Heavy Port Construction?

Trying to figure out what's going on with this port. Last summer Royal Caribbean canceled all of the Anthem of the Seas' stops here for the 2016-2017 season. They claimed that the port's construction was behind schedule and that the state of the heavy work in the port would make even tendering into it an impossibility. I've yet to be able to find any article announcing enhancements to the ports or anyone mentioning construction. Large ships like the Adventure of the Seas, Norwegian Breakaway, and Royal Princess continue to make routine stops here though and seem to be a bit larger than a tender. Has anyone seen any kind of construction at the port or have any idea what's going on? As of yesterday Royal Caribbean is still sticking to their story of the port being under construction, forcing them to cancel all stops there. The 2017-2018 itineraries still list her as going though.

I was in St. Lucia last year, and I remember seeing a ton of soot when coming into port/leaving port.

I would think that St. Lucia needs to dredge a bit. Smaller ships are probably OK going into port.

I was in St. Lucia last year, and I remember seeing a ton of soot when coming into port/leaving port.

 

I would think that St. Lucia needs to dredge a bit. Smaller ships are probably OK going into port.

That's what I was thinking, Royal Caribbean's answer has just been throwing everyone a bit. Especially the response to tendering. Anthem and Breakaway are nearly the same size, except Anthem needed dredging to get into Bermuda.

Trying to figure out what's going on with this port. Last summer Royal Caribbean canceled all of the Anthem of the Seas' stops here for the 2016-2017 season. They claimed that the port's construction was behind schedule and that the state of the heavy work in the port would make even tendering into it an impossibility. I've yet to be able to find any article announcing enhancements to the ports or anyone mentioning construction. Large ships like the Adventure of the Seas, Norwegian Breakaway, and Royal Princess continue to make routine stops here though and seem to be a bit larger than a tender. Has anyone seen any kind of construction at the port or have any idea what's going on? As of yesterday Royal Caribbean is still sticking to their story of the port being under construction, forcing them to cancel all stops there. The 2017-2018 itineraries still list her as going though.

There's no port construction going in this season, beyond normal maintenance.. All of those ships mentioned, along with Carnival, Costa, P&O, etc all port here weekly with no problems. Whatever reason RCI has for not bringing Anthem is not the port itself...

we were supposed to go there this past January and instead went to Martinique,we are scheduled for the same itinerary on the Anthem next January and would love to know whether we will go or not, so that we can plan excursions.

we were supposed to go there this past January and instead went to Martinique,we are scheduled for the same itinerary on the Anthem next January and would love to know whether we will go or not, so that we can plan excursions.

That's the confusing part. They changed all of this year's sailings claiming port construction that was to severe for the port to be used. Yet their is no report of construction. If it's really a limitation because of the ships size and their is still no construction going on how likely will next year's stops be?

I would like to know as well if Anthem will make it to St. Lucia Jan. 2018

I was at Castries in January of this year aboard Nieuw Amsterdam. I saw no special port construction taking place.

Anybody have any further updates or information regarding the dredging project at Port Castries?

Evidently, RCI's larger ships were not able to dock because the water wasn't deep enough per RCI's standards.

The July 28, 2017 article in a St. Lucia online paper says that RCI's "Adventure of the Seas" is now able to dock in port and will do so for the rest of the cruise season.

Port of Castries Article:

https://www.stlucianewsonline.com/good-news-adventure-of-the-seas-returns-to-port-castries/

FYI - We're scheduled to dock in St. Lucia on Oct. 11.