By Clive Bacchus
St Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Two Royal Caribbean cruise ships are scheduled to arrive close to September month-end.
The St. Kitts Tourism Authority is announcing new dates for the arrival of two Royal Caribbean Cruise Line vessels, with only crew on board, for safe harbor in the Federation.
The Vision of the Seas is expected to arrive on Saturday 26th September, according to a press release issued Monday (Sept 7).
The other vessel, Brilliance of the Seas replaces the earlier scheduled Rhapsody of the Seas and is expected to arrive on or after Sunday 27 September.
Last month, Tourism Minister Lindsay Grant announced that Rhapsody of the Seas and Vision of the Seas would arrive for safe harbor here on Wednesday 19 August.
Days after, Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris announced that the arrival of Rhapsody of the Seas was delayed and Vision of the Seas would arrive on August 24.
That did not happen. Health officials later confirmed that the non-arrival of the ships was due to additional information being under consideration.
The ships are coming here to facilitate the rotation of essential crew in St. Maarten; to ensure the scheduled reopening would realign with the reopening of St. Kitts borders to accommodate crew when necessary and to load provisions, equipment and cables in St. Maarten to support the layup of the two vessels at Port Zante, says the tourism authority.
On arrival crew members will not be allowed to leave the ships and would be required to complete PCR Molecular tests, a 14-day quarantine on board the vessels, another PCR Test after the 14-day quarantine, and in the event than any member tests positive for coronavirus, the ships will have to leave Port Zante for international waters.
Monday’s notice from the Tourism Authority stated that during the 14-day quarantine period there will be limited physical interaction with crew members of both vessels during the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Offering some operational details, the tourism authority noted:
- SCASPA’s (St. Christopher Air and Seaports Authority) Pilots will not be required to provide any physical assistance to facilitate berthing for either vessel.
2. Coast Guard assistance will not be required, unless in the case of an emergency.
3. Royal Caribbean’s ship agent, Delisle Walwyn will be provisioning the cruise vessels.
4. Containers of supplies will be imported and delivered to both the Brilliance of the Seas and Vision of the Seas.
5. The items will be dropped off on the Pier without any physical interaction between Delisle Walwyn staff and the crew.
