WILLEMSTAD - The cruise ship of the cruise company Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), named Norwegian Encore, visited Curaçao on Tuesday, December 27 with a total of 4,653 passengers.  

Because this is the first visit of this cruise ship to Curaçao, Curaçao Ports Authority (CPA) together with Minister Ruisandro Cijntje of Economic Development, shipping agent Maduro Shipping and the tourist office have been invited for a small inaugural ceremony on board. During this ceremony, the captain of the ship gave a short speech together with Minister Cijntje and CPA, pointing out the importance of the cruise industry for Curaçao. 

Minister Cijntje also announced that during the FCCA Conference in Santo Domingo last year, where he had a good meeting with Mr. Roy Schultheis, Director of Government Relations at NCL, who informed him that they are in the process of expanding services to Curaçao. The bookings are going well. The minister stated that there is also continuous work here to improve the port and guarantee passengers a memorable experience. That is why CPA will invest again in the cruise terminal in 2023.  

Simultaneously with the Norwegian Encore, the cruise ship Seabourn Sojourn also called in Curaçao on the same day with 402 cruise passengers on board and Marella Explorer 2 with 1,701 passengers on board. That means that on that day 6,756 cruise passengers visited Curaçao.