Another cruise port has announced it will open up for cruise tourism from July onwards, but it will remain limited until later in the year.
The islands of St Kitts and Nevis will be working together with ultra-luxury cruise operator Seabourn to open up in July. However, cruises operations won’t be fully able to return to the Caribbean destination until October 2021.
Restarting An Important Industry
Before the pandemic, St Kitts and Nevis hosted more than one million cruise passengers for two consecutive years, a considerable milestone for the small islands. Now, with the weekly visits from Seabourn Odyssey, the 450-passenger vessel from the Seattle, Washington-based Carnival Corporation cruise line, the islands will be once again working towards building up the visitor base, responsible for an essential part of the economy.
Seabourn Odyssey will be visiting the Islands every week in late July on its cruises from Barbados, with only fully vaccinated guests onboard the ship. St. Kitts and Nevis have had massive success with managing the spread of COVID-19 on the twin islands.
It is one of the few nations that recorded only 44 cases, with no deaths and no community transmissions. The island’s borders have been open since October of last year, with strict testing and quarantine procedures in place; however, they do hope to be able to open up for full-scale tourism by October, something the vaccinations are an essential part of.
Lindsay F.P. Grant, Minister of Tourism, Transport, and Ports:
“We look forward to welcoming the Seabourn Odyssey to St. Kitts. The benefits of the cruise industry have been vital to the economies of St. Kitts & Nevis and we are delighted to welcome our first vessel back, as we begin our phased approach to resume cruise tourism,”
Opening Up For More
St Kitts and Nevis is happy to restart the cruise industry within its borders as the nation relies on cruise tourism. In recent years, the islands have become a popular tourism destination for cruise ships and regular tourism. The islands were recognized only recently as a “marquee destination” by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association.
Also Read: St. Kitts Cruise Port: Piers, Getting Around, What’s Nearby
The island’s tourism board is continuing to work with local operators to ensure that health and safety measures are followed to welcome back cruise lines to its shores.
The news aligns with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention guidelines, which recently revealed that Americans could enjoy cruise vacations from as early as July from the United States, while several other cruise operators will be sailing from the Caribbean Islands earlier than that.
Besides the ultra-luxury, the return of cruising will eventually see ships from all major cruise lines return to St Kitts and Nevis later this year and next year. Currently, Carnival Cruise Line has cruises scheduled onboard seven of its vessels, including Carnival Dream, Carnival Freedom, Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Sunshine, and more.
Royal Caribbean will also be attending the islands with the Explorer of the Seas, while Norwegian Cruise Line also has numerous cruises to the islands with Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Getaway, and Norwegian Dawn.
