Love and Harmony to sail next year

BY RICHARD JOHNSON
Observer senior reporter

HE 2020 voyage of the Love and Harmony cruise is the latest event to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers have taken to social media and announced that the cruise will now take place next year with the same line-up of acts.

“It’s going to be a rough week but I know one thing for sure, God makes no mistakes. We will be back bigger and better in 2021. Same line-up,” the Instagram post read.

This voyage, which was scheduled to sail from April 6 to 11, would have been the fourth annual excursion, featuring a healthy cast of reggae artistes as well as acts from the Caribbean.

The trip, which sold out months ahead of sail date, was scheduled to start in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, then sail to Ocho Rios and Nassau in The Bahamas, before returning to Florida. Among the artistes booked to perform were Beres Hammond, Buju Banton, Nadine Sutherland, Cocoa Tea, Wayne Wonder, and Beenie Man.

One month ago, the organisers released a statement announcing a rescheduling of the trip due to the pandemic. At that time, they stated that the cruise would be shifted to a future date which will be safe for passengers.

“We appreciate Celebrity Cruise’s cooperation in honouring our request of postponement. At this point we do not have a specific date of sail. Our amazing artistes have been contacted and have agreed to reschedule their performances for a future date, schedules permitting,” that statement read.

A number of other events have either had to cancel, postpone or the promoters are adopting a wait-and-see attitude before they determine the fate of their event.

Just last week, organisers of Best of the Best, the annual reggae, dancehall and soca show held in Miami for the past 13 years, annouced that they were postponing the stage show to the same dates next year.

Here in Jamaica events such as: Jamaica Carnival, the annual Easter Sunday Morning of Movement and Music, organised by the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica; the annual Easter performance by the University Singers; and the performance season of the Jamaica Youth Chorale, have either been postponed or cancelled.