.. the first in three years
2017, March 1: Jamaica received a cruise ship call to its capital city Kingston on December 6 last, the first time in three years. The Port of Kingston, now an industrial/ cargo facility, was once a passenger ship destination but that was decades ago, before modern cruise shipping became big business.
Jamaica’s cruise ship ports – Montego Bay, Falmouth, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio — are on the northern side of the island. They collectively receive visits from most lines in Caribbean cruise business. Kingston on the south however rarely receives a cruise ship. So when Pulmantur’s Monarch of the Seas, docked at Kingston Wharves in December 2016 and discharged many of its nearly 3,000 passengers, it turned heads in the city. The ship was initially destined to dock in Montego Bay when it sailed from Cartagena de Indias. However, Montego Bay did not have an available berth, neither did Falmouth or Ocho Rios.
Its diversion to Kingston allowed passengers to see some of Jamaica that most cruise ship passengers never get an opportunity to experience, including sights in the capital city, the Bob Marley Museum and the National Gallery of Jamaica. []
