CAYMAN ISLANDS - The Caribbean's newest healthcare facility is venturing into a new partnership to strengthen its identity as the region's premier destination for world-class healthcare and medical tourism.

Shomari Scott, marketing director of Health City Cayman Islands, said that the international hospital's strategy to attract more travelers seeking medical attention has been given the thumbs up by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism.

"We are encouraged to embark on a partnership that positions Health City Cayman Islands as a leading tertiary care hospital in the Caribbean," said Scott, who previously served as the director of tourism in the Cayman Islands.

"Destination healthcare is intriguing," noted Rosa Harris, Cayman Islands' current director of tourism, who was pleased to embrace the department's "new budding partner."

"(This partnership) gives us an opportunity to promote the destination and have a different conversation," said Harris, who described the facility and the vision of Health City Cayman Islands as extraordinary.

Impressed also with Health City's long term commitment to the Cayman Islands, Harris described Health City as "multifaceted".

"It's not just a hospital. It will become a training center, assisted living facility, and also (offer) hotel accommodations. So, in our mind there will be many (levels and types) of partnership,” she noted.

Harris disclosed that Health City and the tourism department have already started to integrate marketing efforts, and she is enthusiastic about the potential for collaboration.

Health City Cayman Islands, the vision of top heart surgeon and humanitarian Dr Devi Shetty, is supported by two major healthcare organizations, Narayana Health and the US-based Ascension which is one of the nation's largest faith-based and non-profit health systems, providing the highest quality care to all with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable. Health City Cayman Islands provides compassionate, high-quality, affordable healthcare services for all in a world-class, comfortable, patient-centered environment. Offering healthcare to international, regional and local patients, Health City Cayman Islands delivers excellence in adult and pediatric cardiology, cardiac surgery, medical oncology, orthopedics, pediatric endocrinology, and pulmonology. (CaribbeanNewsNow)

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Carnival Cruise Lines recently announced it will begin welcoming guests at its newly developedAmber Coveport in theDominican Republic beginningOctober 2015. Six of Carnival Corporation's nine brands will call on Amber Cove along the country'sAmber Coast to give cruise passengers another exotic location to explore as part of their vacation experience.

The port will open with a visit from Carnival Victory from the company's Carnival Cruise Line brand onOctober 6, 2015. Following this inaugural visit, five additional Carnival Corporation brands are scheduled to make calls on Amber Cove -- including Cunard's Queen Mary 2 onNovember 22, P&O Cruises' (UK) Azura onDecember 5, AIDA Cruises' AIDAvita onDecember 11, Costa Cruises' Costa Deliziosa onDecember 31and Holland America Line's ms Eurodam onJanuary 19.

Additional ships from the company's brands are scheduled to call on the port in late 2015 and through 2016 including Carnival Cruise Line's Fantasy, Splendor, Valor, Sunshine, Conquest and Breeze and Holland America Line's Nieuw Amsterdam. These visits will consist of 57 calls by 13 different ships across the six brands taking place betweenOctober 2015andApril 2016, accounting for more than 155,000 guests during this period.

With the opening of the new Amber Cove port, passengers will be able to make stops along theDominican Republic'snorthAmber Coast, which has not been regularly visited on cruise itineraries since the 1980s. It will open expanded itinerary options in theCaribbean, the world's most popular region for cruise vacations¹, and will pair with the company'sGrand Turk Cruise Centeronly 100 miles to the north to anchor new centralCaribbeanitineraries for Carnival's nine global brands. In looking to the future, the port is strategically located to be incorporated into itineraries featuring potential stops inCuba.

The new US$85 millionfacility represents the largest cruise industry investment ever made in theDominican Republic, and will feature a two-berth port able to accommodate the largest cruise vessels in operation today. Carnival Corporation has monitored the various stages of the port's construction progress with the use of drones, an innovative development that is being used for the first time as part of the company's port development process. The facility, a joint project between Carnival Corporation and the Rannik family of Grupo B&R, is expected to host more than 250,000 cruise passengers in its first year of operation. It will provide approximately 430 local jobs.

