Above: Port Castries

By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia’s Port Castries is readying for a big jump in cruise arrivals in the coming season.

The island is slated to receive around 650,000 cruise passengers and 375 ships in the 2014/2015 season, according to the government.

That will include the return of Disney Cruise Lines after an eight-year hiatus. Disney will be making five calls to the island in the upcoming season.

A number of other lines will be returning, including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Windstar and others.

“Saint Lucia has become one of the best performing cruise destinations in the Caribbean and this is no accident,” said Dona Regis, director of marketing and product development. “We continue to work with our industry partners to ensure that passengers and crew receive the warmest welcome at Port Castries and continuously promote Port Castries and Saint Lucia as the ideal cruise destination.”

In the first half of 2014, St Lucia welcomed 364,228 cruise passengers, according to numbers from the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

That represented a 5.4 percent increase over the same period in 2013.