MONTEGO Bay stands to lose more than $4 million over the next three weeks, because of a delay in the start of visits of a new cruise ship to the city.

The cruise ship, Joy Wave, was scheduled to begin its weekly call on Montego Bay today, but bad weather in Europe has forced the vessel to reschedule its plan. The ship has been delayed for three weeks and will now arrive in Montego Bay on November 25.

The ship carries 400 passengers and cruise shipping interest in Montego Bay are hoping that the new vessel would make up for the fall off in earnings resulting from the collapse of Premier Cruise Line, which was recently declared bankrupt by its creditors.

But terminal manager at the Montego Freeport, David Lindo, said “things are looking up” as there were some “nice ships” coming to Jamaica.

Among the ships that are scheduled to visit the island are the 2,700-passenger carrier Carnival Triumph and the luxurious Queen Elizabeth Two that carries 1,500 passengers.

Constant harassment and poor physical infrastructure have been cited by cruise line officials as reasons for passengers avoiding Montego Bay.

They also cited poor customer service among local workers in the sector as a contributing factor.

Meanwhile, the Florida Cruise Shipping Association has been working with players in the industry to help correct the problem of poor customer service. Training officer at the company, Mat Zemon was in the island earlier this week conducting a series of workshops for persons in the industry.

Participants included taxi operators and tour guides from Ocho Rios and Montego Bay.

Zemon told the Observer that the tourism workers made the greatest impact on the industry and that the programme was part of a larger thrust to improve customer service and revenues.

“There is a fine line between persistence, good salesmanship and harassment,” he said.

He said both Montego Bay and Ocho Rios have a lot to offer and that cruise passengers formed a significant number of the country’s repeat visitors.

President of the Montego Bay Port of Call Association, Lee Bailey, said the training programmes for key persons in the cruise industry were important, adding that stakeholders in the industry must be made aware of the implications of their actions.