If you've only seen it on a cruise, you haven't seen it....

A representative from the Jamaica Tourism Board spent time in our office today. One of the subjects that came up was the difficulty with cruise ship passengers visiting the island, then not returning. The reason for this is twofold:

1) The cruise ship passengers believe that they have seen the destination and therefore do not have a desire to go back.

and

2) The cruise ship passengers generally have a less than ideal experience in the destination and therefore do not have a desire to go back.

I've previously had a similar conversation with representatives of the Cozumel Promotions board, so it isn't just Jamaica.

Let me just go on record to say that the experience of a cruise ship passenger bears little resemblance to that of a land based vacationer in a destination. The very nature of having a cruise ship in port and thousands of people swarming in a downtown area creates a bad situation.

So...if you've only seen a destination as a cruise ship passenger...you haven't seen it yet. The cruise is about the ship, not so much about the port.

More Soon.