Carnival Destiny Will Call Through Summer 2008: Carnival Victory to Visit From October
Basseterre, February 7th, St. Kitts - Minister of State for Tourism, Sports, and Culture, Honourable Senator Ricky Skerritt, announced today at the welcoming plaque ceremony for the Carnival Cruise Lines ship “Carnival Destiny” that the 3,050 passenger ship will be calling at Port Zante, St. Kitts weekly throughout the summer of 2008.
“This is the first ever cruise ship to be scheduled weekly into St Kitts through to September, and it is a huge step forward for us,” said Minister Skerritt. “A summer ship from Carnival will underpin income for our local service providers, keep more of our citizens employed in this sector of our economy, and will help us maintain the infrastructure that we are developing to meet the needs of the winter cruise industry here.
If St. Kitts & Nevis can continue to deliver ourselves as an attractive destination to the world’s cruise lines and their passengers, cruise tourism can become sustainable on a year-around basis, and become a major engine for the nation’s economic growth and prosperity.”
The “Carnival Destiny” is scheduled to visit St. Kitts on a weekly basis in 2008 up to September 6. Minister Skerritt said he had been told that the “Destiny” will then be repositioned to Miami, Florida to start running a series of 4-and 5-day “long weekend” cruises to Key West and Cozumel, Mexico. ~~Adz:Right~~
However, due to the increasing popularity of the St. Kitts itinerary, Carnival Cruise Lines will be replacing the “Destiny” with a sister ship, the “Carnival Victory”, which will make its first port call to St. Kitts on Friday 31 October 2008. The “Victory” then begins making regularly scheduled port calls to St. Kitts every Saturday from 8 November. These weekly “every-Saturday” cruise ship calls by the “Carnival Victory” to St. Kitts will continue year-round in 2009 and are already confirmed through May 2010.
According to the Minister, cruise ship passenger arrivals this 2007/2008 season is expected to top the 400,000 mark for the first time ever, almost twice what it was last season. Skerritt told his audience that the phenomenal growth being experienced in St Kitts is against the grain of the low growth across the region and it should not be taken for granted by local stakeholders.
While expressing confidence of continued growth, the Minister warned local stakeholders to focus more on product quality and customer service, and less on petty insularity and other potential distractions to the needs of the cruise industry and the destination.
The “Carnival Destiny” and “Carnival Victory” are two of the 22 ships owned by Carnival Cruise Lines,which is in turn owned by Carnival Corporation PLC which owns and operates some 85 ships representing 20 brands worldwide.
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