POINTE BLANCHE--Persistent ground swells hampered the berthing of two cruise ships at Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities Saturday morning, causing one to leave port and the other to anchor in Great Bay.
Carnival Victory attempted to berth alongside the pier with the help of the island's expert pilots but the ground swells proved to be too strong to allow safe berthing. Cruise passengers had to spend another day at sea instead of a day on land exploring St. Maarten and logging, in some last minute Valentine's Day shopping.
Cruisers aboard Ocean Village got their day ashore but had to brave the choppy waters of Great Bay in water taxis to get from the anchored cruise vessel to Philipsburg to indulge in duty-free shopping, gourmet food and land adventures.
With choppy ocean conditions forecast to continue in the coming days, another cruise ship's schedule call to St. Maarten has been changed.
Disney Magic was scheduled to be in port on Tuesday but has opted to by pass St. Maarten because of the ground swells.
No other ship scheduled to dock in St. Maarten has been affected so far by the ocean conditions, according to ship's agent S.E.L. Maduro and Sons (St. Maarten).
Carnival Victory and Disney Magic are the first cancellations for the year. St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies hopes to make up this loss in passenger arrivals and revenues as the months progress and as more cruise ships are expected to make new and additional calls here.
Harbour Affair Commissioner Theo Heyliger had announced in October 2009 that this year would see a record number of cruisers visiting St. Maarten. The estimated number for the year is tagged a 1.6 million cruise passengers, a record for the island that has been in the cruise business for over forty years.
