By Garwin Davis,
Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
OVERSEAS CRUISE shipping officials have warned that Jamaica's multi-million dollar industry could be at risk if the island continues its trend of being one of the leading Caribbean destinations for passenger complaints.
They have sent local tour companies copies of passengers' comments about visits to several destinations in the region.
Jamaica not only scored poorly, but ranked way ahead of its island competitors in terms of visitor harassment.
Several forms obtained by The Gleaner saw passengers making scathing remarks about the island.
Visitors complained of being harassed on arrival at the Ocho Rios pier, and also during stops at the craft market and at Dunn's River Falls. There were also numerous appeals for the cruise lines to drop Jamaica as a port of call, as according to several passengers, the island was the worst destination on the cruise itinerary.
"Jamaica was awful. We were harassed and insulted. We were offered drugs and prostitution. Taxis were too aggressive", wrote Daniel Mainville, a passenger from the United States.
"I would replace the Ocho Rios port of call with another choice. A ship this grand should not have that place on its itinerary," said Elaine Klenk, another American tourist.
In relating his experience, Paul Lane, also from the USA, said the "taxi service at Ocho Rios is horrendous. Continually pestered and followed for 50 yards or so. Not a pleasant experience."
A tour operator who requested anonymity, described the situation as being "extremely grave", and very embarrassing for the island's tourism industry.
"As you can see, from reading these comment sheets, passengers are not having a good time in Jamaica", he said. "Cruise lines are loyal only to their passengers and if they don't have an interest in coming here, you can bet your last dollar that the cruise line will oblige them."
William Tatham, general manager in charge of cruise shipping at the Jamaica Tourist Board, while acknowledging that harassment was a problem on the streets of the resort town, insisted that Jamaica was not among the worst areas.
"Places like St. Maarten scored heavily in terms of passenger complaints. As a matter of fact, as an attraction, we are rated highly", he said.
Several cruise line officials did not share Mr. Tatham's views, however, and they rank Jamaica as the leading destination for complaints.
"Unfortunately, most of the complaints we get from our passengers are coming out of Jamaica," said Mike Ronan, director of destination for Royal Caribbean.
He said that although his company had enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Jamaica spanning 20 years, Royal Caribbean would have to go by what its passengers are saying.
"The mere fact that this is happening means that someone ought to be concerned," he added. "Some of our passengers are coming to Jamaica for the first time, and a bad experience will mean that they will not want to come back again."
Steve Nielson, vice-president of Caribbean Affairs at Princess Cruise Lines, and whose company has redeployed several of its ships from Jamaica to other destinations, agreed in an earlier interview.
According to him, widespread harassment of visitors has enabled Jamaica to be the No. 1 destination for complaints among his passengers, and that it had contributed to his company, opting to try other routes.
Also, there are reports that Costa Cruise Lines are fed up with the problem of harassment and citing the need to spice up its itinerary, have confirmed that the "Costa Victoria" will not be back. They said that Jamaica was the only port that has been dropped from their itinerary, and was the leading destination for complaints from their passengers.
This brings to four, the number of cruise lines which have indicated that they will be dropping Jamaica from their itinerary next season.
"The common trend among these cruise lines is that they are not redeploying their vessels from anywhere else, but Jamaica", said Michael Belnavis, chairman of the Ocho Rios Cruise Shipping Council.
Kumar Sujanani, vice-president of the Duty Free Merchants of Jamaica, said his organisation was aware of the concerns of Costa and other cruise lines, and said the country was in danger of losing its cruise industry. "We are having some serious problems, and the authorities need to wake up", he said. "No matter how much we try to downplay what has been happening, the fact is we are losing ships."
Carl Miller, the government's anti-harassment czar, said that the area by the Ocho Rios pier was causing most of the problem, and that the authority's were working at correcting the situation.
But according to Mildred McCalla, president of the All-Island Craft Traders Association, harassment was not restricted to any one place, and was now rampant in the Ocho Rios Craft Market.
