BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, NOVEMBER 4TH 2013 (CUOPM) – The first three of 15 new cruise ships that will make inaugural calls to St. Kitts’ Port Zante during the 2013/2014 cruise ship season dock later this month.
The 3,700-passenger Carnival Conquest docks on November 17th and the 1,875-passenger Horizon and the 3,013-passenger MSC Musica dock on November 28th.
In December, the 450-passenger Azamara Quest docks on the 2nd; the 2,500-passenger Aida Bella on the 12th; the 2,680-passenger Costa Mediteranea on December 18th and the 446-pasenger Saga Ruby on December 23rd.
Come January 2014, Port Zante sees the inaugural visits of the 2,076-passenger Legend of the Seas on the 7th; the 4,941-passenger Norwegian Breakaway on the 13th; the 3,006-passenger Carnival Splendor on the 19th and the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic on January 29th.
The 708-passenger Saga Sapphire stops by on February 10th, the 800-passenger Albatross on March 16th, the 2,500-passenger Aida Luna on March 19th,
The 2,974-passenger Carnival Freedom and the 3,690-passenger Carnival Breeze make their inaugural calls on May 28th, and the 3,325-passenger Disney Magic on September 26th.
The new ships join the 3,838-passenger Adventure of the Seas; the 3,597 passenger Azura; the 3,700-passenger Carnival Valor; the 2,850-passenger Celebrity Equinox; the 3,030-passenger Celebrity Reflections; the 2,850-passenger Celebrity Silhouette; the 2,450-passenger Celebrity Summit; the 3,100-passenger Emerald Princess and the 3,840-passenger Explorer of the Seas.
Calls will also continue to be made during the 2013/2014 season by the 2,500-passenger Jewel of the Seas; the 1,627-passenger Maasdam; the 2,272-passenger Oceana; the 1,928-passenger Oriana; the 3,090 Queen Mary; the 1,506-passenger Thomson Dream; the 3,100-passenger Ventura and the 2,435-passenger Vision of the Seas.
Minister of Tourism, Sen. the Hon. Richard “Ricky” Skerritt said that St. Kitts’ 2013/2014 cruise ship season is going to be exciting with an estimated 785,000 passengers expected from 183 ship days.
“In other words, in a calendar year for the first time in our history we have passed about 130 in terms of ship days. We have gone up significantly by the number of ship days and that means that over the course of 365 days on average, every other day there will be a ship,” said Minister Skerritt.
“There will be 103 days when there will be one ship. There will be 49 days when there will be two ships, that’s also the largest number of days when we will have two ships in our history. There will be 22 days when we will have three ships in port, which means 2 at Port Zante and one at the Cargo Pier. There will be 6 days when we will have 4 ships and for the first time in our history, we are going to have 3 days when we are going to have 5 ships,” Skerritt said.