Eastern Caribbean joins Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association to showcase their destinations

USVI reminds everyone they are open

Nicholson-Doty credited the constant communications and updates with the FCCA and Member Lines to assisting with everything from relief supplies and evacuation efforts to navigating the road map to not only return cruise ship visits, but also ensure that every passenger would have something to enjoy and see that the USVI was still nice. She told that the USVI people were crucial to that cause, as they rallied to ready the destination and were ecstatic to see their efforts come to fruition when welcoming guests again-and that they remain committed to delivering an exceptional experience.

• See also: Tourism Commissioner Tells Partners USVI Open For Business 

Castro echoed the significance of the partnership with the industry and commitment from cruise executives, with some even visiting the destination immediately after the hurricanes to help get the port online to receive both cargo and cruise vessels.

He told that in combination with the peoples’ and stakeholders’ tireless efforts and a well executed and transparent communications and marketing strategy led to an incredible recovery, with homeporting operations resuming only two and a half weeks after the disaster. And all agreed how vital that homeporting is for the region and that it adds more reasons and ways to work and grow together.

“We are committed to working with our FCCA partners and our neighboring destinations to continue positioning the Caribbean as the premier cruising destination in the world,” said Carla Campos, Acting Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. “The Government of Puerto Rico worked collaboratively to resume operations as quickly as possible recognizing our strategic role as an important hub for itineraries in the rest of the Caribbean, and we’re very much looking forward to what we anticipate will be a record-breaking 1.7M passengers for the 2018/2019.”

Port St. Maarten Officer Alex Gumbs also praised the FCCA and Member Lines for the relief efforts and the continual feedback, and he reiterated the importance of citizens’ efforts. He told St. Maarten quickly enacted a strategy to gather both the private and public sectors to meet with a former cruise line executive to prepare for cruise passengers’ return, especially in terms of messaging to deliver, and focus on the silver lining of the catastrophe by finding ways to enhance offerings and rebuild even better than ever. To this end, he mentioned one of the best decisions was bringing a large delegation of stakeholders to participate in the 2017 FCCA Cruise Conference & Trade Show to discuss the progress and opportunities with the 100 FCCA Member Line executives in attendance.

These opportunities to improve took center stage at the meeting, with the destination representatives and cruise executives focusing on authentic experiences that tell the destinations’ stories while diving into numerous sites throughout the region with potential for retail, restaurants and things to see and do.

The destination representatives and cruise executives also discussed plans for both the upcoming hurricane season and the foreseeable future, including establishing a network of destinations to facilitate the transfer of necessary goods and creating a process to identify needs for individual destinations for both relief and an ongoing basis.

In all, the joint effort proved so proactive that the cruise executives suggested holding similar meetings every quarter with the FCCA Operations Committee, which would further the efforts of the regular events the FCCA hosts throughout the year to bring together cruise executives and destination stakeholders with the goal of developing mutual success.

One of those, the FCCA Cruise Conference & Trade Show, is expected to gather 1,000 stakeholders and 100 cruise executives for meetings, workshops and networking opportunities from November 5-9 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and it is open for registration.