New Cruise Port Taino Bay Being Built in the Caribbean

[Todd W]

Sounds like a possible new port in the DR.   per the article, several cruise lines have shown interest ;  RCCL, NCL, MSC and Virgin.   Article states,  once complete, will be able to handle the "largest cruise ships in the world".   Hey i love the Caribbean so i'm all for a potential new port!

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/costa-maya-s-parent-to-develop-new-puerto-plata-cruise-port.html

 

@Matt  if this violates any policy of the site, please feel free to remove this.    

 

 

 

[twangster]

Cool.  With all the new ships being built by many cruise lines, more ports is a good thing.

[Matt]

4 hours ago, Todd W said:

if this violates any policy of the site, please feel free to remove this. 

I try not to have overbearing rules about who you can and cannot link to. If the info is relevant, link to it!

[Rose City Cruiser]

Nice!  More port options is a good thing especially if they are able to handle the OA class ships.  This will at least add some variations to their itineraries.

Thanks for sharing!

[WAAAYTOOO]

More is better !

[Kim&N8]

when was the last new port opened in the Caribbean? 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Kim&N8 said:

when was the last new port opened in the Caribbean? 

Toss up - Amber Cove by Carnival in the DR or NCL's Harvest Caye in Belize.  

In the case of Amber Cove in 2015 it's a new country that wasn't accessible by modern medium sized ships (Carnival doesn't have larger or mega ships).  However it's a private port, for Carnival Corp. branded ships.

In the case of Harvest Caye in 2017 it's almost a private destination like Cococay or Labadee but close enough to Belize to run excursion from.  A lot of unhappy cruises step off at Harvest Caye thinking they have access to Belize only to learn very little is included such as food, beverage or activities and you can't get there from here.  II's not promoted as a private destination like NCL's Great Stirrup Cay (right beside CocoCay), instead it's labeled as Belize on itineraries.  It almost serves as a pier to operate excursion to Belize but you can't access Belize without an excursion so it leaves a lot of unhappy cruisers feeling like they been dumped on an isolated money trap island.  Go back on the ship or spend money.  No self-exploring Belize.  

Both are notably different than what is proposed here.  In this case a 3rd party is building the port so many different cruise lines can use it, like most islands.  For both Amber Cove and Harvest Caye you will likely only see the Carnival Corp. or NCL holdings branded ships using those private ports.

[Carlos A.]

12 hours ago, twangster said:

Toss up - Amber Cove by Carnival in the DR or NCL's Harvest Caye in Belize.  

In the case of Amber Cove in 2015 it's a new country that wasn't accessible by modern medium sized ships (Carnival doesn't have larger or mega ships).  However it's a private port, for Carnival Corp. branded ships.

In the case of Harvest Caye in 2017 it's almost a private destination like Cococay or Labadee but close enough to Belize to run excursion from.  A lot of unhappy cruises step off at Harvest Caye thinking they have access to Belize only to learn very little is included such as food, beverage or activities and you can't get there from here.  II's not promoted as a private destination like NCL's Great Stirrup Cay (right beside CocoCay), instead it's labeled as Belize on itineraries.  It almost serves as a pier to operate excursion to Belize but you can't access Belize without an excursion so it leaves a lot of unhappy cruisers feeling like they been dumped on an isolated money trap island.  Go back on the ship or spend money.  No self-exploring Belize.  

Both are notably different than what is proposed here.  In this case a 3rd party is building the port so many different cruise lines can use it, like most islands.  For both Amber Cove and Harvest Caye you will likely only see the Carnival Corp. or NCL holdings branded ships using those private ports.

ITM group is the company how will build the new cruise port.
They are owners of Costa Maya at Mahahual, México and TownCenter at Roatan, Honduras so I suppose the new cruise port will be similar to the ports they already own.

http://www.itmgroup.mx/

[Kim&N8]

@twangster & @carlosalonsor Thank you! sounds like this will be interesting and I do like it being opened by 3rd party so everyone can visit! I don't see myself changing cruise lines so unlikely for me to visit either of the two newest ports.