The Celebrity Solstice, at 122,000 gross tons and having a passenger carrying capacity of 2850, was christened on November 16 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and will be docking at the Port of St. Maarten on November 26.
The Solstice began its inaugural season November 23 with a series of seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruises. The vessel is the newest of the cruise lines Solstice-class of ships with others entering service in summer 2009 Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse in Summer 2010 and another vessel in Fall 2011.
The MSC Orchestra built in 2007 having a gross tonnage of 92,400 and carrying 2550 passengers and 987 crew will be calling at the Port of St. Maarten for the first time in January 2009. MSC Cruises is considered as one of the fastest growing cruise lines with the youngest fleet.
"Despite the global economic crisis, the Port of St. Maarten will be receiving inaugural visits from a number of cruise lines. The cruise industry is also going through challenging times, however the new visits should be seen as positive a development with respect to St. Maarten as a cruise destination having an attractive product.
"During these challenging times as a preferred cruise destination by the cruise lines, we have to all work harder to maintain the business that we have. The harbour is diligently working on improving its services which includes security and customer service.
"Everybody in the business has a role to play in order to continually improve the quality of our product to maintain that competitive edge," Harbour Group of Companies Managing Director Mark Mingo stated.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) has canceled its South America sailings, a series of cruises in winter 2009-10 and the cruise line is forecasting a drop in yields in the fourth quarter of 2008 following a significant deterioration in new bookings.
RCCL after unveiling its third quarter results expects the economic and financial turmoil to lead to a four to five per cent drop in yields for the rest of 2008.
Carnival Cruise Line has cancelled a programme of summer 2009 sailings from Dover, England to Northern and Western Europe. The ship Carnival Liberty is to stay based in Miami sailing to the Caribbean instead of re-positioning to Europe next summer as originally scheduled.
The decision was based on current market conditions, continued economic uncertainty and high air costs to Europe which impact US visitors wishing to cruise in Europe.
Carnival's UK brand, Ocean Village, is to be shut down and its two ships are to be transferred to Australia in 2009 and 2010. Increase marine and air fuel costs are to have been a large part of the reason for the decision, rather than declining revenues.
