The Carnival Victory will stop making port calls in Antigua in 2010, replacing it with St. Maarten starting with the voyage that departs San Juan on Jan. 3.
"This is a decision we have been contemplating for quite some time," Carnival said in a statement. "We have not modified this southern Caribbean itinerary in the past four years and have a desire to incorporate a new port of call."
Carnival's decision comes less than a month after six Carnival Victory passengers brawled with police officers at the police station in St. John's, Antigua's capital. The tourists from Brooklyn, N.Y., felt they were being overcharged on taxi fare. Then the cabbie drove the tourists to the police station, where the fight broke out.
It turned out that the cab driver was not licensed by the local taxi association.
A trial of the six Carnival passengers is ongoing in Antigua. The tourists are charged with beating police officers, but they dispute the police's version of the incident. The tourists are claiming police brutality and abuse.
Antigua also received much negative press in July 2008, when a Welsh couple was murdered in their vacation cottage at the Cocos Hotel.
The cruise line did not make reference to either incident in its statement about the itinerary change.
The Carnival Victory is the only cruise ship that makes weekly calls in Antigua year-round, visiting the island on Fridays with between 2,800 to 3,000 passengers. The Carnival Freedom calls in Antigua approximately once a month.
The pullout of the Carnival Victory is bad news for taxi drivers and storeowners in St. John's, who have already reported a loss in business because of the brawl and the ensuing negative publicity, according to the Antigua Sun newspaper. One driver quoted in the story cited a drastic decline in cruise passengers taking tours.
An emergency meeting of the Antigua and Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association was scheduled for Friday. Tourism Minister John Maginley was expected to attend.
