Christmas came early to the Nightengale Children’s Home, as members of Barbados Port Inc's Community Outreach programme, hosted a traditional Christmas luncheon for the children and staff of the home last Friday.

Ranging in ages from 4 to 14, the children expressed delight as they ate and drank to their hearts content and participated in a host of activities including games, caroling, prize-giving, ‘Gangnam’ style dancing and even a special water-filled jumping tent.

The highlight of the evening was a surprise visit from Santa Claus and his elves. They presented toys and other special gifts, to the eager boys and girls.

Jean-marie along with members of the Community Outreach Programme serving up some good cheer at the Nightengale home.

CEO of the Port, David Jean-Marie participated in the event, serving the children and staff of the home their Christmas meals. He commended his staff for their efforts.  "I am especially pleased with the work that the Port staff has done arranging this event. They have sacrificed their own personal time and I am extremely proud of what has been done here. The Board of Management is indeed pleased to continue to support the charitable activities of the Community Outreach Programme," he said.

Meshell Rawlins, Chairperson of the Coordinating Committee of the Community Outreach Programme explained that the Port had adopted the Nightengale Children’s Home from January this year.“Since adopting the home we have done a number of activities with them including donating gift baskets for Valentine’s Day, kites during Easter and school bags in July. The children here feel like members of the Port family and the staff really seems to enjoy coming here."Rawlins said.

"We usually host our annual children’s Christmas party on the lawns at the Port's administrative offices, and invite the children from the surrounding communities. However, this year we wanted to host a more personal event and bring Christmas away from the Port and into the homes especially for the children of the Nightengale home,” she added

Ms. Patricia Armstrong, Manager of the Ancillary Complex thanked the Port for a job well done. "We appreciate the work the Port has done with us over the past year, the children are happy to have the team here and the staff welcome their continued support."

Santa and his elves enjoying a light moment with the staff of the Nightengale home

David Jean-Marie and Meshelle Rawlins serving up some good traditional Bajan food

Barbados’ cruise sector received another boost this week.  Saga Sapphire, which is part of the Saga Cruises Ltd fleet made its first call to the Bridgetown Port carrying 710 passengers and 450 crew.

The Bridgetown Port is the final port of call in a 35 day Caribbean Celebration cruise to the region for the newly refurbished cruise line, which homeports in Southampton, England.

Veteran captain of the ship, David Warden-Owen greeted the official welcome party, which included, Minister of International Business and International Transport; Hon. George Hutson, CEO of the Barbados Port Inc; David Jean-Marie and other officials from Barbados Port Inc.

Captain Warden-Owen who has very strong links with Barbados expressed delight at the opportunity to visit the country again and spend time visiting the friends he has made here.

“I am extremely pleased to bring the Saga Sapphire into port in Barbados, I have many treasured memories berthing other vessels here. I feel very strong ties to Barbados and to the Bridgetown Port, especially now as I note that the Bridgetown Port and I are both celebrating our 50th anniversary.” The captain said.

Hon. George Hutson, and David Jean-Marie both presented the Captain with plaques in commemoration of the maiden voyage to Barbados

Minister Hutson speaking on behalf of the country said, “we are always pleased to host ships from the United Kingdom in Barbados, we know that it is a long journey here but we feel that it is worth it for both passengers and crew as Barbados offers a high quality product, which we believe that more mature passengers such as those that the Sapphire caters to would definitely enjoy.”   Hutson said.

The cruise ship will return to the island on January 11, 2013.

Cruise liners Brilliance of the Seas and Celebrity Eclipse made maiden voyages to Barbados on Thursday and Saturday respectively starting this year’s tourist season off on a positive note. Four new mega ships are scheduled to make maiden voyages to the island this year.

Brilliance of the Sea is one of the Royal Caribbean Cruises, Radiance Class fleet of ships and has a capacity of 2500 passengers and 900 crew. Celebrity Eclipse is one of the greater capacity ships of the Celebrity fleet, accomodating more than 4000 persons including guests and crew.

Kenneth Atherley, Divisional Manager Corporate Development and Strategy, Barbados Port Inc; presenting plaque to Mattias Persson, Captain of the Brilliance of the Seas

Inaugural ceremonies including officials from within the Bridgetown Port were held for both cruise ships. On Thursday, Kenneth Atherley, Divisional Manager, Market Development and Strategy, of Barbados Port Inc and Ryan Blackett, Director of Cruise Tourism at the Barbados Tourism Authority presented a plaque to Captain Mattias Persson of Brilliance and his crew on behalf of the people of Barbados.

