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BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, FEBRUARY 20TH 2008 (CUOPM) - Princess Cruises has confirmed that two of its ships had to abort their scheduled visit to St Kitts as a result of high winds and the existence of one or two tugs would not have helped the situation.
Vice President of Princess Cruises Steve Nielsen has confirmed that the Crown Princess and the Emerald Princess, “abort their scheduled calls at St. Kitts on Monday and today (Wednesday) due to weather.”
“As we are all aware, the pier in St. Kitts lies in a north to south direction on the windward side of the island which means it is fully exposed to the winds out of the east. Ships the size of Crown and Emerald have a very large profile surface area. They also have a large number of balcony cabins providing pockets of further resistance to the wind,” said Nielsen, who added:
“With winds in excess of 30 knots out of the east, it is nearly impossible to safely come alongside the berth and even more difficult to maneuver off the berth if the winds conditions do not improve at the time of sailing.
Nielsen said that he understands another other cruise ship was recently unable to sail because of the wind at the time of her scheduled departure.
“Unfortunately, given the above conditions and exposure of the pier to the east, one or even two tugs would not have been of any assistance. The winds were in excess of 35 knots and even if a tug had been available, both Crown and Emerald would still have aborted their calls,” said Nielsen in an email to Minister of State for Tourism, Sen. the Hon. Richard Skerritt; Chief Executive Officer of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Port Authority, Mr. Errol Douglas; Mr. Jason Brazier of Delisle Walwyn & Co., cruise ship agents and the captains of the Emerald Princess and the Crown Princess.
The Princess Cruises Vice President pointed out that the ports on Grenada and St. Lucia are on the leeward side of the islands “so we don't have the same issues there.”
“I hope the above explanation will help to explain the reasons why we were forced to abort the scheduled calls and why even if a tug had been available, we would still have had to abort the calls,” said Nielsen.
Photo: Crown Princess docked at Port Zante (Photo by Erasmus Williams)
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