BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – With the current international financial crisis, an expected visit of an estimated 36,000 cruise ship passengers to St. Kitts in the next nine days, is sure to be welcome news for the industry stakeholders.
The parade of cruise ships into the Basseterre harbour began Friday morning and will continue for the next nine straight days and will see an estimated 36,500 passengers visit St. Kitts from 16 ships.
Information from the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority indicate that four of the ships will visit on Saturday , three ships on Sunday and two ships next week Tuesday and Wednesday and a ship on the other days.
The 1664-passenger Thompson Destiny, which berth at Port Zante on Friday morning arrived from Martinique with 1444 passengers and will sail early this evening for Tortola.
On Saturday, January 24th the 3,473-passenger Carnival Victory, the 1,875-passenger Island Star, the 3,100 passenger Ventura and the 710-passenger Azamara Journey will dock with a total of 9,158 passengers.
On Sunday, January 25th, three ships – the Emerald Princess with 3,100-passengers and its sister ship the Grand Princess also with 3,100 passenger along with the 69-passenger Sea Cloud will visit St. Kitts with a total of 6,269 passengers.
The 1,375-passenger Boudicca comes on Monday 26th and on Tuesday 27th, the Constellation with 2,450 passengers and the 1,950-passenger Sea Princess will dock on Wednesday 28th.
The Carnival Miracle with 2,680 passengers docks on Thursday 29th; the Ocean Village with 2,388 passengers comes on Friday 30th and the 3,473-passenger Carnival Victory berths on Saturday 31st.
Most of the passengers on the ships are expected to disembark and go on sight-seeing tours via taxis, tour buses and the St. Kitts Scenic Railway; shopping, sun and sea-bathing, hiking, horse-back riding, snorkeling, golfing, kayaking and sailing.
An estimated 82,000, cruise passengers from 37 calls are expected to visit St. Kitts in January. A similar number is estimated to have visited in December from 40 calls and 51,000 from 22 calls in November.
Over 400,000 passengers are expected during the 2008/2009 cruise ship season.
