By Paresh Soni BBC Sport, Montego Bay, Jamaica

No-one throws a party quite like Jamaicans.

Everything associated with their famed jamborees was in evidence at the opening ceremony of the World Cup: reggae, bright colours and the sea as an awe-inspiring backdrop.

The West Indian love of cricket was made plain at the opening ceremony

Only the rum was missing (at least for this observer).

Usually, these guys don't require a concrete reason for celebration but there was a good one this time.

Cricketing folk often talk about the tempestuous relationship between people of the subcontinent and the sport but in the Caribbean it's a slow and steady love affair.

The minute you come into contact with someone from these diverse islands, you are invariably imbibed with their profound feelings of warmth for the game of bat and ball.

From the moment I landed in Jamaica, taxi drivers, waiters, cleaners, hotel receptionists and other suited types have all been free with their opinions on the state of cricket, the West Indies team and who will do well in this tournament.

They have excitedly asked me about players they have never heard of, optimistically expecting me to impart informed wisdom.

But more than anything, they have been telling me just how much it means to host cricket's biggest show.

606: DEBATE It was a real Caribbean extravaganza of tunes, colours and rhythmic dances GW

More than three hours before the festivities began at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium, people were forming long and orderly queues.

Will the main event pass off without hiccup?

There have been plenty of murmurings about the merits in having hapless minnows like Bermuda, Canada and England thrashed by the big boys.

Even as revelry took place in one completed stadium, furious activity was going on at the other end of the island to prepare Sabina Park for Tuesday's opening game between hosts West Indies and Pakistan.

The costumes worn by the performers reflected all the colours of the Caribbean

Let's not even begin to fret about roads even though I've already lost count of the number of head-on collisions I've narrowly escaped and airline schedules constantly changing.

And we'll gloss over the embarrassment of a band playing the Taiwan anthem at the opening of the China-financed stadium in Grenada.

The next 49 days are about sharing in a region's pride.

With that in mind, some of the Caribbean's most celebrated musical success stories were paraded here on Sunday night.

Tournament chief Chris Dehring used words like "sweat" and "sacrifice", while Grenada President Keith Mitchell and West Indies Cricket Board president Ken Gordon spoke of the unity of the component countries, who have not always sung from the same hymn sheet.

Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller summed up the mood when she talked of cricket being "deeply embedded in our hearts and in our way of life" and "one love", borrowing from arguably the most famous Jamaican of all, Robert Nesta Marley.

So forget about about construction delays, infrastructure and the quality of some of the early matches.