The St. Kitts Tourism Authority and the agent for the ships have indicated that unlike in the past, the destination will have visits from the Serenade of the Seas and Carnival Victory which are part of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.
The two ships combined, are due to make 31 calls during the off-season bringing a projected 88,000 passengers to St. Kitts.
The planned visits got started last Thursday 12th May, when the Serenade of the Seas made its first call bringing 2,189 passengers and a crew of 852.
The Serenade of the Seas which arrived from Antigua and later sailed for St. Marten is scheduled to make a total of 11 calls between May and September with an estimated passenger capacity of 27,000. Its next call at Port Zante is on 17th May.
The Serenade of the Seas made a total 10 calls between October 2010 and April 2011 – the official cruise ship season.
The other cruise ship calling this summer is the 3,050-passenger capacity Carnival Victory which berth at Port Zante on Friday with 2,992 passengers and a crew of 1048. Its next port call is May 20th.
The Carnival Victory is scheduled to make 20 calls between May and September with a total passenger capacity of 61,000. It made 31 scheduled visits between October 2010 and April 2011.
During the official season, sister Carnival ships – the Carnival Miracle made 9 visits and the Carnival Liberty, one.
During October 2010 and April 2011 sister ships of the Serenade of the Seas also made visits to St. Kitts via the Explorer of the Seas with 9 calls and the Adventure of the Seas with two calls.