The luxurious Queen Mary 2 call in Montego bay

One of the challenge is finding that genuine Caribbean Experience; the delightful thing I have discovered in my short stay in Jamaica is the humour and friendliness of the people …

Mark Titus,Hospitality Jamaica Writer

The Queen Mary cruise ship which was docked at the Montego Bay Freeport Terminal on Tuesday.	Photos by Mark Titus - These industry stakeholders made up the intimate group of persons who came out to welcome the QE2 on Monday

Considered to be the world's largest, longest, tallest and widest passenger ocean liner, the luxurious Queen Mary 2 made its inaugural stop in tourism capital Montego Bay on Monday.

The US$800 million luxury liner, carrying 2,620 passengers and 1,253 crew, anchored outside the Montego Freeport Terminal and ferried across passengers to shore.

Presenting the vessel to local tourism officials and the media, Captain Christopher Rynd said Jamaica's unique culture made the island an immediate choice on its Caribbean tour.

"One of the challenge is finding that genuine Caribbean Experience; the delightful thing I have discovered in my short stay in Jamaica is the humour and friendliness of the people," the New Zealander said.

"Most of the time these welcome ceremonies are just formal affairs, but it is so different here in Jamaica, the culture of Jamaica is one-of-a kind".

Harry Maragh, chief executive officer of Lanaman and Morris Shipping, who was part of the welcome party that met the ship told Hospitality Jamaica that the authorities have a lot of work to do to catch up with the direction that cruise shipping is going.

more money to be made

"At this particular time the Mediterranean is proving very attractive and the lines are saying that they are making more money out there," he said "The tourist are not going for sand and sea anymore, they are looking for more attractions, so the authority has a lot of work to do."

One of the challenges the ship encountered was the inability to dock at the pier side owing to a one-metre shortage of the required 34-metre depth for docking. The Montego Freeport Pier is 33 metres in depth.

However, vice president of Cruise shipping and Port Authorities, William Tatum told Hospitality Jamaica that the process to correct the problem can be dealt with in a short time.

"I am not a technical person, but once you get the dredger I believe it would take more than a few weeks" he said. "I think it would be good for us to do this".

The Cruise liner will be coming to Jamaica every two weeks between December and January 2007.