Antigua experiences a record-breaking day, welcoming over 15,000 cruise passengers throughout six cruise ships. The historic occasion marked a big milestone for the port and the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, showcasing the world’s rising reputation amongst cruise operators and friends.
This comes amidst a push from the native authorities to draw extra cruise ships and friends, with numerous initiatives being rolled out, amongst them the brand new Oasis-class cruise berth and extra. The Caribbean islands are nicely underway to expertise the busiest cruise yr up to now.
Report-Breaking Numbers For Antigua & Barbuda
Cruise ships from Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises, AIDA, Sea Dream, and Royal Caribbean Worldwide introduced in 15,808 friends on March 12, setting a brand new file for the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda.
The port of St. John’s grew to become a busy hive of exercise as Enchanted Princess, Costa Serena, Costa Pacifica, Aida Perla, and Explorer of the Seas docked within the capital. In the meantime, Sea Dream II graced the waters of Falmouth Harbour in Barbuda. The mixed arrival of those vessels pushed the passenger depend to an all-time excessive, surpassing any earlier data.
Cynthia Jacobs Browne, Monetary Controller and Officer-In-Cost at Antigua Cruise Port: “With these unimaginable passenger numbers, we’re on our strategy to attaining one other record-breaking objective – welcoming over 800,000 passengers to Antigua & Barbuda by December 2024.
Jacobs Browne acknowledged the mixed effort it took from all layers of society to tug off the large feat of accommodating the huge quantity of individuals whereas having the ability to maintain the Caribbean vibe that Antigua is understood for.
“We should thank our port and cruise group, together with the port authority, harbour pilots, stevedores, tenants, taxi drivers, tour operators, tourism companions, and the hardworking Antigua Cruise Port staff for making this present day circulation so seamlessly.”
“We’re enormously proud to work with all our collaborators on such a historic achievement and ahead to breaking extra data quickly!” Jacobs Browne stated.
Extra Busy Instances Coming for St. Johns
Antigua and Barbuda‘s predominant port of St. Johns’s fame as an incredible cruise vacation spot within the Caribbean is one thing that the port has been engaged on steadily over time, and one which the native authorities hopes to capitalize on within the coming years.
The port’s focus has shifted to welcoming extra homeport ships all year long, with the 185,000 gross tons, 5,200-passenger P&O Arvia performing 4 turnarounds this yr. The ultra-luxury Emerald Sakara, Royal Clipper, and SeaDream Yacht Membership ships additionally carry out common turnarounds within the port.
By the tip of this cruise season, Antigua could have facilitated twenty-seven turn-around calls, together with 309 common port calls—a big improve from the earlier season.
Jacobs Browne: “So far, we’ve got obtained 299,803 friends for the yr and anticipate to have welcomed over 400,000 friends by the tip of the season in April.”
In 2023, Antigua welcomed simply over 500,000 cruise passengers, a quantity that the port will comfortably surpass because it nonetheless expects a number of 5-6 cruise ship days. On March 26, 2024, AIDAperla, P&O Britannia, Explorer Of The Seas, Norwegian Viva, and Seven Seas Splendor will go to.
With the brand new cruise berth now open for enterprise, and potential new cruise infrastructure opening on Rat Island and at Fort James, the island will be capable to rejoice even higher success sooner or later.
