By
Alice Chambers |
Port St. Maarten in the Caribbean handled 75,572 cruise passengers in November 2021, making it the port’s busiest month since the pandemic.
Four vessels carried out homeporting operations between 11 and 12 December, leading the port to predict that December will be even busier than November. Star Clippers’ Star Flyer, Windstar Cruises’ Wind Surf and Seabourn’s Seabourn Odyssey were handled on 11 December, while MSC Cruises’ MSC Seaview visited on 12 December.
Port St. Maarten Group (PSG) resumed homeporting operations on 5 June with a call from Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Millennium. PSG projected that it would receive approximately 100,000 cruise passengers between June and December. However, due to the amount of passengers it received in November, the port has now adjusted its estimated number of passengers to 200,000 by the end of December.
“Cruise developments have been moving on an upward trend when looking at vessel arrival numbers and vessel occupancy at almost 65 per cent,” said Alexander Gumbs, CEO of PSG.
The homeporting facilities at PSG can accommodate both small and large ships, including vessels the size of MSC Seaview, which carries up to 5,079 passengers and 1,413 crew members.
“We are collectively looking at a local cruise sector rebounding after 21 months,” said Gumbs. “For the 2021-2022 cruise season, we expect our numbers will increase as more people start to take cruises as travellers become more comfortable with stability in the cruise market. There is a lot as a destination to be grateful for, however, we must continue to abide by the public health and safety measures that are in place to protect us against Covid-19.”