Over a year following the closure of Antigua Cruise Port because of the global shut down of the cruise industry, the port's management, along with Government officials, welcomed Celebrity Cruises' ship Celebrity Silhouette on April 17.
The liner called on the cruise port to complete a technical call and warm layup. Her sisterships, Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Reflection visited Antigua on April 18 and April 21, respectively, for 10 days.
These vessels recently remained on warm lay-up in Bridgetown Barbados. However, due to weather concerns related to the eruption of La Soufriere volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, special permission to call on Saint John’s was granted by the Antigua and Barbuda Government after strict health protocol requirements were met. The ships have no passengers and the crew members were not permitted to disembark.
Antigua Cruise Port revealed it was pleased to partner with Celebrity Cruises and was grateful to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for the support of its cruise partners in such difficult times.
While the cruise ship visits are short-term, they are expected to bring some economic benefits to Antigua as the liners will require maintenance, crew embarkation services, as well as other forms of assistance like refueling, provisioning services, taxi transfers, and hotel stays.
The Antigua Cruise Port team continues to work closely with the Government and health authorities to ensure that adherence to the health measures is maintained, which will help the cruise industry to continue to gain traction.