Latest news with #StMaarten
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cunard introduces over 30 new excursions for travellers
Cunard has unveiled more than 30 new shore experiences for guests. The luxury cruise line will offer the excursions as part of its Caribbean Iconic Collection, launching on board Queen Elizabeth during her maiden season from Miami. The experiences, designed to capture the spirit, flavours, and landscapes of the Caribbean, will be available on voyages departing from October 16, 2025. Katie McAlister, president of Cunard, said: "The Caribbean has long been a favourite destination for our guests, and we're pleased to offer a new way to experience these much-loved islands through our Iconic Collection. "These experiences go beyond the usual tourist spots – they're designed to create lasting memories and deeper connections with each place, all with the signature Cunard touch our guests expect." The curated collection features 32 experiences across 12 destinations, including St Lucia, St Maarten, and St Thomas. Highlights include a private catamaran cruise along Antigua's coastline with sushi and barbecue prepared by a Michelin-starred chef, an off-road 4x4 adventure in Barbados ending with a cheese and wine picnic, and a visit to a remote island in Anguilla. READ MORE: Southampton welcomes new SailGP innovation hub supporting elite global racing Cunard has teamed up with local guides to introduce guests to both well-known attractions and lesser-explored locations. Additional experiences include a private tour of Puerto Rico, a hands-on coffee journey in the Dominican Republic, a helicopter escape to Barbuda Belle in Antigua, and a luxury day pass at Scrub Island Resort in Tortola. This season marks the first time Cunard will base a ship in Miami for an entire season. Queen Elizabeth will operate a series of roundtrip Caribbean voyages lasting between 9 and 28 nights, visiting destinations such as Montego Bay, San Juan, and St John's. To book or learn more about Cunard voyages, go to The ship's inaugural Caribbean sailing from Miami departs on October 16. The 12-night roundtrip voyage will include stops at Bridgetown's UNESCO-listed Garrison and the markets of Castries, St Lucia. Fares start at £799 per person based on two sharing a Britannia Balcony stateroom.
New York Times
23-06-2025
- New York Times
Island-Hopping on a D.I.Y. Caribbean Cruise
Monday was designer window-shopping on St. Barts. Tuesday, hiking rugged Saba. Wednesday, the endless summer beaches of Anguilla. All without the crowds from massive cruise ships or the expense of privately chartered sailboats. Somewhere between them lie ferries, offering do-it-yourself island-hopping trips that explore the Caribbean, slow-travel style. In the Leeward Islands, the dual-nation island of Dutch St. Maarten and French St. Martin serves as a transportation hub, welcoming travelers to St. Maarten's busy Princess Juliana International Airport and offering connections to nearby destinations via ferry or flight. The ferry companies offer day trips to visitors on St. Maarten who find themselves tantalizingly close to chic St. Barts or spy distant Saba on the horizon. 'You can leave one island and get four or five stamps in your passport,' said Malinda Hassell, the director of tourism for Saba, a Dutch Caribbean island. 'That's what makes this area unique.' Testing the premise from a base in St. Maarten with my friend Anne Marie, I created my own spring cruise, ferrying to French St. Barts, mountainous Saba and beachy British Anguilla. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
01-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Revealed: Sir Lindsay Hoyle splurged nearly £5,500 of taxpayers' cash on private planes during a Caribbean tour to paradise islands
Sir Lindsay Hoyle splurged nearly £5,500 on private planes during a Caribbean tour, it can be revealed. The Commons Speaker used more taxpayers' money to charter three planes to hop between the paradise islands of St Maarten, Montserrat, Anguilla and Antigua. It was part of a week-long jaunt which included a two-night 'official visit' to Montserrat to meet his counterpart on the island. It also included a four-night stay in Anguilla to attend the Conference of Speakers of the UK House of Commons and Overseas Territories. In total, Sir Lindsay spent more than £100,000 of taxpayers' cash 'sponsoring' the conference. While it was reported during the 2023 trip Sir Lindsay travelled there by private plane and stayed in hotels costing up to £900 a night, it was not known that he had chartered three private planes while in the Caribbean or that he went to St Maarten and Antigua – neither being on the trip docket. The Daily Mail had fought for further details of the trip that previously were not spelled out in Sir Lindsay's official log, via Freedom of Information requests. The private plane from St Maarten to Montserrat cost £2,350. From Montserrat to Anguilla and then from there to Antigua cost £1,500 each for Sir Lindsay and three officials. The newly discovered flights come to a total of £5,350 of taxpayers' cash. A complete bill of £101,552.60 was splurged on throwing the speakers' conference so eight of Sir Lindsay's counterparts and 30 delegates could attend – with £47,962.43 spent on flights. He also handed the National Assembly of Anguilla a £50,000 'organising grant' to prepare for the conference. It comes amid growing questions about the scale of Sir Lindsay's travel expenses, which have surged past £300,000 since he became Speaker in 2019. He has taken his wife on several trips along with up to four staff. On his latest jaunt to Malaysia in the middle of February, he spent more than £25,000 on business-class flights, hotels and restaurants for him and staff. John O'Connell, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Taxpayers will be livid that they have to pick up these sky-high bills for private planes. Getting government business overseas done quickly is one thing, but continuing to stump up for politicians with a taste for the good life is quite another. 