Carnival Corp. confirms cruise port
Well it’s official…the world’s biggest cruise line is setting up shop in Belize… for a long, long time. This afternoon, officials from Carnival Corporation in Miami officially confirmed to News 5 that the company has reached an agreement with Belize Ports Limited to construct a new cruise terminal facility at the port…a deal which would see many more Carnival cruise ships calling on Belize for a projected period of at least twenty-five years. According to Carnival’s spokesperson, Jennifer De La Cruz, motivation for the investment came from what she calls, a positive experience in Belize and the chance to do away with the hassle of tendering passengers from ship to shore.
Jennifer De La Cruz, Spokesperson, Carnival (Via Phone)
“We always prefer to dock. Docking enables us to stay longer in port. It has a positive impact on the number of guests that will get off the ship, that will spend money in port, and it also makes it much easier for the crew to get off ships and also spend money in port. Obviously, it’s operationally advantageous for us, so we would really like to have a facility in Belize, because we are very committed to bringing our ships there long term.”
Janelle Chanona
“And you guys will be contributing how much of the cost of the project?”
Jennifer De La Cruz
“The cost of the project will be shared by the project partners, which are Carnival Corp. and Belize Ports Limited.”
Janelle Chanona
“Those are the only two partners involved?
Jennifer De La Cruz
“Those are the two partners that I am aware of that are involved in this specific project. I believe that Belize Ports Limited, while I can’t speak on their behalf, may be looking at other investors to participate in port development generally.”
“It would be best if you confirmed that with them, but in terms of this specific port development project that we’re talking about, this cruise ship facility that would be able to accommodate two vessels and would include an adjacent welcome centre, and a transportation hub, that project specifically involves Carnival Corp and Belize Ports Limited.”
Janelle Chanona
“Jennifer, are you aware that Royal Caribbean Limited has recently signed an agreement with the Tourism Village here to buy out the facility and make a long-term investment as well. This is a fierce rival of your company’s right?”
Jennifer De La Cruz
“I’m not familiar with it, but that’s not to say that other folks here at Carnival at a higher level, who are negotiating with the folks in Belize, are, they may very well be aware of it. In fact they probably are.”
But whether the Government is aware of all that is going on is still unclear. Attempts to reach Minister of Tourism Mark Espat failed again as we were informed that he was unavailable for comment today. However, News 5 was made to understand that much of the information about this major deal has not been shared with tourism officials, including the minister himself.
