The Dominican Republic continues to consolidate its position as the region’s preferred destination, with 394 cruise ships in the first four months of 2025, far exceeding the annual figures recorded in previous years.
Thanks to structural improvements promoted by the current administration, the ships, which can accommodate more than 6,000 passengers, are successfully docking in ports such as Cabo Rojo in Pedernales. Of the 394 ships received this year, 19 docked in Pedernales alone.
The executive director of the Dominican Port Authority (Apordom), Jean Luis Rodríguez, reported this, assuring that the country is on track to break the three million cruise passenger barrier this year.
He also highlighted that a significant portion of the cruise ships received during this period were large-scale vessels, including several of the Oasis Class, the largest category in the world.
“Every time a cruise ship arrives in the DR, the average expenditure per cruise passenger is $100. Let’s take, for example, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship that arrived in Pedernales with more than 6,000 people on board, and we estimate that at least 2,000 of them went ashore. We are talking about nearly $2 million in direct consumption in the province.
This is reflected in restaurants, tour operators, taxi drivers, artisans… people who previously had no economic activity and are now working thanks to this dynamic brought about by cruise tourism,” he said. Rodríguez emphasized the achievement of the port of Cabo Rojo in recently receiving one of these Oasis-class cruise ships from Royal Caribbean.
The ship, with more than 7,000 people on board, docked without difficulty, confirming the operational capacity of this modern terminal.
“Three years ago, there were doubts about this project, and today we have a port that can simultaneously receive two Oasis-class cruise ships, something that very few destinations in the Caribbean can offer,” he said.
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