POINTE BLANCHE--St. Maarten cruise tourism has made major strides in terms of arrivals over the years, but the Disney Fantasy will not be including the destination in 2016 and the Disney Magic will make only two stops here in November 2016. This is not because of negative customer feedback, however; the feedback has in fact been positive overall.
When asked why the destination was all but being dropped for the next season, Disney Cruise Lines Public Affairs Manager Rebecca Peddie told The Daily Heraldthat the company is continuously evaluating its itineraries and makes changes from time to time while looking for new opportunities.
Disney is continuing its Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises, but Tortola will be replacing St. Maarten on the Eastern Caribbean cruises. The company made mention of the Western itinerary as well, as it was asked whether it would cut down the number of cruises to the Caribbean in general.
During the recent Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association conference held locally, major cruise industry players indicated that the Caribbean could well face losing market share to other regions and needed to take the increasing competition seriously.
Peddie said that the switch was not due to negative customer feedback and that this was in fact positive. The 2017 itineraries have not been announced yet.
At the moment, St. Maarten is included in two itineraries each of the Disney Magic and the Disney Fantasy. TheDisney Fantasy is approximately 40 per cent larger than the Disney Magic, accommodating 4,000 passengers comfortably, as well as more than 1,450 cast and crew members. The Disney Magic comfortably fits 2,700 passengers and 950 cast and crew members.
In 2014, St. Maarten hit a historic two million cruise passenger mark.
