Speaking to tourism industry executives meeting at the Be Live Marien last week, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia announced that Puerto Plata would have its new private cruise ship port before the end of 2014.
Carnival Cruise Lines plan to build a US$65 million two-berth port facility in the Bay of Maimon, 10 minutes west of Puerto Plata. The development is five minutes from the Ocean World tourist attraction. Giora Israel, Carnival’s vice president of Port Development said Dufry (duty free shops) would be a joint venture partner.
The construction will involve the dredging of a cruise ship channel into the bay. Land purchases were recently completed for the deal.
Carnival Cruise Line is the world’s largest cruise ship operator with 10 cruise lines that own over 100 ships that visit 169 ports worldwide. The lines include Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn. Carnival and sister shipline Costa ships dock at La Romana port.
Construction will begin in 2012 and the first cruise ship arrival is scheduled for summer 2014.
While the project will be financed completely by the Carnival/Dufry group, port executives also envision the arrival of non-Carnival controlled ships.
Carnival will build and operate the cruise terminal and is expected to have complete control over the ship scheduling, passengers and the arrival area. Parking and facilities for the taxis and tour buses will be provided but this is expected to under the terms and procedures set forth by Carnival for an efficient cruise ship port operation.
The operation is expected to be a huge boon for the area, with the construction generating lots of jobs to be replaced later by the jobs generated by the servicing of ships and visiting passengers.
The port will be prepared to receive two ships with around 2,000 passengers and 500 crew members each at the same time.