Nearly nine thousand cruise passengers visited Antigua and Barbuda aboard four
cruise ships on Saturday, including the nearly eight hundred who started their
cruises in St John’s as part of home-porting operations.
A very pleased Tourism Minister Charles Max Fernandez noted that two of the
vessels – the Arvia of the P and O Cruise Lines and Emerald Sakara – were the two
vessels involved in home-porting.
Arvia docked at the fifth berth and brought near her maximum capacity of
5,200 passengers to the destination. In a well-executed exercise, over 700
passengers ended their itinerary in Antigua, while another 700 boarded the P & O
Cruises vessel.
At the Nevis Street Pier, Emerald Sakara did a full turnaround with over 80
passengers starting their journey in Antigua. It was also the first time the 100-
passenger capacity superyacht visited the country.
Meanwhile, Artania and Marella Discovery were berthed at Heritage Quay,
making it the first time four vessels had been in port, at the same time, for the
season.
Fernandez said the expectation is that this season will see over 700-thousand cruise
ship passengers visiting the country; this is nearing the record 773-thousand
visitors who arrived in 2019.
“We are projecting that the 2024 season will see over 900-thousand passengers
which represents a fifteen percent increase on the record set in 2019,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Antigua Cruise Port Officer-in-Charge Cynthia Jacobs-Browne said,
"Saturday's success indicates our capacity to manage homeporting. We had four
vessels in port, and operations were smooth, so guests had a pleasant experience at
our port.”
Arvia began homeporting in Antigua in January and will make a total of nine
turnaround calls this season, while Emerald Sakara will make thirteen.
Royal Clipper and SeaDream II will also home-port at the Antigua Cruise Port.
