By Admin. Updated 8:11 a.m., Sunday, November 10, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
People who made preparations due to the scheduled arrival today of the vessel AURORA from P & O CRUISES which has a capacity of 2,258 passengers have been left disappointed as the ship could not dock at the Cruise Ship Terminal.
One News SVG understands that the cruise vessel which was already in waters close to the Kingstown port had to cancel its scheduled docking because a cargo ship that is currently docked at the Cruise Ship Terminal was experiencing difficulties and could not move.
The development was communicated to business operators at the Cruise Ship Terminal by the SVG Port Authority on Sunday morning.
Based on the Draft Cruise Call schedule, this was the cruise ship’s only call to SVG for the 2024/25 season. A total of 376 calls from various ships are expected in the country during the 2024/2025 cruise season which runs from November 2024 to about the end of April 2025.
Due to damage caused by Hurricane Beryl in July, the Cruise Terminal is also now being used to accommodate cargo ships.
The country is also constructing a new cargo port which is set to be completed during the first quarter of 2025.
People who operate businesses at the Cruise Ship Terminal have expressed their frustration.
In a joint statement obtained by One News SVG, business operators said “congestion at the port meant a cruise ship had to abandon its plans to dock and cancel”.
“A cargo vessel was allowed to dock at the cruise ship terminal yesterday and was not able to be moved today. A huge embarrassment for the country as we try and attract more visitors and surely a PR disaster for the SVG Port Authority,” the joint statement read.
“Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed revenue across all the businesss relying on this cruise ship today, with the sudden cancellation impacting the cruise ship tenants, tour operator, taxi drivers and other local businesses. People deserve to know what happened and could this have been avoided?!” the business operators said.
“At a time when our country needs every dollar, this PR disaster is very unwelcome. The P&O Aurora has already made its way to SVG when it was forced to abandon and sail away. How will we pacify this major cruise line and what implications for future bookings? This was NOT the Caribbean island that P&O were looking for!!” the business operators said.
One News SVG 