FCCA execs talk with countries providing ports of call

Security and the future of cruises were two of the red hot issues broached Monday and Tuesday in a meeting of the Florida and Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) in Panama. Representatives from the destination countries of these huge deluxe vessels held closed-door talks with execs from the association’s eight cruise lines.

Attendants to the two-day powwow weighed topics dealing with security, insurance and development strategies for the sector. In 2000, Panama welcomed its first cruise liner in over 30 years and nearly half a million passengers have come to the country aboard these megabuck ships.

The country has built three cruise terminals –two in the Caribbean and a third in the Pacific- to accommodate a part of the 300 cruises that run through the Panama Canal every year. The Panama Canal is seeking the safe port category to provide both a sail-off and docking destination in local terminals.