Belize welcomed its first cruise ship to the country in 16 months on Tuesday, July 30. The ship is Celebrity Cruises’ Galaxy, which will be carrying 8,000 passengers when it arrives in Belize September 1. The ship’s been in the region since June, and will then leave Belize on September 1 on its return to Florida.
This past Friday, a Carnival cruise ship docked in Belize City . It’s the first cruise ship to visit the country in 16 months , and the first one to visit Belize in 20 years . The ship is the Carnival Liberty , which has about 3,400 passengers on its itinerary that includes three ports of call in Belize: Placencia, San Pedro, and Belize City.
Belize’s tourism industry has been gradually recovering since the end of the 2012, following the devastating Hurricane George. The two cruise ships that visited Belize during 2013 and 2014 respectively caused some minor damage but did not cause the significant tourism damage that was observed in 2012. Last week, however, Belize welcomed its first cruise ship in 16 months. The first cruise ship of the year brought nearly 600 passengers on board and generated a significant impact on the local economy.. Read more about cruise line news and let us know what you think.
Carnival Cruise Line is returning to ports for the first time since the suspensions began in March 2024 as part of the restoration of cruise operations. The Carnival Vista is making its first visit to Belize in 16 months, and passengers are enjoying the port to help the local economy.
The Carnival Vista is the first cruise ship to make a stop in Belize.
After leaving the Port of Galveston in Texas on July 3, the Carnival Vista is now making its maiden trip back. On Wednesday, the ship landed just off the coast of Belize City at 8:00 a.m., and passengers were free to spend the majority of the day on excursions or just exploring the Fort Street Tourism Village.
When a cruise ship docks in Belize, it must tender, and the Carnival Vista did so with tender boats running between the ship and the dock. Noriko Gamera, Belize’s Director of Cruise Tourist, had previously visited the tourism village to ensure that it was ready to welcome the country’s first cruise passengers in almost a year.
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Gamero stated in a statement to the local news:
“After being shut down for so long, the preparations that have been put in place simply to make tomorrow a reality seem surreal. Seeing the enthusiasm in all of the operators and vendors…it just goes to show that all eyes are on us to make sure we do it safely while also being extremely happy to be earning money again.“
“When we began the airport’s reopening, we followed our gold standards throughout the board. As a result, we established the same procedures, including a nine-point checklist, for all operators, merchants, and gift stores inside the port, as well as the port itself and tender operators. As a result, we have established gold standards at every point of interaction throughout the cruise experience.”
Belize is preparing for the return of cruise tourists by ensuring that residents of the community have been vaccinated and that local merchants are prepared to safely serve thousands of cruise passengers. The Ministry of Health also tested all of the employees in the Tourism Village, with all of the findings being negative.
Even more cruise ships will return to Belize, as well as many other Caribbean cruise destinations, in the coming months. On July 6, Carnival Vista made her first stop to Mahogany Bay on Isla Roatan, and on July 8, she will visit Cozumel before returning to Galveston, Texas.
Carnival Vista was the first of Carnival Cruise Line’s ships to resume service. The ship has a gross tonnage of 133,500 tons and a passenger capacity of 3,934 at double occupancy. The ship, however, is not presently operating at full capacity.
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