WESTERN BUREAU – Hotel managers and their staff spent most of yesterday securing windows and doors and scurrying between stores picking up additional emergency supplies for guests, as Hurricane Charley made its way across the Caribbean sea.

“Everybody is making all the necessary preparations they can by stocking up on extra food and water, and battening up whatever they can,” Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) head, Godfrey Dyer told the Observer yesterday.

“Everybody is prepared right now to face whatever comes,” he added.

Crew members of the Carnival Conquest cruise liner were also making alternate plans for their passengers out on the high seas. The liner, which has been making weekly calls at the Montego Bay Freeport and which should have brought 3,500 passengers to Jamaica’s shores, was diverted to another island.

David Lindo, chairman of the Montego Bay cruise shipping council, said the operators of the Carnival Conquest cruise liner advised him late Tuesday that that the vessel would be calling at a different island, but would return next week.

An estimated $17 million in earnings was lost as a result of the diversion.

“This is a major blow to the city (Montego Bay) because the vessel had roughly 3,500 passengers and crew members, and each spend an average of about US$85,” Lindo noted.

Yesterday, most hoteliers from resort areas like Negril, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios said they had either completed their preparations or were in preparation mode.

“Managers are now out just trying to make sure that we have everything available, getting candles, flash lights, food stuff and everything,” a representative from the 30-room Foot Prints hotel in Negril told the Observer yesterday morning.

“Places are closing up early, so we are just trying to do the shopping that we have to do from early to make sure everything is in stock,” the employee added.

Sharon Tomlinson, reservations manager at the 46-room Negril Inn, said hurricane preparations were complete.

“We have taken up all the beach chairs right now, we have cut down the trees that might damage the windows and stuff… and we have checked to see that our stand-by generator is okay,” Tomlinson, added.

Representatives from the Star Fish Hotel in Trelawny and the Renaissance Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios indicated a similar state of readiness for the storm.

“We are prepared,” said Stephen Bethel, the Star Fish property’s general manager.

A representative from the Renaissance Jamaica Grande echoed similar sentiments.

“We are fully prepared. We have our hurricane plan… our hurricane supplies are in place and we have been doing this (preparing) for months…,” said the hotel representative.

In addition to ensuring that the properties were secured and stocked with emergency items, staff members have also been keeping guests abreast of Charley’s development.

Meanwhile, Dyer said that one major concern was the cancellation of flights from the island which could impact on accommodation at the various properties.

“One of the problem some of us face right now is that there are people who should have checked out today, but can’t because the flights have been cancelled. That might be remedied by the fact that those who are to check in today might not come…,” he said.