Port St. Maarten has welcomed five cruise ships for inaugural port calls in less than a month. In its post on Facebook, Port St. Maarten said this is a “strong indication of the destination’s popularity among cruise lines being a port in demand in the Northeastern Caribbean.”
Azamara Onward, the latest cruise ship for Azamara, made her inaugural call in St. Maarten on December 6, 2022. Two days later, on December 8, 2022, Carnival Celebration, Carvnival Cruise Line’s newest cruise ship, made her inaugural call. Then, on December 19, 2022, Viking Neptune arrived in St. Maarten for her inaugural call. Viking Neptune is the newest ship for Viking Cruises and is on a 137-day world cruise.
At the beginning of January, two more cruise ships made inaugural calls at Port St. Maarten. AIDAbella, who is currently making roundtrip cruises from Germany to the Caribbean, arrived on January 2. And last, but not least, Celebrity Apex arrived on January 3, 2023, during her seven day round-trip San Juan, Tortola St. Kitts itinerary.
Port St. Maarten Group Chief Executive Officer Alexander Gumbs said: “The 2022-2023 cruise season is progressing very well. We are very pleased with the additional new vessels that have made inaugural calls so far for the season. We are moving forward with confidence as we continue to grow our cruise business.”
St. Maarten is located east of Puerto Rico and St. Thomas and north of St. Kitts and Nevis. It’s a common port call on eastern Caribbean itineraries. The island has powdery sand beaches and European-style towns. A variety of plants and animals call St. Maarten home and it holds the largest collection of butterflies in the Caribbean. You can enjoy cultures and traditions of the Dutch and the French as these two nations border one another on the island.