WILLEMSTAD - The newest cruise ship of the cruise line Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), named Norwegian Prima, visited Curaçao on Thursday, October 20, with a total of 2,165 passengers. 

As this is the first visit of this cruise ship to Curaçao, Curaçao Ports Authority (CPA) together with Minister Ruisandro Cijntje of Economic Development, ship's agent Maduro Shipping and the Tourism department were invited for a small inaugural ceremony on board. During this ceremony Captain Roger of the ship spoke alongside Minister Cijntje and CPA pointing out the importance of the cruise industry for Curaçao. 

Minister Cijntje also shared that he just returned from the FCCA Conference in the Dominican Republic where he had a good meeting with Mr. Roy Schulthuis, Director of Government Relations of NCL, who informed him that they are in the process of expanding services to Curaçao and that bookings are going well. The minister stated that there is also continuous work being done here to improve our port and guarantee passengers a memorable experience. This is also why CPA will again invest in the cruise terminal in 2023. 

Norwegian Prima departed New York on October 15th for a 12-day cruise to Puerto Plata, then Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba, Cozumel and ending in Galveston, Texas. 

This is the first ship of the six newest ships Norwegian Cruise Line operates in the "Prima-class" which is the newest class of this cruise line. The Norwegian Prima started operations in August this year. The ship is 299 meters long and weighs 142,500 GT. 

Simultaneously with the Norwegian Prima, the cruise ship Allure of the Seas also visited Curaçao on the same day with 5,602 cruise passengers on board. That means nearly 9,000 cruise passengers were visiting Curaçao that day. 

Anyone who wants to be constantly updated on cruise ship arrival and departure times can download the CPA Cruise app for more information.