POINTE BLANCHE--Three cruise ships have cancelled calls to St. Maarten for Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday due to the passage of hurricane Earl close to St. Maarten early on Monday morning and the possible continuing inclement weather.

Norwegian Epic was due in port on Tuesday, Carnival Dream on Wednesday and Carnival Victory on Saturday, according to ships' agent S.E.L. Maduro and Sons Ltd.

These cancellations set the island's cruise arrival number back by some 10,510 for this week, just when the island was nearing the 1.5 million milestone. Arrival projection for the year from St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies was 1,454,274 cruise passengers before the three cancellations. The new projections will be released after the passing of Hurricane Earl.

St. Maarten hosted its ninth consecutive millionth passenger on Saturday, August 21. A New Yorker from Carnival Victory was randomly selected as the millionth passenger by harbour officials. He received an island tour and lunch for 14 family members and a one-week stay and round trip tickets for St. Maarten for himself and three-four other close family members.

Meanwhile, Harbour CEO Mark Mingo said all safety precautions have been taken at Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities. He said the normal security protocols were followed to protect the property and ensure that the island's port is ready to resume business as soon as the weather and the waves allow the safe berthing of cruise and cargo ships.