Government 'extremely disappointed' by cruise ship cancellations

The 
Ministry of Transport generally finalizes cruise applications 12-18 months in
 advance of the actual sailings and the 12 Carnival cruises for 2012 were 
approved in late 2010. Carnival was notified of the approval soon after they
 applied for the berths.

The Hon. Terry Lister, J.P. M.P, Minister of Transport said: “We were
 surprised to only learn of the cancellations on Wednesday. This has put us in a unfortunate position for next year, because it will be 
difficult to find suitable replacement ships at such a late date."

Ministry of Transport officials are attempting to gain clarification from Carnival concerning
 the late notice of cancellations while also working to find alternative ships 
for the available slots.

Minister Lister added: “We are extremely disappointed by this late
 notification by Carnival Cruise Lines, but we will make every attempt to fill
 some of the empty berths with ships from other cruise lines. It is highly
 unusual for cancellations to occur so close to the beginning of the season."