Nevis is projecting a 38 percent increase in cruise ship calls, according to Tourism Minister Mark Brantley. The Minister said the island received 34 cruise ship calls, with 47 cruise ship calls expected for this year.

Carnival Corporation has announced it will increase fleet capacity by nearly ten percent from 2014 through 2016, fuelled largely by the addition of four new ships across four brands in less than 18 months.

The Miami-based cruise company will first add the new Wi-Fi system aboard its ships sailing in the Caribbean during the fourth quarter. Those ships include Carnival Freedom, which currently sails from Port Everglades to the Caribbean, and Carnival Breeze, from Port Miami.

Deputy Premier of Nevis and Tourism Minister Hon. Mark Brantley said at a recent Consultation on the Economy, hosted by the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), that cruise and yachting tourism remained part of its tourism promotions.

German shipyard Meyer Werft turned over the 4,180-passenger Quantum of the Seas to Royal Caribbean International in a signing ceremony Tuesday. The ship is now heading from Germany to Southampton in the U.K., where the first passengers will board on Sunday for the transatlantic sailing to Bayonne, N.J.