The Dominican Republic reporting big growth in cruise passenger arrivals, according to the latest data from the country’s Ministry of Tourism.

The Caribbean’s most popular stayover tourism destination reported 580,000 cruise passengers so far this year, which represents a 67.5 percent increase from the same period last year, the Ministry said.

That’s been buoyed in large part by the massive new Amber Cove cruise port complex in Puerto Plata, which was developed by Carnival Cruise Line.

The port, which opened at the beginning of last year, has two berths that can receive up to two “mega” cruise ships at the same time.

Indeed, in this year’s tourist season, Carnival made almost 40 calls to Amber Cove alone.