The St Kitts and Nevis government says it will not allow cruise ships into the twin-island Federation until vaccination and testing protocols can be identified.
“In May, the CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) no sail order placed a halt on cruising from the United States and cruise lines in their best interest decided to resume cruising from the Caribbean and Caribbean homeports,” said Tourism, Transport and Ports Minister, Lindsay Grant.
“Governor DeSantis in Florida and the CDC are currently in an ongoing court battle to prevent the CDC from enforcing guidelines that restrict the resumption of cruise homeporting in Florida,” said Grant, noting that Caribbean homeporting is no longer an option and that Florida is now the main homeport for the majority of the Federation’s cruises.
He said because Florida currently allows vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers to cruise and the twin-island Federation has not yet achieved herd immunity, he will not allow for the country’s health sector to be jeopardized.
“The government of St Kitts and Nevis is trying to find a delicate balance between the economics and the health of our country. For the month of August, therefore, the calls of the Allure and Symphony of the Seas have been canceled,” Grant said.
To date, the Seabourn Odyssey has made three separate calls with the travel-approved bubble vaccination tours being very effective, according to a government statement.
St Kitts and Nevis, which recently announced new measures to deal with a cluster of COVID cases, has recorded 614 positive cases and three deaths linked to the virus since the first case was recorded in March last year.
CMC