"The construction of the cruise port at Amber Cove has been an incredible project for our entire country, as well as theCaribbeanregion as a whole," said Francisco Javier, tourism director of theDominican Republic. "Carnival Corporation's investment in Amber Cove has already proven beneficial to the economy, and we expect the investment to have a positive long-lasting economic impact. The new port  will also give cruise passengers an opportunity to see another part of theDominican Republic, ourAmber Coast, which hasn't been available as part of cruise itineraries in nearly 30 years. This is a very exciting development."  

This new port facility in theDominican Republicunderscores the company's focus on creating great vacation experiences, as passengers sailing theCaribbeanwill have an exciting new destination to visit. It will also give Carnival Corporation's nine global cruise brands the ability to create more diverse itineraries, another important part of the cruise experience. More than 60 percent of cruisers are repeat passengers, and offering robust itineraries keeps the experience fresh and engaging for them.

The opening of Amber Cove adds to the portfolio of cruise destinations Carnival Corporation has developed in theCaribbean. This includes the Grand Turk Cruise Center in theTurks & Caicos Islands,Puerta Mayaon the Island ofCozumel, Mexico, and Mahogany Bay on the island of Roatan,Honduras. It is one of roughly 60 ports Carnival Corporation's brands visit in the region.

Amber Cove will feature a waterfront welcome center with a variety of retail offerings, including a marketplace for Dominican crafts and souvenirs, as well as a wide range of unique food and beverage establishments. The port will also include a recreational area featuring amenities such as a pool, splash zone and green space areas. The transportation hub -- the single largest component of the port -- will provide visitors easy access by land and sea to the surrounding destinations and attractions.

The new port will host one of the most extensive shore excursion programs available in theCaribbean, offering roughly 40 different landside experiences including beaches, water sports and special culinary, cultural and adventure options. Many of these excursion offerings will come from well-established local operators. Nearby Ocean World, one of the region's largest marine adventure parks, offers guests popular ways to experience and interact with a variety of marine animals.

SINT MAARTEN/THE BAHAMAS/U.S.V.I. – The United States State Department has issued a “critical” advisory for the New Providence Island of The Bahamas where the threat of crime is considered to be of that nature.  The aforementioned island has sustained high levels of violent crime and armed robberies.

Last year Sint Maarten experienced a number of serious armed robberies of financial institutions, casinos and jewellery stores.  Some of the perpetrators have been caught by law enforcement.  On the Northern side of the island – St. Martin – there was also an armed shoot-out between French National Police (Gendarmes) and jewellery store robbers. There are no special crime advisories from the U.S. State Department, Bureau of Consular Affairs.  The country is considered a safe destination for vacationing.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force issued their 2015 Crime and Safety Report last week and it says that violent crime remains above 2013 levels over 2014.  The Police Force has implemented armed-checkpoints along with a crime reduction plan in tourist areas.

The Police have noticed a significant increase of violent armed crimes in areas heavily patronized by U.S. citizens.

According to the Crime and Safety Report, the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, Bahamas, has received an increase of reports of assaults including sexual assaults at residents, hotel rooms, casinos, outside hotels and on cruise ships, and as a result the U.S. Embassy issued five security messages in 2014.  

The U.S. Virgin Islands has also been dealing with an alarming increase in violent crime.

U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Kenneth Mapp has proposed a wide-range of measures that includes increasing police presence by hiring more officers and using the military police from the National Guard, if necessary, and sending large numbers of offenders out of the island to the U.S. mainland prisons.

One of the plans is to have the U.S. Federal Government prosecute all crimes involving firearms so that those convicted will be sent to federal prison.

Another plan of Governor Mapp is to transfer 50 to 60 per cent of the prisoners now incarcerated in the U.S. Virgin Islands to U.S. mainland facilities.

SOUALIGA NEWSDAY REPORT

INTERNATIONAL - The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated its advice today February 19 to say there is a general threat of terrorism in Denmark.

It says attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by foreigners, following two shooting incidents last weekend.

Two civilians were killed and five police officers were wounded in shooting incidents on February 14 and 15 in the Østerbro and Krystalgade areas of Copenhagen.

The FCO said Danish authorities consider both incidents to have been linked and terrorist-related.

However it also added that there is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals, from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria.