzie, said Jamaica’s long-standing relationship with the cruise line, in addition to its impressive adherence and understanding of international health and safety protocols, gives the island an important advantage as it relates to securing cruise berths going forward.

Ms. McKenzie, who is Jamaican by birth and who has worked with Carnival for 26 years with responsibility for operations in 27 countries, said that not only is she happy to see cruise shipping back on track but that she considers the Ocho Rios call “a special one” because of what tourism means to Jamaica’s economy.

“I know what this means to our country in terms of economic activity, and I know what it means for our company and our guests, more importantly,” she noted.

“This is not the first port Carnival has returned to. We have been cruising out of the US under the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So many of the requirements of your health team were very much in line with things we were already doing or other matters that they may have asked for, that other ports didn’t ask for that we were able to provide,” Ms. McKenzie further added.

The Carnival Executive also expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Tourism, the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) and the Ministry of Health & Wellness for what she called their commitment to ensuring that strong COVID-19 health and safety measures were not only in place but were also followed and fully enforced.

Carnival Sunrise’s captain, Isidoro Renda, said the ship would be making multiple stops every month in Ocho Rios, adding that Jamaica remains an important partner and a valued member of the Carnival family.

“We are so excited…me…all the crew and the entire Carnival Cruise Line. We are so happy to restart and to have our first call in Jamaica. We have had an extremely long relationship with Jamaica and Ocho Rios so we are extremely happy and honoured and pleased to be here,” Captain Renda beamed.

“We are coming from Miami, Florida…Ocho Rios is our very first stop after 17 months and we are going to come here very often…at least three times every month.”

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, who was also on hand with a delegation of Ministry officials to greet the vessel, said that with the quantity of work that had been done by multiple agencies to “make this day a reality”, he was not the least bit surprised by the ringing endorsement from Carnival.

“It is a very good moment…a very good look…because the return of cruise means jobs, income and revenue for the Government, but more importantly, it gives the community of Ocho Rios a sense of hope that livelihood is back,” he pointed out.

“The return of cruise ships signals the start of the second phase of the recovery. On Sunday (August 15) we saw the arrival of the one millionth visitor on the stopover side and today we saw the arrival of the first cruise visitor after 17 months of inactivity.”

The 17-month hiatus was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.