Port Zante

20,000+ Cruise Passengers Visit St. Kitts – Nevis

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
March 06, 2008 (CUOPM)
Over 17,500 cruise ship passengers visited St. Kitts for the first five days of this week, with over 2,000 more expected on Friday, the St. Christopher and Nevis Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) is reporting.

Statistician in the Port’s Marine Division, Mr. Ellenston Hendricks told the Communications Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (CUOPM), that a total of 17,461 cruise passengers came aboard 9 cruise ships between Sunday 2nd March and Thursday 6th March. A tenth ship, the 2,642-passenger Carnival Destiny is scheduled to visit on Friday.

Three cruise ships berth on Sunday with 5,000 passengers, three arrived on Monday with 5,700 passengers; two ships berth on Tuesday with 4,600 passengers and one on Wednesday with just over 1800 and the Windsurf on Thursday with 215 passengers.

On Sunday 2nd, the Sea Cloud with 37 passengers and 60 crew arrived from St. Barths and departed for Antigua; the Explorer of the Seas with 3,243 passengers and 1,178 crew arrived from Barbados and left for St. Thomas; and Ocean Village with 1,735 passengers and 627 crew arrived from St. Maarten and departed for Antigua.

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St. Kitts Cruise Ship Docking Brouhaha

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
February 21, 2008 (CUOPM)

Chairman of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), Mr. Linkon Maynard, has taken issue with the reporting by Sun St. Kitts/Nevis on the berthing of cruise liners at Port Zante.

“In the past this newspaper has been guilty of reporting utterly false information concerning various issues affecting the berthing of Cruise Ships at Port Zante. I refer to your various assertions that make reference to the availability of a tug boat at Port Zante Berthing Facility. Despite the fact that there was obviously no creditable substantiation for your assertions, we have noticed that you repeatedly make the same reference and innuendos concerning the capacity and reliability of the Port Berthing services,” said Mr. Maynard in a letter to the Editor, Mr. Timothy Payne.

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Cruise Ships Turn Away From St. Kitts – Nevis

By Akedia Christopher
St. Kitts – Nevis Sun
February 19, 2008

The absence of a tugboat has once again, according to a reliable source, caused the St. Kitts Port Authority to lose approximately $60,000 after another cruise ship which was scheduled to call at Port Zante yesterday morning, turned back without even an attempt at berthing.

The Crown Princess, a ship with a capacity of over 3,100, had to “turn back” and disappointed shop and tour operators alike, have stated that the tugboat is now a necessary vessel in a country depending heavily on cruise tourism.

The source told the SUN that with winds at approximately 35 knots yesterday, the “captain of the ship would consider it dangerous to come alongside the pier without the assistance of a tugboat.”

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