The docking of the Monarch in the Kingston Harbour on Tuesday brought craft vendors an upsurge in business they haven’t seen in years.

The ship, the first cruise vessel to dock in Kingston in three years, called at the port at 6:00 am with a capacity load — 2,744.

“You know what ‘bruck ducks’ mean?” craft vendor Joan Reid asked this reporter in reference to the colloquial term, which means a windfall after a period of drought. “Well, wi bruck ducks today!” she exclaimed.

“The ship today really, really impacted us in a good way. We really like what we saw because it’s been a while. There is no ship coming to Kingston; they mostly go to Montego Bay, Ochi Rios, and Negril,” said Reid, who has been plying her trade in the craft market for 27 years.

“It kinda lively up the place, because we haven’t seen this in a while. A lot of people don’t know that down here exist anymore. Seriously, Kingston craft market has been abandon for some time now,” she continued, adding that cruise ships should dock in Kingston at least once per month. This, she said, would revive the country’s largest craft market.

Acting president of the Kingston Craft Market, June Green, had similar views.

“I am so grateful that the cruise ship came by! It’s been a while since a cruise ship came by. It has been years, a whole lot of years, until we have forgotten everything about having cruise ship in Kingston,” Green said.

The boon notwithstanding, Green noted that the tour could have been better organised.

“They had a lot of people by the ship who were waiting to come by because there were not enough buses. I would have loved to see better preparation. Make good plans before: get the buses organised, tell them the time to come in, the duration for them to come here. It was a hustle and bustle this morning,” Green added.

Like Reid, Green, who has been selling in the craft market for 30 years, urged the tourism ministry to consider hosting a cruise ship in Kingston at least once per month.

“Open up Kingston a little more to them in terms of advertisement. Even when other ships come to other ports, they can transport them by buses because that is what they used to do years ago. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we used to have buses coming in with tourists from Ochi (Ocho Rios) and Montego Bay, and we don’t have that anymore,” Green added.

Ellen Thompson, while expressing gratitude, agreed with Green that the tour was not properly organised.

“We welcomed it; it was good, but it could have been better,” Thompson claimed.

According to her, if it wasn’t for her contacting an Urban Development Corporation representative after noticing a fleet of JUTA buses packed with tourists passing the craft market, she and her colleagues would not have benefited from the cruise ship’s presence.

“We got something in the end. If it wasn’t for him, nothing would have happened,” she said.

Describing the daily activity inside the craft market as ‘dead’, Thompson said that the facility has been suffering as a result of lack of publicity.

Another vendor, Dian Sutherland, argued that the craft market should have been the first tour stop for the tourists — who were shuttled to Dunn’s River Falls, Devon House, Bob Marley Museum, Fort Clarence, Tuff Gong Studios, and the National Gallery.

“I am happy that the ship stopped here this morning, but I think they should have the tourists tour the craft market first because we are closer to the ship,” said the mother of seven, who has been plying her trade in the market for over 30 years.