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12 13 OPENING LINES ANTIGUA-BARBUDA REASSURES CRUISE LINES OF READINESS FOR INCREASED CRUISE SHIP CALLS A ntigua and Barbuda joined forces with St. Kitts andNevis and St.Lucia in a series of fact-findingmeetings with the region’s major cruise lines.The country’s tourism minister,Asot Michael,alongwith theMinisters of Tour- ism for St.Kitts and St.Lucia,led a delegation of cruise tourismofficials tomeet with several Miami-based cruise lines,including Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL),Carnival Corporation,andNorwegian Cruise Lines (NCL). PrimeMinister of St.Lucia,Allen Chastanet,also used the opportunity to briefly join the first meeting via con- ference call to lend his support to the first of its kind collaborative initiative.The Saint Lucian PrimeMinister also thankedMichael for his proactive leadership and initiative in convening this very important meeting. Themeetings’objectivewas to share information about the post-hurricane health of the ports and des- tination and to seekan update fromeach cruise line on short andmedium termalterations to their cruise itineraries. The Eastern Caribbean destinations verified that theynot onlycollectivelyhad the capacity to fill some short-termberthing gaps caused by the destruction in neighboring ports,but had alreadyput processes in place to ensure that existing berthing booking details are available to each port to ensure that congestion is minimized.