(By Ernesto Cooke) – When will the Great Cruise Shutdown end? That’s the question stakeholders in the industry have been asking for months.
Eyebrows were raised when a large cruise-ship sailed South of mainland St Vincent and North of Bequia on Monday evening.
The ship, according to Cruisemapper was the Freedom Of The Seas, a vessel belonging to the Royal Caribbean fleet which was making its way into the Caribbean sea.
There are some 28 cruise visits planned for SVG from October 31st through to December 31st, however, all this will be dependent on when various home ports lift the no sail order.
Some of these vessels Include Azura, Britannia, Sirena, Mein Schiff 2 and Royal Caribbean which is expected to make its maiden voyage to port Kingstown In December.
In November 2020, SeaDream Yacht Club attempted to resume voyages in North America with Caribbean sailings out of Barbados on its small, 112-passenger SeaDream 1.
But the yacht-like ship’s first Caribbean voyage did not go well, to put it mildly. It ended with a COVID-19 outbreak and a quarantine for passengers.
SeaDream has since cancelled all remaining sailings for the winter season. It doesn’t have any voyages on its schedule until May.
