PORTLAND, Jamaica – President of the Portland JUTA chapter, Louiston Gooden, has confirmed that the crusie ship Seaborne Quest was kept at bay in the Port Antonio West and East harbours from Monday morning into early afternoon due to rough sea conditions.

Observer Online understands that the cruise should have docked from 8:00 am but due to the choppy seas it has not been able to dock. JUTA operators lay idle awaiting its docking along with some craft vendors.

READ: Cruise line unable to dock in Port Antonio

The cruise line was at the entrance to the Errol Flynn Marina – west harbour- near Navy Island then moved to the east harbour near the Titchfield peninsula awaiting improved weather but had to leave without docking sometime before one o’clock.

Gooden shared the impact on JUTA operators, stating that “The cruise line not docking impacted us greatly as we were there waiting for the ship to dock and we’re eventually told it cannot dock because of the weather. They tried several times and a number of tactics [were used] but it just did not work as the sea was very choppy. They just could not get it in safely into the channel to the pier, no safe way,” Gooden lamented.

“Yesterday (Sunday) we had a ship docking with over 600 passengers that comes to Port Antonio once a year and a number of the pre-booked tours were cancelled because of the weather as the coaster buses were impacted and we had to resort to the smaller buses but today none were used. Safety is important and we have to look at that,” Gooden added

– Everard Owen