POINTE BLANCHE:--- Five cruise ships are visiting the country between Thursday and Friday, August 13 and 14 for crew repatriation and provisioning operations.
The ships belong to the cruise lines Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Lines. On Thursday, August 13, three ships were in port, namely, Carnival Ecstasy, Carnival Legend, and Carnival Liberty.
On Friday, August 14, Independence of the Seas will be port at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facility. Vision of the Seas is currently anchored offshore.
Port St. Maarten is a strategic port in the Northeastern Caribbean. Due to its international flight connections with airports around the world, St. Maarten has displayed its ability to facilitate crew repatriation operations safely and efficiently.
Additional services offered by the destination during these challenging economic times are fuel bunkering and food provisioning. Cruise lines also make use of the aforementioned which is an economic contribution for the national economy.
The country’s infrastructure such as its homeporting facility and services at Port St. Maarten makes it easy for a cruise ship to have travel documents of crews processed and then taken directly to the Airport to board their international flight.
The repatriation of crew will be carried out based on the ports strict “Sterile Port Protocol” that falls under the scope of the Ordinance Public Health which is part of the International Health Regulations as issued by the World Health Organization (WHO).
This protocol ensures public health safety and security at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facilities for all incoming vessels at the port.
