Return of passengers encouraging: But at what cost?
St. Maarten is looking to start the first day of the New Year, January 1st 2019 with one ship in port, but on Wednesday, January 2nd there will be six ships, the first busiest cruise ship day for 2019. Both of the two cruise piers at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facility will be full.
The approximate number of cruise passengers expected in port will be 23,000 and crew members 8,000, for a total of 31,000 visiting.
The vessels that will be in port are: Allure of the Seas, Azura, Royal Princess, AIDAdiva, MSC Preziosa, and Costa Pacifica.
Two of the vessels will be in port until seven and eight in the evening. They are MSC Preziosa and Costa Pacifica.
The Port St. Maarten Management is looking forward to continued growth in 2019;
While the destination continues to recover and grow the cruise tourism product back to its former position. All cruise stakeholders have a role to play in order to maintain the attraction of the destination to cruise passengers and crew, says Port St. Maarten Management on Sunday.
However, with all the positives that are happening as far as cruise tourism is concern, the Island continues to slowly drag its way up to keep level with the expectations of visitors and meeting the needs of its citizens. And the pressure from the top is weighing down on populations, businesses and the infrastructure, with the slow pace of rebuilding, resulting from funds earmarked for the reconstruction of the Island after the Hurricane, not coming through fast enough.
We hope this will not affect the Island rebounding efforts from stake holders who are called on to play their part but just might be struggling to keep up with the influx of returning guest to the Island that is still in adjusting mode and is not quite ready.
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