Busy winter, quiet summer

MARTIN INCE (l), Foster & Ince Cruises' CEO, and Kevin Yearwood, managing director of Platinum Port Agency. (Gercine Carter)

By Gercine Carter | Thu, January 26, 2012 - 12:09 AM

Barbados is enjoying a “very busy” cruise season but based on expected cruise ship arrivals through his company, Martin Ince, CEO of Barbados’ leading cruise management company Foster & Ince Cruises, is projecting “one of the most quiet summer seasons” in recent years.

Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Ince said overall it had been a busy season for his company, with the upsurge in arrivals seen from the first week of November scheduled to continue until March.

But with only the Carnival line coming once a week after that, Ince said: “The challenge is going to be what we need to do to get the ships back. As a grouping of cruise tourism entities in Barbados, that is where we need to focus.”

He said Barbados had welcomed Christina cruises from Finland this winter season, the first time in its 50-year history that cruise line had ventured out of the Mediterranean area where it normally operates. And he reported this cruise line was so satisfied with Barbados that it had already chosen the island as its homeport again next year.

Read the full story in today's DAILY NATION.