Becoming the Caribbean’s Cruise Hub

from Global Miami June 2023

Landing at MIA

A giant in all-inclusive resorts, the Dominican Republic was hardly a player in cruising a decade ago. But that all changed when Miami-based Carnival Corp. joined with the country’s Rannik Group to develop Amber Cove, the cruise port in Puerto Plata on the nation’s north coast that opened in 2015.

Carnival Corp. invested more than $70 million in the cruise port, lured by easy access from Miami, links to existing cruise routes, beautiful landscapes nearby, and “the people: some of the nicest you can meet,” says Juan Fernandez, vice president of operations strategy for global port and destination development.

Last year, Amber Cove welcomed more than 700,000 cruise passengers (plus 300,000 crew), making up more than half of all cruise arrivals in the country. “A lot of our guests spend the entire day at our port,” which offers restaurants, shops, a swim-up bar, over-the-water caban as, and a zipline, he says. The 25-acre facility employs 120 people directly and 800 more indirectly, from restaurant servers to taxi drivers.

Carnival Corp. now is adding solar panels to produce the bulk of energy used at Amber Cove, and it’s bullish on the Dominican Republic. “We feel the government is very pro-business,” says Fernandez. “And that’s a huge benefit.”

The government is building a new cruise port in the country’s southwest: a $100 million-plus venture at Ped ernales-Cabo Rojo. Designed to handle 1 million visitors a year, it will be run by the Dominican Port Authority with Mexico’s ITM Group, which also manages cruise ports at Mexico’s Costa Maya in the Yucatan and Dominican Republic’s Taino Bay in Puerto Plata. Among companies planning to call at Pedernales starting 2024: Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line. DR President Luis Abinader says the new port will help his nation become “the cruise hub of the Caribbean.” l