Updated

Carnival Corporation says it is building a $65 million cruise ship center in the Dominican Republic to draw ships to the Puerto Plata region for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The Amber Cove Cruise Center at Bay of Maimon is scheduled to open in 2014. It is expected to accommodate as many as 8,000 cruise ship passengers daily.

The center announced Tuesday is being built on 30 acres (12 hectares) of waterfront property with help from local shipping company Grupo B&R. It will feature a marketplace, restaurants, bars and a water attraction.

More than 350,000 cruise ship passengers visited the Dominican Republic last year, a 1 percent drop compared to the previous year.