Carnival announced it will begin welcoming guests at its newly developed Amber Cove port in the Dominican Republic beginning October 2015. Six of Carnival Corporation’s nine brands will call on Amber Cove along the country’s Amber Coast – a partial filming location for the original Jurassic Park movie – to give cruise passengers another exotic location to explore as part of their vacation experience.
With the opening of the new Amber Cove port, passengers will be able to make stops along the Dominican Republic’s north Amber Coast, which has not been regularly visited on cruise itineraries since the 1980s. It will open expanded itinerary options in the Caribbean, the world’s most popular region for cruise vacations1, and will pair with the company’s Grand Turk Cruise Center only 100 miles to the north to anchor new central Caribbean itineraries for Carnival’s nine global brands. In looking to the future, the port is strategically located to be incorporated into itineraries featuring potential stops in Cuba.
The new $85 million facilities represent the largest cruise industry investment ever made in the Dominican Republic and will feature a two-berth port able to accommodate the largest cruise vessels in operation today. Carnival Corporation has monitored the various stages of the port’s construction progress with the use of drones, an innovative development that is being used for the first time as part of the company’s port development process. The facility, a joint project between Carnival Corporation and the Rannik family of Grupo B&R, is expected to host more than 250,000 cruise passengers in its first year of operation. It will provide approximately 430 local jobs.
“The construction of the cruise port at Amber Cove has been an incredible project for our entire country, as well as the Caribbean region as a whole,” said Francisco Javier Garcia, tourism director of the Dominican Republic. “Carnival Corporation’s investment in Amber Cove has already proven beneficial to the economy, and we expect the investment to have a positive long-lasting economic impact. The new port  will also give cruise passengers an opportunity to see another part of the Dominican Republic, our Amber Coast, which hasn’t been available as part of cruise itineraries in nearly 30 years. This is a very exciting development.”
The port will open with a visit from Carnival Victory from the company’s Carnival Cruise Line brand on October 6, 2015. Following this inaugural visit, five additional Carnival Corporation brands are scheduled to make calls on Amber Cove — including Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 on November 22, P&O Cruises’ (UK) Azura on December 5, AIDA Cruises’ AIDAvita on December 11, Costa Cruises’ Costa Deliziosa on December 31 and Holland America Line’s ms Eurodam on January 19.
Additional ships from the company’s brands are scheduled to call on the port in late 2015 and through 2016 including Carnival Cruise Line’s Fantasy, Splendor, Valor, Sunshine, Conquest and Breeze and Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam. These visits will consist of 57 calls by 13 different ships across the six brands taking place between October 2015 and April 2016, accounting for more than 155,000 guests during this period.
Amber Cove will feature a waterfront welcome center with a variety of retail offerings, including a marketplace for Dominican crafts and souvenirs, as well as a wide range of unique food and beverage establishments. The port will also include a recreational area featuring amenities such as a pool, splash zone and green space areas. The transportation hub — the single largest component of the port — will provide visitors easy access by land and sea to the surrounding destinations and attractions.
The new port will host one of the most extensive shore excursion programs available in the Caribbean, offering roughly 40 different landside experiences including beaches, water sports and special culinary, cultural and adventure options. Many of these excursion offerings will come from well-established local operators. Nearby Ocean World, one of the region’s largest marine adventure parks, offers guests popular ways to experience and interact with a variety of marine animals.
