Sint Maarten. Three brands to bring 845,821 cruise passengers in 2013-2014 season
Left to right, CEO Mark Mingo with RCL officials Marc Miller, Federico Gonzalez-Denton and Christopher Allen.
St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Mingo stated strategic partner Royal Caribbean International (RCL) is very pleased with how cruise passengers view the Port of St. Maarten and the destination, showing on average between 85 and 90 per cent in overall satisfaction and appeal coming from the three brands of the cruise line namely Royal, Celebrity and Azamara.
Eastern Caribbean region satisfaction and appeal ratings for RCLs three brands averages at 80 per cent while for destination St. Maarten/St. Martin it is much higher.
The cruise survey looks at cleanliness, friendliness of locals, safety, range of things to see, availability of things to see, RCL transportation, independent transportation, distance from ship to activities, information from RCL on ports, congestion in ports, hours in port, and tour variety.
The number of port calls from the three brands of RCL for 2012-2013 season was 208 and the forecast for the 2013-2014 season is 230, or 22 more. The number of cruise passengers for the 2012-2013 season was 783.737 and the forecast for 2013-2014 season is 845.821 or an increase of 62.084.
For the 2014-2015 cruise season, there will be approximately 228 port calls from the aforementioned three RCL brands and a forecast of 832.930 cruise passengers, however the numbers are not final yet.
Mingo met with RCL officials earlier this week in Miami, namely, Christopher Allen, Associate Vice President Deployment & Itinerary Planning; Federico Gonzalez-Denton, Director Government & Community Relations Latin America & the Caribbean; and Marc Miller, Manager Deployment & Itinerary Planning.
RCL is scheduling dry dock maintenance for the Allure of the Seas and this is expected to result in less cruise passenger from the line in 2014, but port officials are confident that the drop can be made up by the other lines that visit the destination.
“Port of St. Maarten and the destination overall is very proud to have RCL as a strategic partner, and this relationship spans over decades. The company has grown by leaps and bounds as can be seen from the two largest cruise ships in the world that RCL constructed within the 21st century.
“The Port of St. Maarten also grew with RCL with respect to the construction of Pier 2 in order to be able to accommodate the genesis class cruise ships. This has allowed our cruise numbers to also grow within the past 30-years from over 100,000 in 1980 to over 1.7 million in 2013.
“Our country’s appeal, the hospitality of our people and the services provided to our visitors is what keeps us up front and ahead of the pack, and we must always continue to be innovative and offer new tours in order to maintain our premiere position as a preferred cruise destination,” Port CEO Mark Mingo said on Thursday.
In 1968, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line was founded. The company caters to more than 280 destinations worldwide today and has been at the forefront of rolling out innovative ships since the 1980s with the Sovereign class and what has been described as the game-changing Quantum class, the first of which will sail in the fall of 2014.
