More cruise ship passengers have visited Cozumel in the first half of 2014 than in the first half of any year ever before. The statistics from the Caribbean Tourism Association show 1,785,684 visitors arrived to Cozumel by cruise ship between January and June 2014, 11 per cent more than the previous record of 1,609,401 for the same period in 2005.

Curacao’s remarkable growth of 41 percent, also brought the island a first time ranking into the publication’s overall “World’s top 50 ports.” Out of the many popular Caribbean and other destinations in the world, Curacao experienced the largest year-over-year increase in cruise passenger visits.

Carnival Corp. and the Cruise Lines International Association met with diplomats and tourism officials from throughout the Caribbean and South and Central America to emphasize the strong ties between cruise lines and the destinations their ships visit.

Cuba expects the visits of 200 cruise ships in the upcoming winter season, the largest number of calls by those vessels ever, according to a Tourism official cited by specialized media. The visits by tourist and academic boats are expected to go the 2013 record highs one better.

A project for the construction of a modern cruise terminal has made significant headway. The Cuban port of Cienfuegos (center-south), the country’s second largest in terms of the volume of operations, will be the harbor of choice for this effort.

More than a million cruise ship passengers are expected to visit St. Kitts’ Port Zante, for the first time in history. This represents a 31.5 percent increase over the 2013/2014 season and a total growth over the past eight years of more than 500 percent. This season’s phenomenal is partly owed to Royal Caribbean.