Caribbean Destination Expects One Million Cruise Ship Passengers

You can receive daily cruise news updates directly to your inbox, so you don't miss a thing! Go ahead and Subscribe here.

The Caribbean is recovering strongly from the global pause in operations this year, with the upcoming winter cruise season becoming one of the busiest yet.

St. Maarten is one of the islands reaping the benefits of the cruise industry recovery effort. The island expects more than 1 million cruise ship passengers and well over 400 cruise ship calls. 

With the expected visitor numbers climbing to record heights, the island is likely to surpass those seen in the record-breaking 2019 season. On top of that, the island will host one of the most luxurious cruise ships in the world, Ritz-Carlton’s Evrima, which set sail for the first time this week. 

St. Maarten Expects Record Winter Season

In a press release earlier this week, the Port St Maarten Group expects to welcome over a million cruise ship passengers in the upcoming winter cruise season. The Caribbean as a whole has seen a remarkable recovery so far, one that St. Maarten is sure to follow. 

The island has the ambition to grow into the number-one cruise destination in the Caribbean, a goal it hopes to achieve by offering a unique tourism product and focusing on its cultural heritage. 

Cruise Ships in St. Maarten
Photo Credit: Darryl Brooks / Shutterstock

Acting Minister of Tourism Omar Ottley said: โ€œIt gives me extreme pleasure to say we are back. While we may have an opportunity to reach or even surpass our pre-COVID numbers, we cannot become complacent.

โ€œThe goal is to constantly increase our tourism product until we are ranked the number 1 cruise destination. This season we plan to diversify our tourism product and focus on our cultural heritage. The theme should be what makes us unique. Once we are able to highlight what makes us unique it becomes our job to share that uniqueness with the rest of the world.โ€

The winter season usually starts around the end of October and runs through the end of April. St. Maarten expects to welcome more than 400 cruise ships to its shores during this period. Starting in November, 50 calls will be made to the island bringing 133,000 guests.

In December, the cruise industry will be operating at full steam, with 86 calls and 196,000 guests, and in January, there will be 89 calls bringing close to a quarter million guests, 230,000.

During the latter part of the winter season, it will get slightly less busy, with 67 calls and 157,000 in February, 68 calls and 159,000 guests in March, and 46 calls and 142,000 guests in April. 

More cruise ships are also choosing the use St. Maarten as a homeport, in particular, luxury cruise ships taking advantage of the easy air connections from the major US and European airports. 

โ€œWith one million cruise visitors forecast for the next six months, other than transit calls, we will now have seven cruise line brands homeport from Port St. Maarten this season, the most to date,” Port CEO Alexander Gumbs said. 

Especially for smaller luxury cruise ships, a port such as St. Maarten is an ideal homeport. Two Ultra-luxury cruise lines are using St. Maarten as a homeport this year, Seabourn Ovation and the new Ritz Carlton cruise ship Evrima.

Cruise Ships in St. Maarten
Photo Credit: Ruth Peterkin / Shutterstock

Ritz-Carltonโ€™s new ultra-luxe cruise line started operations this week after significant delays that put the maiden voyage back several years. Evrima will operate several cruises from St. Maarten across the Caribbean to Barbados.

โ€œI welcome the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection brand with open arms to our shores,โ€ said Omar Ottley, Acting Minster of Tourism for St Maarten. โ€œThe ship offers a specific clientele to our country that goes with the saying quality over quantity. This is only the beginning of a fruitful relationship to come.โ€

The 228-suite Evrima is the first of three ships for the new brand, with additional vessels scheduled to sail in 2024 and 2025. Other ships homeporting in St. Maarten include Club Med 2, Sea Cloud Spirit, Sea Cloud I, Sea Cloud 2, and World Voyager.

In September, we reported how St. Maarten’s recovery had been steadily building this year. In the first eight months, the island welcomed 500,000 cruise ship passengers.

With the increase in traffic over the coming months and more ships homeporting, the island will eclipse this number before the end of January.

GigSky Cruise SIM

If you enjoyed the article and would like no fuss daily cruise news to your inbox directly from Cruise Hive, you can Subscribe here.

Robert McGillivray
Robert McGillivray
Robert has been involved in the cruise industry since January 2007. He joined his first ship, the Seabourn Pride, in Miami Florida, and never looked back. Robert started his cruise career as a bar-waiter and worked his way up to being a corporate trainer for the same luxury 6-star cruise line. After a short break from ships in 2013, Robert has worked as a Hotel Director onboard several different cruise ships worldwide and even in Antarctica, and on the North Pole. As a writer for Cruise Hive Robert stays on top of all current developments and brings you breaking news, facts, and special reports. As an avid traveler and photographer, Robert has visited no less than 101 countries worldwide and stepped on to his 7th continent on his 30th birthday. His photos have been published by news media like Bloomberg and The New York Times, and are used by Celebrity and Azamara Cruise lines for their promotional materials. Robert currently resides in the Philippines on the tropical island of Panglao, with his wife and two daughters. Find out more about us here.

Don't Miss Cruise Hive's Daily Update!

Free expert cruise tips and news from Cruise Hive! We'll send you the latest cruise updates daily to your inbox.

Don't Miss Any Cruise News!

We'll send you the latest cruise updates daily to your inbox.

960 Shares
Copy link