As part of a cost-recovery plan, the two cruise ships, Carnival Victory and Caribbean Princess, left yesterday with almost 3,000 people for a four-day cruise around the Caribbean islands.

The ships were leased by the Government to provide accommodation for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The Government-subsidised cruise meant travellers saved thousands of dollars on the trip.

The Carnival Victory, the smaller of the two liners, left empty at midday yesterday, bound for Barbados, where it is expected to pick up its passengers.

The ship will visit St Maarten and Antigua before returning to Barbados and then to Puerto Rico where it is usually docked.

The Caribbean Princess, the main ship for the Summit, left late last night bound for its first stop, Curacao. Passengers will then head to Margarita and spend a day at sea before returning to Trinidad on Friday.

Both ships are handled by local agent Carvallho Agencies, which oversaw yesterday’s boardings.

Operations manager at Carvallho, Andy Beharry, said thousands of locals took advantage of the low sail prices.

’Almost 99 per cent of the passengers are locals,’ he said yesterday.

Beharry said passengers paid $2,400 for an interior room and $4,000 for a balcony room, and though he was unsure what the regular cost of the trip was, an on-line price list revealed that an interior room costs as much as $4,718, while a balcony room costs $7,742.

Nicole du Boulet, manager of public affairs of the Tourism Development Company (TDC), explained that both ships are set to return to their main port in Puerto Rico after these cruises.

Only the Caribbean Princess is expected to return for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November.

Chief executive officer of Carvallho’s Agencies, Charles Carvallho, was unable to say how much was spent to lease the two vessels, but explained that the deal was brokered in Puerto Rico and he was not privy to the figures.