It's been a year since Hurricane Maria swept over the Caribbean island of Dominica destroying many of the structures and much of the infrastructures. The island's thriving cruise business was also devastated with cruise ship calls for the 2017/2018 season dropping from 219 scheduled to just 33 actual calls.
Yesterday, we received an update from the island showing us most the damage is in the past, and the island has recovered almost completely. It is looking forward to a rebounded 2018/2019 winter season.
Details appeared in the September 19 issue of Cruise News Daily
Last week the Caribbean island of Dominica marked six months since the Category 5 Hurricane Maria devastated the island, and Discover Dominica reports the island has made major progress in restoring essential services and amenities on the island, reopening tourist attractions and being ready to receive visitors. The cruise ship berth at Roseau is also fully operational.
The complete story appeared in the March 22 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Royal Caribbean has set dates to return to San Juan and St. Maarten in addition to St. Thomas, which they announced plans for earlier. They also updated the status on a couple of ports that still aren't ready for their return.
Details appeared in the October 25 edition of Cruise News Daily.
One British cruise passenger died on Dominica yesterday when the excursion van in which he was riding with 11 others ran head-on into another car. Nine others were also injured in the van which was carrying a total of 12 people.
Details appeared in the November 10 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Dominica News Online reports that the island's number of cruise visitors has increased despite the global financial crisis, according to Dominica's tourism minister. Not only are they expecting an increase in the number of cruise ships calling, but they also expect the number of visitors disembarking to show a whopping 30% increase this winter from 500,000 to 650,000. Another interesting point to note in the article is that Dominica has one of the highest percentages of passengers disembarking of any port in the region.
