258,000 cruise passengers in the summer of 2015

October 17, 2014 in National

Tourists-PierBASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, OCTOBER 16TH 2014 (CUOPM) St. Kitts will experience its best ever summer cruise ship season in history next year, between May and September.

According to the official 2014/2015 Cruise Ship Itinerary, 70 calls from 9 ships are scheduled during this period with an estimated 258,000 passengers.

Sixteen calls are booked for the month of May 2015 with a projected 58,000 passengers; 16 visits in June 2015 with an estimated 58,000 passengers; 12 calls in July 2015 with an estimated 45,000 passengers; 13 calls in August 2015 with an estimated 49,000 passengers and 13calls also in the month of September 2015 with 48,000 passengers, totalling 258,000.

The ships scheduled during the summer are the 3,700 passenger capacity Carnival Valor with 22 calls; the 3,600 passenger capacity Royal Princess with 3 calls; the 2,580-passenger capacity Celebrity Eclipse with 1 call; the 3,838-passenger Adventure of the Seas with 14 calls; the 3,700-passenger capacity Carnival Conquest with 6 calls; the 4,370-passenger capacity Independence of the Seas with 10 calls; the 3,002-passenger capacity Carnival Sunshine with 7 calls; the 3,690-passenger capacity Carnival Breeze with 5 calls and the 3,006-passenger capacity Carnival Splendor with 2 calls.

Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Sen. the Hon. Richard “Ricky” Skerritt in a message in the 2014/2015 Cruise Ship Itinerary booklet said the cruise ship industry in St. Kitts has “achieved such remarkable growth results, since attracting summer ship visits for the first time in 2008.”

The official cruise ship season in the Caribbean runs from October to April.

Since his appointment as Minister of Tourism in 2004, the action Minister of Tourism has presided over a phenomenal increase in the cruiseship sector.

An estimated one million cruise passengers are expected to visit St. Kitts between October 2014 and September 2015 from 370 ship days.