Basseterre St Kitts Port Zante
St Kitts & Nevis

1481 Cruises availables At departure or passage at this port

Azamara Club Cruises (22 Cruises)

Carnival Cruise Line (13 Cruises)

Celebrity Cruises (82 Cruises)

Cruise CEL Celebrity Ship Eclipse

Celebrity Eclipse

2852 Passengers
121878 tons
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Costa Cruises (150 Cruises)

Costa Fascinosa.

Costa Fascinosa

4108 Passengers
114 tons
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Cruise COS Costa Cruises Favolosa ship

Costa Favolosa

4066 Passengers
114500 tons
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Costa Serena.

Costa Serena

3780 Passengers
114500 tons
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Crystal Cruises (28 Cruises)

Crystal Serenity

Crystal Serenity

1395 Passengers
68870 tons
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Cunard (32 Cruises)

Cruise Cunard Queen Mary 2 ship

Queen Mary 2

2691 Passengers
151400 tons
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Emerald Waterways (69 Cruises)

Emerald Kaia.

Emerald Kaia

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Emerald Sakara.

Emerald Sakara

164 Passengers
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Explora Journeys (66 Cruises)

EXPLORA III.

Explora III

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Holland America Line (51 Cruises)

Cruise HAL Holland America Line ms Rotterdam ship

ms Rotterdam

2668 Passengers
99935 tons
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MSC Cruises (205 Cruises)

msc meraviglia cruise ship

MSC Meraviglia

4500 Passengers
167600 tons
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msc opera cruise ship

MSC Opera

2150 Passengers
65591 tons
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MSC World Europa3

MSC World Europa

5400 Passengers
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Norwegian Cruise Line (61 Cruises)

Cruise NCL Norwegian Cruise Line Prima Ship

Norwegian Prima

3099 Passengers
142500 tons
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Oceania Cruises (42 Cruises)

Princess Cruises (108 Cruises)

Cruise PCL Princess Emerald ship

Emerald Princess

3080 Passengers
113561 tons
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Enchanted Princess.

Enchanted Princess

3660 Passengers
145000 tons
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Regent Seven Seas Cruises (38 Cruises)

Royal Caribbean Cruises (75 Cruises)

royal caribbean rhapsody of the seas cruise ship

Rhapsody of the Seas

2040 Passengers
78491 tons
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Seabourn Cruise Line (68 Cruises)

Seabourn Ovation.

Seabourn Ovation

40350 tons
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SeaDream Yacht Club (14 Cruises)

Silversea Cruises (50 Cruises)

Star Clippers (96 Cruises)

Royal Clipper

Royal Clipper

333 Passengers
4425 tons
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Star Clipper

Star Clipper

238 Passengers
2298 tons
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Star Flyer.

Star Flyer

238 Passengers
2298 tons
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Viking Ocean Cruises (26 Cruises)

Virgin Voyages (25 Cruises)

Windstar Cruises (152 Cruises)

Star Legend.

Star Legend

502 Passengers
12995 tons
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Star Pride.

Star Pride

502 Passengers
12995 tons
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Wind Surf

Wind Surf

552 Passengers
14745 tons
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Port of Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis | Cruise Port Guide

From the deck, the conical outline of Mount Liamuiga, a dormant volcano rising 1,156 metres, towers over the entire island of St. Kitts. At its foot, Basseterre spreads out its tin roofs and church spires around a harbour where ships dock directly at the Port Zante terminal. No shuttle needed here: a ten-minute walk is all it takes to go from the duty-free shops on the dock to the bustling streets of the capital, one of the oldest colonial towns in the eastern Caribbean.

The Circus and the City's Memory

The first landmark downtown is the Circus, a circular intersection said to be inspired by London's Piccadilly Circus, with the green cast-iron Victorian clock of the Berkeley Memorial at its centre. Two streets farther on opens Independence Square, once a slave market square, now a public garden lined with Georgian buildings and the Co-Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The old domed Treasury Building houses the national museum; its rooms tell the story of the meeting between the Kalinago people, colonial settlers and workers brought from Africa, the foundation of today's nation.

