Cruise ship season set to bring more passengers to SVG

With the cruise ship season having officially opened on November 1, St Vincent and the Grenadines saw the first two cruise ships arrive on Saturday, November 15 and it is expected that by the time the season ends, some 83,154 passengers would have visited our shores.{{more}}

Although there are fewer cruise calls scheduled for the 2014-15 season (203) than the previous year (214), the number of passengers visiting has increased from last season’s 80,231. There will be 42 cruise calls in Kingstown, 57 in Bequia, 52 in Mayreau, 42 in the Tobago Cays, seven in Union Island, and three in Canouan.

To coincide with the Ministry of Tourism’s celebration of Tourism Month, a series of free lunchtime musical concerts is scheduled for the month of November – taking place at the Port Authority lawn when cruise ships are in port at Kingstown.

The first concert was held on Monday, November 17, with the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force Band serenading visitors who came in on a P & O Cruises liner. The next concert will be held on Monday, November 24, when another liner from P & O Cruises is expected to dock.

Cruise ship visitors also had the opportunity to purchase arts and crafts from artisans/vendors, who earlier this year went through intensive training with the Ministry of Tourism to aid them in bettering their products.

The cruise ship season officially ends on April 18, 2015.(JSV)