PHOTO: Wykeham McNeill, Jamaica's minister of tourism and entertainment. (Photo by Brian Major)

Jamaica this week completed a renovation of the Ocho Rios Cruise Ship Terminal and adjacent facilities. The work focused on renovating the existing cruise terminal building and upgrading and expanding the facility’s parking area.

The renovation projects represent a second phase in a $35 million Ocho Rios Improvement Project launched in 2013 by the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, Jamaica’s Urban Development Corporation and the Port Authority of Jamaica.

The project’s first phase in March included a renovation of Turtle River Road from Main Street to the cruise terminal. The next phase will focus on renovating the promenade from the port to the Ocean Village shopping center and Ocho Rios’ Main Street.

Work will also target the area from the Ocean Village Shopping Centre to Turtle River Road and include pedestrian, drainage, aesthetic improvements. Spaces for small shops to sell food and beverages will be positioned along the promenade.

The area under renovation is located between the cruise pier and the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort and Spa. Palace Resorts recently purchased the property and announced a re-launch of the resort in 2015 as the Moon Palace Jamaica Grande following a $50 million renovation.

Although Wykeham McNeil, Jamaica’s minister of tourism and entertainment, said recently Jamaica’s cruise ship arrivals are up by 10 percent in 2014, the piers at Falmouth and Montego Bay are leading the improvement, while Ocho Rios’ passenger arrival numbers have declined in recent years.

Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Breeze will re-position to Falmouth from Ocho Rios next year, placing more pressure on Ocho Rios to increase arrivals.

“Arrivals at Falmouth and Montego Bay are up over Ocho Rios,” said McNeill in an interview on the government-run Jamaica Information Service website. “We have already started infrastructural works in Ocho Rios,” he said. “We are trying to get a better product. Ocho Rios is a fabulous cruise destination. We are going on a drive to make the [port] regain itself as one of the greatest cruise destinations in the world.”