'Politicians have to cut out unnecessary spending and treat taxpayers with the respect they deserve.' Former Tory cabinet minister David Jones said: 'To spend money on three chartered aircraft flights in the Caribbean, at a time when the people of this country were suffering greatly as a consequence of the massive increase in the cost of living, is turning a tin ear to public sentiment. It shouldn't be happening. 'It's a very nice jolly in the Caribbean, but to hire private planes to cruise around is not a good look. It's just not acceptable.' Referring to the fact that Sir Lindsay was a Labour MP before becoming the Commons Speaker, he added: 'Given how Labour are whacking up taxes at the moment, the old 'champagne socialist' jibe has come true. 'I voted for Sir Lindsay Hoyle for a change from [former Commons Speaker] John Bercow, because I thought he'd be a refreshing change. But I don't see much difference.' The Speaker's Office said one reason details of the private planes were not listed in his official travel expenses log was because some of the costs were allocated to the Clerk of the House, while some were included in the overall budget for sponsoring the conference. They said he flew via St Maarten and then chartered a private plane for the Montserrat 'official visit' because there were no direct flights.
Forbes
30-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Ways The Travel Industry Is Addressing Our Climate Crisis
Tourism is not just a victim of climate crisis, it is also one of the heaviest contributors to the problem. We have covered the effects of flying and actions to improve the climate crisis in a previous post. Now we'll give examples of what the tourism industry is doing in other areas of tourism to help visitors maximize the positive and minimize the negative impacts of their trips. Creating More Efficient Cruising Cruise ships use fuel to stay running 24/7, have a significant carbon footprint, and dump wastewater into the oceans. They burn fossil fuels to power their engines and generate electricity, which releases greenhouse gases and other air pollutants into the atmosphere. These emissions can contribute to climate change and have negative health impacts on people living near ports. Philipsburg, St. Maarten: A.C. Wathey Pier easily becomes a busy and crowded pier when numerous ... More cruise ships are in port for the day. Also, noise pollution can have an impact on marine life, and problems are caused by large amounts of tourists arriving for short stays in ecologically fragile ports and exotic destinations. The cruise industry is trying to make things better and more sustainable. More cruise ships are harboring outside of crowded ports, and staying a longer time. Significant initiatives are ongoing to improve the impact of cruising, and reduce its carbon footprint, from increased efficiencies in design and greener fuels to better scrubbing and filtration. There is even a zero-waste cruise ship being developed in Japan. Cruise lines are doing work on sustainability, environmentalism, and impact on the wider world. There are no official sustainability ratings for cruise vacations, and while there are numerous reports, statistics, and claims, none are 100% reliable or 100% unbiased. Reading these reports alongs with your own research can give you a decent idea of which cruise ships are doing the most to reduce their impact. Greening Hotels Lodgings contribute about one percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. New hotels are becoming more aware of the ways they can improve their greenness. A hotel that is a model would be plastic bottle-free, anti-fossil fuel, and powered entirely by renewable energy. Door frames, light fixtures, and even tile would be reuseable. Guest rooms would be decorated with locally made furnishings and upholstered in sustainably sourced fabrics. When the Hotel Marcel opened in New Haven, Connecticut in May 2022, it checked all those green boxes as part of a mission to be the U.S'.s first net-zero carbon-emissions hotel. But it missed one huge consideration: embodied carbon in the hotel's construction. New hotels will have to take that into account as well. Event space in the award-winning "Green" hotel Marcel. Adapting To and Protecting Nature Travel businesses and destinations are slowly changing how they operate, to lead travelers to experience places and activities differently. Lack of snow? Canada's Whistler ski resort has responded to this by offering more snow-free activities – so much so that it now makes more money in summer. Downhill mountain biking