Barbados port upgrade boosts upscale market

Barbados has modernised its main cruise port and anticipates an increase of cruise passengers by 22% next year to 850,000, up from 695,000 this season.

The island will welcome 467 cruise ships in 2025/26 – up from 388 this year, including two new luxury lines to the island who already homeport in Bridgetown: Four Seasons Yachts and Oceania.

Passengers will also experience the results of a $2 million port upgrade at Bridgetown, which includes new paving, new shops and the removal of the old sugar towers which overlooked the port.

“We continue to work very closely, with the cruise industry, particularly the lanes to ensure that customer satisfaction is very important to us as a destination,” said the Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edgehill.

“We’ve created a luxury feel, for passengers who have to cross the port, whether they’re boarding the ship, or whether they are disembarking or coming through.”

Barbados is one of the Caribbean’s busiest cruise hubs, with 19 lines based there during the season including P&O Cruises, Marella and MSC Cruises, as well as many luxury lines including Scenic, Seabourn, Silversea and Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection.

The majority dock at the capital, Bridgetown, in the south, but traffic to the lesser-known north is being attempted. As a result, it is developing the port at its second city, Speightstown, as a tender port for smaller, mainly luxury lines such as Emerald.