A Train Through the Cane Fields

St. Kitts lived off sugar until the industry shut down in 2005. What remains is a remarkable legacy: the last railway in the Lesser Antilles. The Scenic Railway boards passengers at Needsmust station, about ten minutes from the terminal, for a loop of nearly 50 kilometres aboard two-level panoramic railcars. Bridges over ravines, villages, mill ruins and cliffs battered by the Atlantic pass by at the slow pace of a train that once hauled cane to the central sugar factory.

Brimstone Hill, the Listed Fortress

About a thirty-minute drive to the northwest, the Brimstone Hill Fortress crowns a volcanic outcrop nearly 240 metres above the sea. Built by British military engineers and enslaved African labour between the 17th and 18th centuries, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its black stone ramparts offer views all the way to the neighbouring islands of Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Martin on a clear day. On the way back, Romney Manor combines a garden centred on a four-hundred-year-old saman tree with the Caribelle Batik workshop, where artisans print fabric using melted wax.

The South of the Island, Between Two Seas

Landscape lovers can take the road to the southeast peninsula, up to the Timothy Hill lookout: the Atlantic on one side, the Caribbean Sea on the other, separated by a narrow isthmus where the coves of Frigate Bay cling to the shore. Several beaches here welcome passengers for an afternoon swim, about fifteen minutes from the terminal. Keep an eye out along the way: green monkeys, introduced during the colonial era and now, according to a local joke, more numerous than the human population, are often spotted along the roadside.

Basseterre Port Call at a Glance

DetailInformation
DockingPort Zante docks, right downtown
Brimstone HillAbout 15 km, 30-minute drive
Scenic RailwayDeparts 10 minutes from the terminal, tour lasts about 3 hours
Currency and languageEastern Caribbean dollar, US dollar accepted; English

One Last Look at the Harbour

By evening, the gangway sits just steps from the last of the day's shopping. Few Caribbean port calls pack so much history into such a small area: a Georgian square, a listed fortress, a century-old train and a volcano as a backdrop. You leave Basseterre with the feeling of having flipped through three centuries in a single day, and a clear idea already forming of what to explore further on your next visit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Right at the Port Zante terminal, with no shuttle. Ten minutes' walk takes you from the duty-free shops on the pier into the busy streets of the capital.
The historic centre on foot — the Circus, Independence Square, the national museum — then either Brimstone Hill or the Scenic Railway. Both in one day is too tight.
A circular junction said to be modelled on Piccadilly Circus, with the Victorian Berkeley Memorial clock at its centre, cast iron painted green. It is the first landmark of the town and the natural starting point for a walk.
A square lined with Georgian houses and the co-cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, now a public garden. It was formerly the slave market square: the national museum, in the domed former Treasury building, tells that history along with the meeting of the Kalinago people, colonists and workers brought from Africa.
The last railway in the Lesser Antilles, inherited from the sugar era. It picks up passengers at Needsmust station, about ten minutes from the terminal, for a loop of nearly 50 kilometres in double-deck panoramic cars: bridges over ravines, villages, mill ruins and cliffs pounded by the Atlantic.
A UNESCO World Heritage citadel about thirty minutes northwest, perched on a volcanic outcrop nearly 240 metres above the sea. Built by British engineers and enslaved African labour between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it looks out to Saba, St Eustatius and St Martin on a clear day.
On the southeast peninsula, about fifteen minutes from the terminal, around Frigate Bay. On the way, the Timothy Hill viewpoint shows the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other, divided by a narrow isthmus.
Probably. Green vervet monkeys, introduced in colonial times, now outnumber the residents according to the local joke, and often appear at the roadside. Keep an eye out on the drive south or up to Brimstone Hill.
An estate on the way back from Brimstone Hill, combining a garden dominated by a four-hundred-year-old saman tree and the Caribelle Batik workshop, where artisans print fabric with molten wax. It is the stop that naturally completes the fortress excursion.
The dormant volcano of 1,156 metres whose conical outline dominates the island from the ship's deck. It is not part of an ordinary call — the climb takes a full day — but it forms the backdrop to everything you will see.