in Garbanzo zone in Whistler bike park. Solar panels are being installed in West Africa's Cape Verde. The Seychelles islands off East Africa have added conservation guidelines to the national constitution – the first time a country has done so. Adaptations such as seawalls, pumps and changes in construction materials are being considered. Tour companies are becoming more aware. Ziptrek Ecotours is the first adventure outfitter in Queenstown, New Zealand, to offer consumer-facing labeling to show customers what their emissions would be, when selecting among competing zipline tours. (But then again, nobody gets to New Zealand without taking a long-haul flight.) will soon show carbon emission listings on flight and hotel results, allowing travelers to filter lower carbon emission results from a range. Iberostar Group released its own ambitious decarbonization roadmap which is partly marketing (it wants 60 percent of guests to choose the brand for its sustainability actions by 2025) and partly action (a 2030 net zero goal and nature-based carbon compensation projects at its 97 resorts across four continents). The Netherlands is considering an eco-efficiency index of its visitors. This means dividing the amount of revenues a tourist brings in by the amount of carbon dioxide emissions the tourist triggered traveling there. That index would indicate which long-haul market the government should direct marketing dollars toward to help reduce emission impacts. Offering Free Public Transport Luxembourg was the first country to offer free public transport for all in 2020, followed by Malta, and scores of other destinations now offer discounted or free public transport. Free public transportation is popular in many cities. In Miami, trolleys and the downtown Peoplemover monorail are free. In 2022, Germany has the Deutschlandticket scheme, offering passengers unlimited travel on buses, trams and regional trains for about fifty dollars a month. Developing Sleeper Trains In 2025, Europe's sleeper train network has been enjoying a renaissance. The continent's expanding offering of nocturnal routes aims to compete with short-haul flights on speed, cost, comfort and climate impact. The European Union has plans to double high-speed rail traffic by 2030 and link all major cities in the bloc. The overnight train amsterdam innsbruck, operated by Night Jet, a brand name given by the Austrian ... More Federal Railways Nightjet operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. Also, employers are signing up for movements such as Climate Perks, which gives employees more holiday if they travel by train. Approving Staycations, Remote Working, Workations About 60 countries have embraced the idea of working from anywhere through 'digital nomad' visas. These allow people to work remotely from dozens of countries, enabling them to embrace slower travel and really get to know a destination. (My family did this last year in Spello Italy. This year we're renting a house near the Erie Canal in western New York.) Huge numbers of workers now work from home throughout the world. As of May 2023, 39 per cent of United Kingdom workers said they regularly work from home, with many taking 'workations' (working while away on holiday). Combating Over-Tourism Tour companies are going out of their way to introduce new, less crowded destinations. The majority of trips booked through Byway are in areas that aren't hotspots. Companies like Original Travel now sell trips to lesser-visited areas in France, Spain, Italy and Greece. 'We've made it our mission to tackle the scourge of overtourism, where too many tourists descend on too few destinations, in the process risking what made these precious places so special in the first place,' says co-founder Tom Barber. But Much More Needs to Be Done The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism was introduced by the U.N.'s World Tourism Organization at the 2021 conference. The declaration, originally signed by more than 300 travel companies, nonprofit organizations and government agencies, now has almost thousand signatories. It was supposed to 'secure strong actions and commitment from the tourism sector' and 'accelerate climate action.' Participating travel organizations would disclose greenhouse gas emissions; take steps to decarbonize; restore and protect natural ecosystems; and collaborate to ensure best practices. The two core commitments: Within 12 months of signing the accord, entities would create and submit a public 'climate action plan' that outlined specific actions they would take to reduce emissions. And second, signatories would halve their emissions before 2030, in order to get on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The signatories are large and small — hotels, local governments, travel agencies and others — and range from big names like Expedia Group and Radisson Hotels to location-specific groups, like the Great Himalaya Trail and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. But the vast majority of tourism players haven't signed on, including major aviation companies. And most cruise lines have steered clear of the declaration. Most organizations that did sign on have not yet published climate action plans. In other words, nearly three-fourths of the entities haven't delivered what they promised. And there's no