More than half a million cruise passengers visited Antigua (Port Saint Johns) during the winter season 2022-2023, an excellent performance for the cruise industry which continues to rebound.
Most cruise tourists arrived between January-March 2023. More than 332,000 thousand visited the island during that period with over 100,000 arrivals each month.
Homeporting played a major role in increasing cruise passenger numbers for the year's first quarter, underscoring the importance of operation to the local cruise tourism sector.
P&O UK’s ship Arvia made 4 partial turnaround calls during this time while the Star Clipper yacht conducted 2 full homeporting operations.
ACP Operations Manager for Pier Services, Rawle Reynolds said they had at times 800+ people flying into the country to start their cruise in Antigua and the team at Antigua Cruise Port played a significant role in facilitating the operation.
According to ACP General Manager, Dona Regis Prosper, that season was certainly a testament to that fact. Not only was the destination strategically located but had an excellent airlift from both the United States and Europe. The investment in the 5th berth provided them with "added capacity to efficiently facilitate multiple cruise ships and related services both for vessels homeporting or on a transit call.”
She said they were pleased with their performance this winter season as continued to successfully rebound after the effects of COVID.
Norwegian Sky is due to make multiple visits to the port between May-August. Meanwhile, Disney Magic is scheduled to visit in May, while Disney Fantasy will call in July.
The 19 summer calls more than double 2022 figures, indicating growth in Antigua’s cruise shipping industry.