President Danilo Medina was in Puerto Plata on Monday, 2 November 2015 for the formal ribbon-cutting ceremony of the two-berth US$85 million Amber Cove Cruise Center in Maimon Bay, Puerto Plata. The facility is a joint project between Carnival Corporation and the Rannik family of Grupo B&R. It is expected to host more than 250,000 cruise passengers in its first year of operation.
Attending for Carnival were Arnold Donald, chief executive officer of Carnival Corporation and Giora Israel, senior vice president strategic planning in charge of global port and destination development.
The Carnival Cruise Line-operated port is about a 15-minute drive from Puerto Plata city, but cruise passengers are offered around 40 different excursions.
The port has been receiving its first ships since the inaugural cruise on 6 October 2015. Amber Cove will receive in its first year of operations ships from AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line and P&O Cruises (UK). Among the ships is Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 that will be making a stop on its world cruise on 22 November.