St Vincent and the Grenadines: Resilient Lady Cruise makes 1st visit, brings 2700 visitors

The Port Kingstown in St Vincent and the Grenadines celebrated the inaugural call of Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady on Sunday (January 19, 2025). The ship is one of the nine inaugural calls scheduled for the 2024-2025 cruise season and one of the 377 total scheduled calls.  

It arrived with over 2700 passengers onboard, several of which disembarked and explored the various offerings on the island. 

The cruise stayed on the island for an entire day and left in the evening with a spectacular light show displaying the island’s name ‘St Vincent’ on it.  A plaque handover ceremony was held at the Kingstown Cruise Terminal to mark the ship’s maiden call to the island nation. 

Minister of Tourism Carlos James thanked the crew on board, “Thank you to Captain Nick, crew and guest of Virgin Voyages’, Resilient Lady. From all accounts everyone on board had a great time. At departure, a farewell display of lights was done in honour of our country and people.” 

The tourism minister said that St Vincent and the Grenadines have had a quoted relationship with Virgin Voyages for many years, particularly the tourism authority as well as the Port Authority of St Vincent and the Grenadines have been working collaboratively to get the Resilient Lady to the island. 

“Finally, this year, we are pleased to welcome the first Virgin on its fleet to Port Kingstown and I am really happy that Captain Nick was able to come here especially on his birthday to enjoy the wonderful beauty and splendour of this multi-island destination,” he added.  

The Minister further added that the island has seen a magnificent three years, post the pandemic, of continuous growth within the cruise sector. He emphasised that it is another third record year of consistent calls, and the country is seeing a lot more activity particularly with the tour operators, taxi drivers and other who are involved in the operation of welcoming the vessels and its visitors.  

According to the Minister, it is a record year for St Vincent and the Grenadines due to the over arrivals as the island is 25 percent up and it is seeing continuous growth and it is the first time in the history of this country’s tourism that it has hit the mark of 100,000 stay-over visitors.  

He further reiterated his team’s commitment to continue to growth this destination and to promote this destination.