The Cruise season 2014-2015 is in full swing; as the end of 2014 is coming closer, we are entering a new era for Cruise Tourism in Bonaire; 2015 will show very strong numbers of passengers arrivals to our beautiful island.
During the month of October a delegation from Bonaire headed by TCB Director Ethsel Pieternella and Cruise Project Manager Gabriele Tixi attended the 21st annual FCCA trade show in Saint Maarten. During the five days event, the delegation met with various Cruise Lines Executives from Norwegian Cruise Lines, MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America and AIDA to develop new and maintain current relationship with the Cruise Lines.
The main message that transpired from all these meetings was that Bonaire is performing extremely well as an island with Cruise passengers, ranking amongst the best in the Caribbean. For this reason that we are now showing an increase in numbers of ships calling to Bonaire, starting with the upcoming 2015-2016 season with a total of 320,000 passengers.
The 2015-2016 cruise season will start in September 2015 and terminate at the end of May 2016 extending the season to almost nine months, proving a much needed injection of tourist to the low season; further more Bonaire will welcomed back Pullmantur and the South American clientele every Tuesday for the entire season. Locals will be able to board Pullmantur Monarch in Bonaire and take a cruise without the need of airlift.
And what about the low season? we currently working on some monthly calls during the summer of 2016, but let’s leave that for the next edition of the New Entre Nous!!!
On this note, we would like to thank everybody in Bonaire for their tremendous work done in welcoming the Cruise passengers on our island, and we can be sure that we this concerted effort the future of Bonaire Cruise Tourism is very bright!!!