Carnival ships back to Aruba and Curacao

[Andrea J.]

from AMIGOE
Carnival Cruise Lines visits islands again after 6 years
22 Okt, 2010, 12:12 (GMT -04:00)

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WILLEMSTAD/ORANJESTAD — The arrival of the cruise ship Miracle from the Carnival Cruise Lines tomorrow will be the first in a series of visits. Marketing manager of Curaçao Port Authorities (CPA), Dimitri Cloose: “Last year, a contract was concluded with Carnival, the world’s largest cruise holding with many different cruise lines, for 21 visits to Curaçao.” The cruise ship entered the harbor of Oranjestad today around noon (see picture) after a three-year absence. The ship hadn’t visited Curaçao for six years. Premier Mike Eman and the Minister of Tourism, Labor & Transport Otmar Oduber of government party AVP were at the harbor this morning to meet with a top representative of the cruise company, Captain Domenico Tringale, and the marketing manager of the company Jennifer de la Cruz.

Carnival will visit the island twice a month up to the year 2012. The Miracle offers accommodation to 2124 passengers and 934 crewmembers. The ship will be moored at the mega pier from eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock in the afternoon and subsequently continue its course in the direction of Aruba. The cruise ship will then head for home in the direction of Port Everglades Harbor in Fort Lauderdale.

The deal with Carnival was concluded with ‘sister island’ Aruba because one realized the mutual advantages. “One aims at advantages for both parties through cooperation and concentration of forces. The indefatigable input in drawing more tourist ships to our islands is paying off by our presence in the cruise world and our personal contacts with the managements” according to CPA.
Within the framework of Carnival’s first visit, the Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) has planned musical and cultural activities in Punda.
On Saturday morning, the captain will be presented with the flag of Curaçao so that it may be raised when the cruise line visits the island the next time. The itinerary consists of an eight-day voyage whereby four countries will be visited. Grand Turk – part of the Turkish and Caicos archipelago – will be visited first, whereupon the ship will visit the harbor la Romana of the Isla Catalina in the Dominican Republic. The voyage will then continue in the direction of Curaçao and Aruba.

Eight-day cruises
Cloose announced that eight-day cruises are now in the making. This often regards courses along ‘some more exotic places’. The cruise lines do not mind sailing a few days longer. For that matter, they make huge profits on alcohol consumptions, which the quests have to pay for of course. The casinos also appear to be doing good business with these cruises. Large cruise lines sometimes drop Curaçao because the island falls outside the seven-day course. The most common cruises regard the seven, ten and fourteen-day trips.
“Of course, Aruba already has a considerable reputation and was even mentioned in a popular song. We think Curaçao will acquire more reputation with this as well. Carnival mainly aims at the American middle class. This target group often works hard and generally has few holidays. For convenience’s sake, they would prefer a cruise, where they could enjoy good meals on board, with entertainment in abundance and still visit several countries/islands without additional hotel expenses” according to Cloose.
Carnival visited Curaçao regularly via the Puerto Rico cruises until 2004. CPA is pleased with the fact that Carnival has decided to visit the island regularly again after a six-year pause.

[shanb42]

My first visit to Aruba was on a Carnival cruise many years ago. I was hooked ever since. Glad they are back!

[danadog56]

Same here....got off the boat and got hooked immediately !!! Glad to hear Aruba will enjoy more ships coming in and more commerce for the island again...