Effective immediately, all cruise ship calls to the Caribbean island of Dominica have been canceled due to growing unrest.

Cruise Ship Visits to Dominica Canceled

Due to growing unrest on the Caribbean island of Dominica, the Prime Minister has announced that from immediate effect all cruise ship calls to the island are being canceled. The cancellation will run through until after the elections take place on Friday, December 6.

#BREAKING – Skerrit: All cruise ship calls to Dominica cancelled effective immediately; calls set to resume after Friday's General Elections; a team of regional law enforcement personnel from the Barbados-based Regional Security System on the ground to restore law & order pic.twitter.com/y8I08gMIkb — Kevz Politics (@KevzPolitics) December 5, 2019

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit stated in a Radio Broadcast on Wednesday:

“All cruise ship calls to Dominica have been cancelled effectively immediately and that cessation of services shall remain in effect until after the general election period, when hopefully this madness would have subsided and we would have brought to an end this unwarranted blotch on our otherwise pristine record of peace, safety and tranquillity.”

Violence has grown on the Caribbean island as elections are near. It has become unsafe for tourists to travel there with roadblocks and demonstrations taking place in parts of the country.

There are calls for the current Dominica Labour Party (DLP) government to make reforms in the leadup to the election. The opposition United Workers Party (UWP) has been ushing for the changes and says the DLP has an unfair advantage in elections.

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Marella Explorer 2 was scheduled to call at the island today and Viking Sky is scheduled to call there on Saturday. Several cruise lines include calls to Dominica including Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Aida Cruises, Princess Cruises, and Marella Cruises.

Dominica is located in eastern Caribbean between the islands of Guadeloupe to the north and Martinique to the south. If you do have an upcoming cruise which includes a call to Dominica then do check with the cruise line for the latest updates.