News that Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. added 15 calls to St. Maarten (see Tuesday paper) was greatly welcomed in tourism and other circles. There was also a bit of a sigh of relief, because a drop of 10.6 per cent in ships’ visits and 15.4 per cent in total passengers had been predicted for the current season.
In fact, 2019 still saw an increase of close to 2 per cent with 1.63 million passengers from 565 calls compared to 1.59 million from 490 the year before. However, for all of 2020 the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) even expected calls to go down by 25-30 per cent, which is obviously not going to be without socioeconomic consequences.
The decline has to do with many factors such as ports in the local area damaged by the hurricanes of 2017 recovering, the addition of new and expanded facilities nearby, cruise lines creating privately-owned islands so they can keep more income, other rising global markets, etc. It’s important to keep up with trends, such as younger cruisers being focussed on different things than their predecessors.
The overall experience is, of course, key and starts with friendly and attentive service, regardless of the circumstances. There are certain related issues including adequate security and dealing with traffic congestion on particularly busy days that government must address, but – ultimately – it’s up to everyone to help guests enjoy themselves and hopefully want to return.
The maximum 65,000 passengers Royal Caribbean is now bringing obviously won’t compensate for the foreseen loss this year, but it sure helps, and numbers should rebound going forward. In the meantime, efforts to maintain the destination’s leading position in the region are to continue unabated.
