by Linda Straker
- Season will officially begin on 21 October 2022
- Busiest day for Carriacou will be 6 January 2023
- Of 202 calls scheduled, 12 will be inaugural calls
Thousands of cruise ship passengers are expected to visit Grenada for the 2022/2023 season as, according to the scheduled list, over 200 cruise ships will berth at the ports in Grenada. They will bring a total of 508,960 passengers to the islands. Of that number 377,394 will be passengers, while 131,566 will be crew members.
The season will officially begin on 21 October 2022 with a ceremony at the Melville Street Cruise Ship Terminal to welcome the Royal Caribbean cruiseliner “Celebrity Summit.” Tourism Minster Lennox Andrews will address the ceremony.
The first cruise ship’s capacity is 2,590 passengers and 997 crew members, and it will arrive at 7 am and depart at 3 pm. The second ship will be the Seven Seas Navigator of Norwegian Cruise Line. It will berth on 30 October. It has a passenger capacity of 3,078 and a crew of 1,205.
The entire season will last until May 2023, and during that period 202 calls are scheduled with 12 of them as inaugural calls. November and December will see 4 inaugural calls respectively; January will have 2 and the final 2 will be in March and May 2023.
In terms of monthly breakdown, there will be 2 calls in October, 20 in November and 43 in December. January and February 2023 will see 36 and 47 respectively, with 41 in March, 12 in April and one in May. The ship arriving in May is World Traveller of Mystic Cruise and it will be making its inaugural and only call to the island for the 2022/2023 season. It has a capacity of 200 passengers and 100 crew.
In terms of cruise ship berths in Carriacou, there will be 9 calls for the entire season bringing a total of 1,268 passengers and 1,116 crew. The busiest day will be 6 January 2023 when Seabourn Ovation of Holland America Cruise Line arrives with 650 passengers and 450 crew.
I want to come on a bout
I have been a visitor from the States for many years and love Grenada because it has kept that island feel, I like the more commercialized islands. I do however think that those workers in the hospitality sector are taken advantage of with low wages. When I and my travel friends stay, we always keep in mind that house keeping, waitresses, and sellers at the markets need to feel appreciated. That means tips that are appropriate. Don’t come to Grenada and take advantage of these hard working people, and love the island. Mistake above, “unlike” the more commercialized islands.
It’s funny that there are so much talk about regional cooperation but there is a serious lack of cooperation.
Years ago, the regional leaders agreed to all charge cruise ship companies the same per passenger, only to reneged. It was one of the reasons Carnival cruise stopped visiting Grenada. While all other leaders reneged, Grenada was one that decided to stick to the increase charges. Carnival was like, we’ll take our business elsewhere.
Something seriously needs to be done about cruise ship companies exploit Islands. They often dump their waste in the waters with impunity. In fact, there hardly resources allocated to monitor cruise ship companies bad practices. Everyone seems to fixated on the tourist dollars and scantily employed.
As much as all the Islands shares sea, sun and sand they all have a unique product.
What does Grenada have to offer, that is a must see and must experience?
I had a friend who took cruise which visited Grenada and was appalled by jokes made entertainers on the cruise about Grenada have nothing to see besides the picturesque st.George’s buildings.
Antigua, St. Kitts seems attract more affluent travelers for many reasons. One, room stock from the types of hotels and what they offer. Grenada has one 4-5 star resort and one or two boutique hotels depending on who you ask.
Two, geographic location. Years ago, Grenada lost out to direct flights from Germany. The flight landed in Antigua first and passengers were required to catch a connecting to Grenada. As a result, passengers started booking hotels in Antigua. Why would a passenger increase travel time for the same sea, sun and sand?
Grenada have more 3 star or less rooms than 4-5 stars. So it will sense to promote Grenada as back pack destination to those who truly want to be exposed to the culture. Some will argue this approach can deplete the status of 4-5 room stock which Grenada is sadly lacking.
To add, Grenada is adversely affected by CBI. There are lots of condos bought, sold and rented. However, those properties are not resort style resorts which attract high guest traffic. As a result, these properties don’t create as much employment opportunities to locals.
I am totally against mass tourism for several reasons. Hawaii comes to mind. It is sad to see locals pushed out and made homeless due skyrocketing rents/food etc.
However without mass tourism negative impacts, there are hardly 1000 rooms on Grand Anse Beach.
Then the handful of resorts that are supposed to afford locals a decent wage ends up under paying and exploit the locals with a take it or leave attitude towards workers.
A hard place and a rock.
Arley Gill doesn’t exactly encourage tourism either, with his fruitless campaign to demonize visitors from the UK.
And guess how much these visitors are gonna spend on buying goods from the !ocals…
The only people to benefit from this will be the glitzy shops in the mall and the 4 people employed to clear the rubbish from the beach.