OCHO RIOS, ST. ANN:

When the world's largest passenger carrier, Royal Caribbean Inter-national's MS Freedom of the Seas cruises into the Ocho Rios Cruise Shipping Pier today, bearing 4,500 visitors, it will signal Jamaica's official return to a market which, it dominated last year by attracting well over a million takers.

Expressing her delight at the turn of events, yesterday, Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba opined. "This is incredible news, with the confirmation coming less than 24 hours after the passage of dangerous, category four Hurricane Dean."

Supporting Minister Assamba's position, vice-president, cruise shipping, at the Port Authority of Jamaica, William Tatham, said, "The seaports held up remarkably well during the hurricane, and I am pleased to say that all the support services are on track to be in place by Wednesday morning. This proves once again that we have port facilities that are on par with some of the best in the world."

Confidence in readiness

Marilyn Burrows, president of the Association of Jamaican Attractions Limited, also expressed confidence in Jamaica's readiness to receive its first set of cruise visitors after the storm.

"When you have a short time on a small island, you need to have a fantastic time doing something memorable. The fact that more than 80 per cent of all cruise-ship visitors to Jamaica choose to disembark here and visit our attractions speaks volumes about the quality of the local offerings. We are totally ready to welcome the Freedom of the Seas, tomorrow (today)," she said.

According to State Minister for Tourism, Dr. Wykeham McNeill, Jamaica was now gearing up to open more ports.

"We are now in the advanced planning stages of ensuring that more ports open up to be able to satisfy the bullish demand for cruise-ship visitors,"he said.

Last year, Jamaica welcomed a record 1.3 million cruise-ship passengers to its two main ports, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.

This also earned the destination the coveted title of Best Cruise Ship Destination in the World, at the World Travel Awards in the Turks and Caicos, last September.