Crest exchange on board cruise ship

A crest exchange ceremony was held on Wednesday on board the MSC Fantasia in recognition of the cruise ship’s call to the Port of Port of Spain. Tourism Ministry Permanent Secretary (PS) Vidiah Ramkhelawan conducted the time-honoured tradition with the ship’s captain, Master Stefano Alello.

During the ceremony, the PS also distributed prizes to the two local secondary-school students who took part in the 2017 Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Annual Poster Competition.

Sabrina De Four of El Dorado Secondary School and Celine Boodoo of Pleasantville Secondary School were invited on board the vessel along with their parents and teachers. The group was given a tour of the ship after receiving their prizes.

Under the theme Our World Is Precious...Save Our Land and Seas, all primary/secondary school students in FCCA’s partner destinations, such as TT, were invited to participate in this year’s environmental poster competition. It seeks to promote environmental awareness among students and sensitise them to the importance of environmental protection.

Owned and operated by MSC Cruises, the world’s largest privately owned cruise company, the MSC Fantasia will visit Trinidad in a fixed itinerary of nine calls during this 2017/2018 cruise season. It made its first call here two weeks ago, on December 6. The MSC Fantasia’s home port is in Guadeloupe and it makes calls to Martinique, Barbados and Trinidad with a visitor demographic that includes multi-lingual – predominantly French-speaking – cruise passengers from Europe and the French Caribbean.