BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - DESPITE cancelling all cruise calls to Port Zante for the remainder of August, due to differing viewpoints from leaders in Florida with regards to vaccine passports and regulations, tourism officials in Basseterre are optimistic that the season is not dead.
Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has sought to block certain mandates when it comes to enforcing health protocols on the disembarkment of cruise ships’ passengers to that US state.
Among those measures are no vaccine passports for cruise passengers, which means that both vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers can travel without enforcement.
That situation had prompted officials in St. Kitts to create a balance between health and resuscitation of the tourism section, with the former taking precedence.
Racquel Brown, CEO at the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, described the current challenges facing the sector as a “rebuilding process”, which is a difficult situation for the Federation to have to grapple with during the pandemic.
With all the ongoing changes within the US and the rising cases of COVID-19, SKNVibes asked Brown if the Tourism Authority is classifying the remainder of the season as dead, to which she explained that the Seabourn Odyssey is still making calls to the island and brings with it a level of benefit.
In a bid to manage expectations, it was explained that there would no longer be three cruise ships or more days during the season; a hard position that will impact taxi and tour operators who are slowly seeking to rebuild following the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the onset of the virus in March last year, the Federation has not formally allowed cruise ships and passengers onto the island or tours.
Plans were afoot for its resumption as with most territories across the Caribbean, but the US regulations have made it difficult for some to allow resumption.
“So, it is a very difficult situation and we are rebuilding, and it is fluid. Is it dead? No! Is it meeting the needs of everyone? No! But we are rebuilding and that is that we have to focus on,” added Browne.
The cruise sector was one of the hardest hit, when thousands of passengers and many vessels were left stranded in US waters after cases kept popping while on tours.
Emphasising the point where the impact of flouting the mandates implemented by the United States Centers for Disease Control could have on the sector, the CEO noted that places like St. Kitts and Nevis could feel the effects of any positive case on those vessels.
“It is a situation where COVID-19 is real. The cruise lines are very clear that they cannot have a situation where they had with the Diamond Princess and the other princess ships that were out in California. They know that if they don’t meet the regulations and they do not meet the standards that are put on them through the CDC, they know if they had another outbreak and a ship has to go into isolation, the impact of that for every cruise line is going to be devastating,” she added.
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