In the Pacific port of Costa Rica a cruise ship route has been inaugurated which will cover the Mesoamerican coast and end in Los Angeles, California.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
The "Mesoamerican Route" operated by Azamara Club Cruises, a cruise line attached to Royal Caribbean International, starts in Puerto Caldera, ending 14 days later in the U.S.
From a press release from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute:
"For the first time, an international cruise will depart on January 15 from a Costa Rican port to tour the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, as part of a regional strategy called the Mesoamerican Route, promoted jointly by the Institute Costarricense de Turismo and the port and tourism authorities of the countries involved, which will allow international tourists to embark at Puerto Caldera (Home Port) and depart on a trip dubbed in English, as the Amazing Pacific.
According to Allan Flores, Minister of Tourism, this is an event that is part of a strategy to attract cruise ships and is of paramount importance to Costa Rican tourism, mainly because it is the first cruise route in history to start from our country, generating overnight stays by international tourists entering the country prior to boarding the ship, and contributing to the development and marketing of Costa Rican tourism.
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The country is not on the cruise ship's route map for next season, leaving only Pullmantur using Colon 2000 as a home port.
"A month ago we were told the ship would go the port of Tampa in Florida, so we had the opportunity to negotiate to find an alternative," said Solomon Shamah, administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP).
Among the causes identified are high operating costs and poor terminal infrastructure for tourists.
For the cruise season which begins on October 16 and ends on May 30, 2014 only 60 boats are expected to arrive at the port. Data provided by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), reveals that while in the 2008-09 season 127 cruise ships arrived, in the 2011-12 season only 71 came.
A proposed cruise port in Amador, Panama, could also serve to supply bunker fuel for ships.
The location of the new terminal, the Amador Causeway, is located near Balboa storage tanks, which has caught the attention of representatives from several cruise companies.
Ernesto Orillac, Deputy Administrator of the Panamanian Tourism Authority, said the new port and the expansion of the Panama Canal will open new routes for cruise lines connecting the east coast of the United States to the Pacific.
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