Captain Persson expressed gratitude for the token and also presented a commemorative plaque to the Bridgetown Port on behalf of the ship and its crew. He said that he and the crew were extremely excited about this new itinerary as it was the first time he and many of them would be visiting Barbados. “Having been based in a much colder climate in Europe, we look forward to visiting and working with the Bridgetown Port every two weeks during the 2012-2013 cruise season,” he said.

Atherley expressed the Port’s delight at the opportunity to provide its renowned ‘best in class’ service to the Brilliance of the Seas. He said that the ship’s presence represented a significant level of commitment from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), and is testament to the partnership that they hold with the Bridgetown Port, in the development of the Sugar Point Cruise Facility.

Hon. George Hutson, Minister of International Business and International Transport and CEO of Barbados Port Inc. David Jean-Marie were on hand to meet the Celebrity Eclipse and to welcome Captain Dimitrios Manetas and his crew on Saturday.

Hon. George Hutson, Minister of International Business and International Transport and Officials of the Bridgetown Port, including CEO of the Barbados Port Inc, Mr. David Jean-Marie posing with Captain of the Celebrity Eclipse Crew, Dimitrios Manetas

Minister Hutson said that government was “committed to developing Barbados as a marquee port for cruise in the region. In this regard, we feel the development of the soon to be constructed Sugar Point Facility will be integral in attracting more ships to the island and achieving our goal as the cruise hub of the Caribbean.

Through the reclamation of 15 acres of land the new facility will allow for a separation of our cargo and cruise facilities, and will allow us to accommodate more ships with larger capacities at the Bridgetown Port,” he added.

Captain Dimitrios thanked the Minister on behalf of the ship’s crew and explained that the cruise ship would be returning to the island every two weeks during the 2012-2013 cruise season. “We hope that as we continue to call here that our passengers and our crew will take advantage of all the island has to offer and we look forward to being one of the first vessels to the island upon completion of the Sugar Point Cruise Facility,”

Over the next two weeks Barbados is expecting maiden calls from Quest for Adventure, and Saga Sapphire.

Barbados Port Inc (BPI) recently hosted a surprise send off for two of its longstanding employees, as they embarked on a new and exciting journey. Marguerite Morris and Clome-Tare Anderson, dedicating 42 and 40 years of service respectively, officially retired from duty last week.  Chief Executive Officer, David Jean-Marie, honoured the two in a surprise farewell ceremony at BPI’s University Row offices.

Ms. Clome-Tare Anderson, receiving her gift from CEO of Barbados Port Inc, David Jean-Marie

Jean-Marie presented the ladies with special gifts in appreciation of their hard work and dedication over the years. “It is the commitment from employees such as Ms. Morris and Ms. Anderson which contributed to the development of the Port as we know it is today”, he said.

“We have been able over the years to create an environment in which workers can grow and thrive, and for this reason working at the Port has become a lifetime career for many employees. We are very proud of our track record of being such an employer,” he said, while noting that BPI and the Accounts Department, where they both worked, will greatly miss Morris and Anderson.

CEO of Barbados Port Inc, David Jean-Marie presenting Ms. Morris with a token of appreciation for her service to the Port.

Both ladies, in accepting their gifts, were keen to recall their history with the Port. They expressed pride in seeing the Port’s physical developments over the years and the progression of the staff.

Morris and Anderson shared similar stories of the early days when the Port was known as Port Contractors and how they started working at the switch board and progressed through a number of posts to their substantive positions in the Accounts Department.

Morris spoke of having a wonderful time through her participation in all the Port’s activities. Though noting that the restructuring period when several of her friends and colleagues were laid off from their positions was a said time for her, made worse as job security was very uncertain, she maintained that the atmosphere of the Port remained steady. This she said was due to the kindness and close friendships that had developed among staff.

This was reiterated by Anderson when she recalled having a very good time working at the Port. “My bosses were all very nice. They were my friends as well as my bosses so we got along well”. These friendships, she added, extended to others working inside the Port. She expressed well wishes to the CEO and all other persons working at the Port.

Both ladies noted that they were very happy to have been able to reach this milestone in their lives and they both shared plans to spend more time with their families, relaxing and travelling the world.

Morris has also pledged to give back to her community in any way that she can during her retirement. In this regard she has joined the Husbands and Westwood Park Voluntary Committee, an organisation responsible for educating the community on the importance of recycling and conserving energy in the homes.

Anderson meanwhile said she will be quite busy as her “life is full”.