Cruise Industry News reports from the Dominican Republic: The 17th Annual Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) meeting kicks off today in Santo Domingo. Dominican Republic’s president Leonel Fernandez will be part of the opening ceremonies. The Dominican Republic is steadily building its infrastructure to welcome ships of all sizes including the Oasis of the Seas.
Currently there are two state of the art cruise terminals in Santo Domingo as well as a cruise port in La Romana.
La Romana is large enough for the Oasis class ships.
There are also discussions underway concerning building dedicated cruise terminals in Puerto Plata and Samana Bay as well.
The FCCA show promises to have an infusion of purchasing executives from the cruise lines with a dedicated Caribbean Purchasing Pavilion on the tradeshow floor as well as tradeshow space allocated for suppliers. “Our goal is to bring this purchasing initiative to the forefront of our conferences, said Michele Paige, president of the FCCA.