Falmouth welcomes its first cruise ship

After numerous delays Jamaica’s new Falmouth port will welcome its first cruise ship today

Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas will make her call to the island. Falmouth is the gateway for classic excursions such as Dunn’s River Falls and Martha Brae River. Royal Caribbean and the Jamaica Port Authority are the joint developers of the $170 million Falmouth project .

Falmouth's two-berth port area is themed of red-roofed buildings that eventually will be filled with shops, restaurants and attractions that recall the past such as a foundry. In the town itself, historic buildings including the Court House are undergoing restoration.

What Royal Caribbean is marketing as "Historic Falmouth Jamaica" was created to handle the world's largest cruise ships, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas. But Voyager of the Seas and other vessels are making the initial calls to ramp up to the maiden visit of Oasis and the official grand opening on March 22nd.

William Tatham, vice president of cruise shipping and marina operations for the port authority, said Falmouth has been Jamaica's largest construction project. He called it a "magnificent development" and predicted Falmouth will "lift Ocho Rios and Montego Bay as well as lifting the profile of Jamaica with the cruise industry."