When St. Kitts traded sugar cane for cruise ships in early 2005, few could have predicted ever having a 10,629-passenger day. As it turns out, it took less than 15 years.

With a second cruise pier constructed at Port Zante, the island nations’ once sleepy capital, Basseterre, hosted a four-ship day for the first time last year.

The Anthem of the Seas and the Britannia docked at the original pier while the Celebrity Summit and the Seabourn Odyssey tied up at the new pier. A new arrival area was still under construction so passengers used a concrete walkway to the existing arrival hall.

Prime Minister Timothy Harris was ecstatic.

“This is indeed an historic day for St. Kitts, as never before have we had four larger cruise ships docked at the same time in Port Zante,” Harris said. “We are moving in the right direction,”

There’s a lot to cheer. St. Kitts is the first nation in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to host two 1 million passenger years in a row. They were scheduled to add a third consecutive season-plus this year.

The island has predicted 1,086,844 passengers on 420 calls during the 2019-2020 season prior to COVID-19, with maiden calls from the Coral Princess, the Island Princess, Le Dumont d’Urville, the Marella Explorer II, the Norwegian Bliss, and the Volendam.