enforcement. Key issues remain unresolved. Signatories pledged to halve emissions, but efforts are hard to quantify. While individually some of the signatories have begun to shrink their own carbon footprints, there is no broad evidence as yet that the travel industry's emissions have diminished. Global emissions, meanwhile, are still on the rise. 2030 is five years away, so any requirement in reporting emission-level reductions has not yet hit the deadline. A report from Intrepid Travel, entitled, 'A Sustainable Future for Travel: From Crisis to Transformation,' encourages the industry to act now to ensure its future. It's a blueprint of what can and should be done by the tourism industry to deal with climate change. It provides hope for what could be, nudging the travel industry toward a more environmentally friendly future. I recently spoke about travel and climate change at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Check out the discussion on my YouTube channel Places I Remember: Travel Talk with Lea Lane. Also, for all travel topics, check out my award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane. T
Associated Press
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Soul Beach Music Festival Will Return to St. Maarten Next Week After 30 Years
SIMPSON BAY, St. Maarten--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 2025-- The St. Maarten Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport & Telecommunications (TEATT), Port St. Maarten Group and Princess Juliana International Airport are proud to welcome Soul Beach Music Festival back to St. Maarten next week, decades after its inception on the island . The iconic Soul Beach Music Festival is returning to its roots May 21-26, to celebrate its 23rd anniversary with performances by award-winning artists including Charlie Wilson, Muni Long, Cedric the Entertainer and more. Soul Beach Music Festival originated in St. Maarten as Sinbad Soul Music Festival in 1995 - as an HBO special - before relocating to Miami and then Aruba. Since then, the festival has evolved into a multi-day experience, bringing together residents and visitors for a vibrant celebration of culture and entertainment with iconic artists performances throughout the years, including Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Usher and Earth, Wind & Fire. By returning to its native soil in this full-circle moment, Soul Beach Music Festival's goal is to support the island's local economy by encouraging visitors to explore the wonders of St. Maarten. With venues spread across the island, festival goers will get a taste of St. Maarten's vibrant soul, from its pristine beaches, world-class cuisine, and blend of immersive experiences. Mark Adkins, CEO and executive producer of Soul Beach Festival, said, 'This year is both a nostalgic tribute to our past and an inspiring glimpse into the future for our many newbies, fueled by the energy that is St. Maarten.' 'The return of the Soul Beach Music Festival is a significant milestone for St. Maarten, reinforcing our island's status as a premier destination. What began with about 60% room capacity has now grown to 85–100% occupancy island-wide — a clear sign that we've not only revived the festival, but elevated it. This event boosts economic growth, supports local businesses, and brings together visitors and residents for a safe, vibrant celebration of culture and entertainment. Hosting Soul Beach so many years after its inception right here in St. Maarten is both nostalgic and meaningful — and I am proud to say: mission accomplished,' said Grisha Heyliger-Marten, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication. Additional sponsors for the festival include Divi Little Bay Beach Resort, Oceans at Divi Little Bay, JW Marriott St. Maarten Beach Resort & Spa, Sonesta Maho Beach Resort Casino & Spa, Sonesta Ocean Point Resort, Simpson Bay Resort Marina & Spa, The Morgan Resort & Spa, Oyster Bay Beach Resort, Jennifer's Vacation Rentals and Hertz. For more information, please visit and follow @SoulBeachMusic. About St. Maarten The charismatic, intercultural Caribbean island nation of St. Maarten welcomes curious visitors inspired to renew their passion for life via nature-immersive, wellness, and experiential travel opportunities. Occupying the southern part of the island it shares with French overseas territory Saint Martin, the beloved, Dutch-owned Caribbean destination offers inspirited travelers one of the region's most diverse menus of intercultural experiences -- a coveted hub where quintessential island vibes meet incomparable Caribbean cosmopolitan flair -- inclusive of the color-laden capital of Philipsburg, serene lagoons, 37 sundry beaches, fascinating salt pans, and beyond. From the snorkeler to the shopper, from the surfer to the foodie, from the thrill seeker to the history enthusiast, in St. Maarten, all lifestyles find their place under the sun. For more information, please visit View source version on CONTACT: Media Contact Diamond Public Relations [email protected] T: +1 305 854 3544 KEYWORD: LATIN AMERICA CARIBBEAN SAINT MARTIN INDUSTRY KEYWORD: DESTINATIONS TRAVEL VACATION MUSIC CELEBRITY EVENTS/CONCERTS TOURIST ATTRACTIONS ENTERTAINMENT SOURCE: St. Maarten Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/19/2025 10:14 AM/DISC: 05/19/2025 10:13 AM
