The Port of St. Maarten is working with Seabourn Cruise Line on a long-term home-porting agreement. The Seabourn Spirit has been home porting during the past winter/spring seasons, and because of a successful home-porting experience, a commitment over the long-term is being explored.
The port has the necessary facilities and experience in forming strategic partnerships, and St. Maarten as a cruise destination is in itself a preferred destination for international cruise lines.
Seabourn has already indicated that destination St. Maarten is in alignment with the cruise lines brand.
Seabourn Cruise Line is considered the World’s Best Small Ship Cruise Line in surveys by readers of Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure. Seabourn started in 1988 with the 208 passenger Seabourn Pride. Today, the company has six ships with passenger capacity varying between 208 and 450.
In 2009, Seabourn debut the Seabourn Odyssey, which was hailed as a game-changer for the ultra-luxury segment of the cruise market. The vessel is larger than its sister ships with 450 guests.
The Odyssey has since been joined by two identical sisters, Seabourn Sojourn in 2010 and Seabourn Quest in 2011.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Mingo of the St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies says he is working diligently to secure a long-term strategic partnership with Seabourn where home-porting is concerned.
"So far home-porting has been very successful for the destination. Like I said earlier this year, we do not have the infrastructure and logistics to homeport a vessel with 3,000 passengers and 5,000 pieces of luggage. We can handle comfortably 500 to 1000 passengers.
"We are making strides and have now reached the point of securing a long-term strategic partnership like we have with the larger cruise lines. Seabourn is a high end line which is committed. Between 20 to 30 per cent of those passengers of home-porting take a pre and post vacation on the island besides their cruise.
"Our taxi’s and hotels are benefiting from home-porting and we now need to move forward in getting other vessels of a similar nature and size to operate out of the Port of St. Maarten where we as a port and as a destination have a lot to offer. Our goal and mission is to become the home-porting destination of the North Eastern Caribbean," CEO Mingo concluded.