More than 18,000 cruise passengers and crew members arrived in St John’s Harbour as five vessels called at the destination, underscoring continued momentum in the 2025/2026 cruise season.
According to Antigua Cruise Port, a total of 18,399 people came ashore, including 13,229 passengers and 5,170 crew members.
The visiting ships were the Norwegian Epic with 4,484 passengers and 1,571 crew; Britannia with 3,629 passengers and 1,351 crew; Celebrity Ascent carrying 3,181 passengers and 1,430 crew; Marella Discovery 2 with 1,835 passengers and 743 crew; and Emerald Sakara with 100 passengers and 75 crew.
Port officials said the steady arrival of large vessels, many making return calls, is providing consistent weekly traffic for local stakeholders, including tour operators, retailers and transportation providers.
The cruise port noted that the current season reflects sustained growth and operational strength, with Antigua and Barbuda continuing to attract repeat business from major cruise lines.
Officials added that the season is ongoing, with additional calls scheduled in the weeks ahead.
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Wow! That’s almost a 1/5th of the population. Hopefully these visitors are dipping their hands in their pockets to boost our economy and enjoy some Antiguan cuisine.
Well the small island feel is gone! I do hope they are spending money but it’s the tourists that book a week or longer vacation that spend. Sadly because of the influx of cruisers I will not be back. Too busy now.
It’s not the same little island anymore.
Whether or not they are spending money should not be a hope. Tourists go on vacation to spend money. It is up to the vendors to make them spend that money. I have on many times indicated that when you do macro economic ratios and calculation it is said that the average tourist spend about US$75 to $100 per port that they visit. When I take myself as an example I can attest to this figure. It all depends on what we have to offer them. I see lately the Tuc Tuc mobile doing very well. Antiguans need to stop complaining and be very creative when it comes to doing business with the tourists. Once on a cruise to St. Lucia I first went on a trip to the Piton mountains and La Soufrière volcano. Later that day we went to have some cooking lessons at a lady’s house and enjoy her property. She had a swimming pool and an open bar The group consisted of five couples. We had a very good time. And I wonder if Antiguans have thought of opening their homes to tourist in that way. We paid $150 per couple inclusive of the taxi trip. And this was about twenty years ago. Many tourist try to avoid the busy and stinky town. There is nothing to see anyway. The large group of them are beach goers and love to spend their whole day at the beach to include a lunch package. When one goes to the popular beaches such as Dickenson Beach, Buccaneer Cove, Fryers Beach, Pigeon Point , Dark Wood, and others You will see the crowd. And taxi drivers have their hands full. Therefore I do not understand why some people still ask if these tourists are spending money. Many tour operators such as Wadadli Cats, Adventure Tours, Excellence and others have their tours books way in advance online. So a macro calculation is that Antigua and Barbuda received an economic injection of approx. 18000 x $100=us$1,800,000.00. We can try to figure out who got the largest piece of the pie. But this is what in the final analysis contributes to our GDP growth. Total of Goods and Services we provided in this country in a given year. Don’t think money will fall into your lap. You have to go out there and get it.
You base those figures on 18 thousand . I am sure not every single person leaves the boat. That would be a very rough calculation. Does the money go back into the country or just line the pockets of certain people?
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