DestinationSaint Lucia I Cruise
A perfect way
to arrive When a cruise liner docks in Port Castries, you cannot fail to spot it
A perfect way of arriving in Saint Lucia is by cruise ship. Or at least that is what more than three quarters of a million people did in 2018, up from 669,217 in 2017 and 587,053 the year before. In fact, arriving by liner is the preferred method of the majority of Saint Lucia’s 1.2 million annual visitors. This number has risen sharply since the opening of the Pointe Seraphine Berth One expansion in 2018 following
an $18.8 million investment by the Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority, SLASPA. This means that the port is now suitable for Genesis and Oasis class vessels. Shortly after the official opening the port was visited by Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, which has a passenger capacity of 5,000. The expansion, which included the installation of three dolphins, means
that Port Castries can now accommodate up to five ships simultaneously, including liners up to 305 metres in length. Ships typically arrive between 6am and 10am and depart between 4pm and 6pm. Other cruise ships that visited in 2019 include P&O Cruises’ 3,648passenger flagship Britannia, NCL’s 2,340 capacity Norwegian Dawn and Carnival’s 2,056 capacity Fascination. www.stlucia.org 33
