Royal Caribbean Vessel Set To Operate In Ghana

Royal Caribbean International, a world-renowned cruise line brand, has officially launched its presence in Ghana.

Voted the best cruise line in the Caribbean for 15 years in a row, the cruise vessel is set to embark and disembark passengers at the Tema and Takoradi ports.

Managing Director of Cruises International, George Argyropoulos said Ghana is a prospective location for cruising concepts and could be making more gains if harnessed.

He said, “I see Africa and of course Ghana as the last frontier of cruising. It’s one continent that the cruise line hasn’t been active yet, so I want to bring the cruising concept and the opportunity to offer cruise holidays to the various countries including Ghana.

My experience today in town and the market and by the beach has shown me that there’s a lot that Ghana can offer to international and regional visitors,” he added.

Mr Argyropoulos has indicated that plans are underway to establish a Royal Caribbean Office in Ghana before the end of the year.

Managing Director of Bindu Travels and Tours, Bindu Mukhi, has urged Ghanaians to patronize cruiser ships as an alternative to flying.

“I must say that I always felt sailing was a monotonous experience until I had my first family cruise this last December and of the two days onboard, we decided it is high time we found where our Cabins were,” she said.

“The experience and the entertainment onboard was an eye-opener for me and my family and these are when we knew that we had to share all this with you lovely people.” Madam Mukhi added.

Speaking to JoyBusiness on the sidelines of the launch of Royal Caribbean Cruise line in Ghana, the Minister for Tourism, Catherine Afeku said her outfit is lobbying for the formation of an inter-ministerial committee to oversee infrastructural development around tourist sites.

“We have to work together and let them see how interdependent we are as a sector so I was giving you an example of Kakum; there’s only about three to four kilometer left and the numbers are going down so lobbying the Road Sector Minister is like, if you can finish this we will improve the numbers that go to Kakum and we can enhance the offerings at Kakum; so as a sector we depend on other sectors to thrive.” She said.

“That’s why it is important we put in inter-ministerial committees to push our agenda.” She added.

Royal Caribbean International currently has the largest ship on the globe called ‘The Harmony of the Seas’ with the capacity of 8,880 passengers.

The company is set to launch the newest and biggest vessel, ‘Symphony of the Seas’ which will sail from Barcelona, Spain on the 31st of March. It will spend its first season of cruising in the Mediterranean before making its way to its home-port of Miami in the fall.