Plaque exchange aboard cruise ship “Symphony of the Seas” to mark her inaugural call to St. Maarten.
PORT–Royal Caribbean International’s newest cruise ship Symphony of the Seas made her inaugural call to St. Maarten on Tuesday. This was the ship’s first port of call in the Eastern Caribbean after leaving Miami with 6,054 passengers and 2,200 crew.
Symphony of the Seas debuted in April for her inaugural season in the Mediterranean. Beginning November 24, the ship started home-porting out of Miami, Florida, her year-round home, sailing seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages.
Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Stuart Johnson led a delegation on board to welcome the ship’s captain, passengers and crew.
Ship Captain Rob Hempstead said he was glad to see the quick rebound and rebuilding effort of the destination and thanked the St. Maarten people for all their hard work, as this was his favourite port in the Eastern Caribbean.
Johnson thanked RCI for its confidence in the destination. That confidence “was testimony to the resilience of the people of St. Maarten in getting the destination back on track,” he said. He also applauded the hard work of the Port in bringing back cruise tourism to the destination.
“This is indeed another milestone for the port and the destination overall. … It was an honour once again as a port and as a destination to welcome RCI’s latest Oasis-class vessel,” said Johnson.
The cruise-industry future is promising as more ships come online and are deployed to the Caribbean. “As a cruise destination, we must continue to push in re-inventing and upgrading our product offerings, more-so now than ever, which will translate into increased demand to ‘rediscover’ St. Maarten,” said Johnson.
The St. Maarten delegation included representatives of the Port, St. Maarten Tourist Bureau, airport, government and others.
Six cruise ships with some 20,000 cruise passengers and crew will in port today, Wednesday. This will be the second six-ship day of the 2018-2019 cruise season. Scheduled to be in port are cruise ships Adventure of the Seas, Oriana, Harmony of the Seas, Marella Explorer, MSC Seaside, and Seven Seas Navigator.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/83088-rcl-s-newest-vessel-makes-inaugural-call
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