The number of passengers (6,300) and crew (2,000) aboard the Oasis of the Seas roughly equals the town’s population (8,912). “It’s being discovered by people every week.”īuilt on land reclaimed from the sea, the port features two berths that can accommodate some of the largest ships at sea. “When the cruise ships come in, Falmouth becomes another Ocho Rios or Montego Bay,” said Ricky Matthews, a Jamaican cruise director with Royal Caribbean. The new pier and its job opportunities, plus an estimated 800,000 passengers by 2014, could provide both. The once-prosperous trading port needed an economic uplift and a morale boost. Moreover, when the country extended its North Coast Highway in 2003, it bypassed the city. Despite its sugar and rum history and its Georgian architecture (supposedly the largest intact collection in the Caribbean), the capital of Trelawny parish didn’t draw the same crowds as the popular resort towns. Wedged between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, the city suffered from an inferiority complex. When Falmouth learned in early 2000 that Royal Caribbean and the Port Authority of Jamaica were building a $180 million terminal on its waterfront, the residents rejoiced. I had to jump (another) ship to see the entire cycle. The Epic sailed away before I could fully experience the port’s transformation, from slumbering to vital, then back to bed. A few hustled to open their shops and stands, but most of the traveling merchants were probably north in Cozumel, greeting ships that had stuck to their schedules. When we arrived in Mexico’s Costa Maya on a Tuesday instead of a Thursday, we found only a small gathering of retailers, not the usual swarm shouting out their services and specials. The crew informed the passengers of the changes over the loudspeaker, but no one told the locals on the ground. I first experienced the pop-up phenomenon on a Caribbean cruise aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Epic.īecause of squirrely weather, the captain had to shuffle our itinerary, reassigning ports to different days of the week. Vendors “don’t come here when there’s no cruise ship.” Ormsby, a local resident who manages a rental property a few miles from town. “We don’t have tourists every day,” said Delroy C.M. By comparison, Falmouth and its ilk revolve around the cruise calendar, folding down or springing up depending on the day of the week. Because these destinations draw visitors all the time, a mixed salad of resort guests and cruisers, the vacation apparatus never shuts down. Thomas and even Montego Bay, Falmouth’s westerly neighbor. This ephemeral terminal - a Port-in-the-Box hand-cranked by the cruise lines - differs from the permanent members of the sea tourist trade, such as Nassau, St.
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