Tourists sue cruise line after Ja visit - US website reports

Tourism Minister, Ed Bartlett and his predecessor, Dr Wykeham McNeill, have expressed shock at reports from the American website TMZ, that eight tourists have filed lawsuits against Royal Caribbean Cruises for setting them up with a 'reckless Jamaican driver' on a tour to Dunn's River Fall a year ago.

The article, which was posted to the cite recently, said the bus the tourists were travelling in collided with another bus after the driver failed to heed warnings from the tourists that he was driving too fast.

It said the driver was swinging from lane to lane telling the visitors that's how everyone drives in Jamaica.

But Bartlett said the description is not typical of the Jamaican driving experience, especially drivers who take transport tourists.

"The drivers that take tourists around are extremely careful. The number of accidents that happened is not many so it is not a fair description," he said.

Measures in place

McNeill, who would have been Minister at the time of the incident, was also surprised because, according to him, the Jamaica Tourist Board has put measures in place to prevent the occurrence of incidents like this.

"The drivers are normally Jamaica Tourist Board certified and these norms that we have are constantly being upgraded for this particular reason to ensure that we don't get ourselves in these positions," McNeill told THE STAR. "All tours that are done, especially those by the cruise ships have comment sheets and when we go back to the cruise line these things are monitored rigorously, so I am surprise the is just coming to the fore."

The article said Jamaican roads are " Kinda Like the Wild West, it's a known risk travelling there," and that the case might affect how cruise lines book trips for passengers.

When THE STAR asked Bartlett if he believes this will have an impact on tourism, he said he didn't know how popular the website is.

"I have been in contact with my PR officers and they are not picking it up," Bartlett said, after admitting he had read the article.