The Jamaica port slated to become the home for Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class ships next year is "in pretty bad, even rotten, shape," according to an editorial in the Jamaica Gleaner.
The newspaper reports that there is "still much work to do" at the 32-acre, two-berth cruise port in Falmouth. The port on Jamaica's north coast is a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and the Port Authority of Jamaica.
The plan calls for the eventual construction of a town center with shops, restaurants and boutique hotels.
"Inevitably, there will still be patches — substantial even — of rawness when the first vessels moor alongside the monumental new pier," the Gleaner said. "We wish that was the extent of the complaint to be made about the town of Falmouth itself and its long-promised redevelopment, which appeared to have taken on a new urgency when the development of the cruise-ship facility was first contemplated earlier in the decade. Falmouth is in pretty bad, even rotten, shape."
The Gleaner said the Falmouth’s Georgian-style buildings are in disrepair, and that proposals to salvage them have not translated into "effective action, even as major tourism developments take shape nearby."
"Indeed, the tourists who land at the new pier and venture beyond the compound won't have to go far to see the seedy side of the town. Just west of the facility, they will be assaulted by the first set of gritty buildings in rutted streets."
RCCL said that the Falmouth project is "moving forward as scheduled," and that it plans to begin calling there in January while the construction is being completed.
"The project is moving forward as scheduled, and we look forward to beginning ship calls at what will be a great cruise port. Initial ship calls will begin late this year, and these calls were scheduled in anticipation of the port while it is in its final construction phases.
"Royal Caribbean supports the respective government and commercial agencies’ preparation of Historic Falmouth Port’s surroundings and anticipates the cruise port’s completion and readiness by January 2011."
