By Scott Bateman
© Caribeez.com

Summary
A cruise visit to Dominica (pronounced Dom-in-ee-ka) leaves the impression that the island is just getting started with tourism.

Visitors walking off the ship in the cruise port at the nation's capital, Roseau, are greeted with one of the smallest cruise ship shopping districts in the Caribbean. On the day we visited, the shopping district was about one block deep and several blocks long.

No one we saw ventured beyond the shopping area. We decided to explore and walked from the port to the other side of the city, about one mile long. The small city was packed with people walking, talking and waving at each other; it was an interesting experience in observing the culture, but there were no apparent opportunities for sightseers.

Dominica is about halfway between Puerto Rico and Trinidad & Tobago. It is commonly a stop on southern Caribbean cruises.

A cruise visit to Dominica is much more a cruise visit than a stopover visit. The island is ranked 19th in total visits, 25th in stopovers and 13th in cruise visits.

Attractions
Dominica is promoting itself as an ecotourism vacation and with good reason. It is one of the better hiking experiences in the Caribbean because of rain forests, mountains and waterfalls. Waterfalls include Trafalgar Falls, Emerald Pool, Victoria Falls, Sari Sari Falls, Middleham Falls. Another interesting hike is a three-hour one to Boiling Lake, the world's largest boiling lake formed by heated gases that escape from molten lava underneath the lake.

Tourism / When to Go
U.S. and Canadian tourists planning a Dominica vacation require passports. Cruise visitors need their ship IDs when leaving and returning to the ship.

The most popular months are July and October; the least popular are September followed by a near tie among January, March and June.

Weather
Average daytime temperature is about 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The climate is tropical; moderated by northeast trade winds; heavy rainfall. Annual rainfall is about 70 inches on the coast and higher in the interior, which makes the island high in lush tropical rain forest.

Currency / Tipping
Currency is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, but we easily made purchases with U.S. currency. Major credit cards are widely accepted. Tipping should follow the Caribbean standard of 10-15 percent for less developed islands. Stopover visitors will pay a $55 departure tax (Eastern Caribbean Dollars or about $21 U.S. dollars) when leaving the island.

Culture / Geography
The economy is driven by agriculture. Tourism is growing, but short-term cruise visits drive less money into the economy than long-term stopovers. The official language is English. The terrain is lush with volcanic mountains including Morne Diablatins at about one mile high. Total size is about 469 square miles.

Sources / More information
U.S. State Department: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1102.html
CIA Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/do.html
Caribbean Tourism Organization: http://www.onecaribbean.org
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov