Barbados as the Biggest Home Port

[Jason]

Barbados as the Biggest Home Port

Adrian Loveridge, Caribbean Net News

'Barbados has been billed the largest and most active cruise line home port in the world'

That was the word from Minister of Tourism Noel Lynch, as Barbados prepares to host 18 home-porting cruise ships during the coming winter tourist season.

Minister Lynch made these disclosures during a Press conference recently at the Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC 29) taking place at the Westin and Sheraton Grand Bahama Lucaya Resort.

'We will be having just about 17 or 18 ships turning in Barbados as a home port' the Minister went on to state.

This certainly seems like good news after Barbados has witnessed a dramatic decline in cruise passenger arrivals over the last year.

What perhaps is not quite so clear, is if the figures the Minister has quoted includes the 'up to 18 cruise ships' that will accommodate the majority of the fans attending the 2007 ICC World Cup Cricket super eight matches and final.

Barbados recently signed a contract with Carnival Corporation which will 'guarantee' that their 12 global brands bring 1.2 million passengers to Bridgetown port over the next three years.

Clearly, if the Minister's comments are accurate Barbados has done well to overtake ports like Miami, Port Everglades, Puerto Rico and even emerging destinations like Dubai, especially as the reason given for diminished cruise ship arrivals to the island was the high cost of fuel and shorter itineraries.

[DaCruzNut]

In a way, it's a little sad....

Barbados is a beautiful port. Georgetown hadn't been "spoiled" by the cruise ships, the way so many ports have been ruined. Even poor Key West hasn't been spared.

I remember when 2-3 ships, each with 800-900 passengers visited a "sleepy little" St. Thomas.... Oh, well, that's progress.