Tourism Minister confident country ready to welcome Oasis-class ships

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The Oasis-class is a class of five Royal Caribbean International cruise ships
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As Antigua and Barbuda prepares to welcome its first Oasis-class ship – Royal Caribbean ‘Symphony of the Seas’ in January – Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez said he is confident that experts from the cruise line will be satisfied with work done to ensure its safe docking.

A team from Royal Caribbean—including the boat captain and other members – are expected to arrive in November to test the sea depths and other conditions at the country’s fifth berth.

Speaking to Observer media, Minister Fernandez said, assuming workers are able to complete the dredging work by the end of October, the arrival of Oasis ships could be a “game-changer”.

“This is a very big thing for us because ships are getting much bigger, so we are right in line to get more visits,” he said.

Oasis-class ships are some of the biggest cruise vessels in the world.

Minister Fernandez added that Royal Caribbean “will send the head captain down to take a physical look to make sure of everything [and] they will do their own test to ensure that everything is to their requirements”.

The government has been working on being able to welcome Oasis-class cruise ships to Antigua in a bid to boost tourism numbers and revenue since 2019, after handing over management of the port to Global Ports Holdings.

However, there have been some setbacks including the Covid pandemic and difficulties in dredging hard rock at the seabed of the harbour.

“The recent setback we had was that the dredging of the turning basin at the harbour, and especially at the entrance of the harbour, has been a lot more difficult and time-consuming than we anticipated and we had a couple of [other] issues along the way, the major one being Covid,” Fernandez explained.

“There is one little spot that needs to be taken down to the level that we want it to be at, or designated that it should be at, so once that is completed we are ready for Royal Caribbean to come in,” he added.

Meanwhile, the minister also revealed that the country is preparing for more than 55,000 homeporting passengers to come to the island between November and April.

The Excel-class cruise ship, Arvia, was the first to homeport here in 2023 and will be joined in the upcoming season by the Star Clipper of Royal Clipper Cruises and the Emerald Sakara.

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