After weeks of uncertainty on the high seas and sitting in docks around the world as the global tourism industry collapsed from the devastating coronavirus pandemic, 1,044 Jamaican cruise workers breathed a sigh of relief last week as the Adventure of the Seas docked at historic Falmouth in Trelawny.

Tremaine James of Holland, one of many Trelawny communities with cruise ship workers aboard the vessel, could hardly wait to welcome home the mother of his four-year-old twin sons, Lebron and London, as the Government announced a controlled, phased plan for persons disembarking the vessel, including tests for the coronavirus and individual interviews.

James’ excitement was shared by several persons who turned up at historic Falmouth – the cruise port opened in the Trelawny capital in 2011 – many of whom were from Trelawny and St Ann communities, anxiously awaiting word of when their loved ones would disembark the nearly 4,000-capacity vessel.

“We do have our community health aid workers and our contact-tracing persons, and we do have our parish and regional educational team doing general education on the matter of COVID-19,” said Greene, “but as it relates to these persons, these 1,044 persons who were recently repatriated, I could not speak to any specifics regarding these people because they are currently being processed, and they are from all over Jamaica.

Anieka Bartley, the People National Party’s caretaker councillor for the Wakefield division in the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, believes that personal responsibility is key in fighting the spread of the virus if there are any positive cases among the returning cruise workers.