Carnival Corp. to Open New Dominican Republic Port in October

amber cove, dominican republic

Carnival Corporation has announced it is expanding its presence in the Dominican Republic with a new, $85 million Amber Cove port in the Dominican Republic, set to open this October.

Six of Carnival Corp.'s nine brands will call at the new facility, including AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line and P&O Cruises. With the opening of the new 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, Carnival said in a release. The Amber Coast was a partilal filming location for the original Jurassic Park movie. Additionally, the new port will pair with the company's Grand Turk Cruise Center 100 miles to the north to anchor new central Caribbean itineraries for Carnival's nine global brands. Further in the future, the port is positioned to be incorporated into potential Cuba itineraries, the line said. 

The new $85 million facility will have a two-berth port able to accommodate the largest cruise vessels in operation today, Carnival Corp. said. It is expected to host more than 250,000 cruise passengers in its first year of operation.

The port will open with a visit from Carnival Victory on October 6. Following this inaugural visit, five additional Carnival Corp. brands are scheduled to make calls on Amber Cove -- including Cunard's Queen Mary 2 on November 22, P&O Cruises' 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.

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