Janet Silvera, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
IN ADDITION to the 500 home-stay rooms needed for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, a cruise ship will house over 3,000 fans attending the event's opening ceremony and warm-up games in Trelawny and Kingston respectively.
The floating four-star hotel, which originates in Miami, Florida, will dock at the Montego Freeport Cruise Ship Pier on March 4 and remain in the tourism capital for three days, before making Kingston Harbour its home for two-and-a-half weeks. This was revealed by Nigel Pagan, chairman of Caribbean Synergy Inc. (CIS), the company spearheading the venture.
Mr. Pagan will meet with Carnival Cruise Line in Miami, Florida, today to finalise ongoing
negotiations.
"We have been working on this project since December 2004, and this is a dream we hope to realise," he told The Gleaner.
In the meantime, CSI's director, Peter Green, has confirmed that more than half the ship is already booked and several requests have been coming in from official travel agencies affiliated with
the event.
The bookings are being made by Jamaicans in the diaspora and the Pakistanis, "And we have word that requests are coming in from the Irish."
COMPETITIVE RATES
The rates being offered by CSI range between US$360-$520 per cabin all-inclusive, 20 per cent less than the rates being bandied about for hotel rooms in the region. According to recent reports, the region's hoteliers have been asking for US$600-$900 per room.
CSI said its decision to introduce the water-based accommodation is a result of the current shortage of rooms to accommodate cricket fans during the period. The company said it has based its efforts on the 30,000 visitors that attended the last World Cup in South Africa.
Some 100,000 fans are estimated to visit the region throughout the 2007 games.
