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# A Guadeloupe Consultancy Created the Caribbean Business Cruise in 2019. Curaçao Has Now Priced Its Own.
- URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/caribbean-business-cruise-trade-missions-no-published-outcomes-2026/
- Published: 2026-11-11T16:51:20.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-11T16:51:22.000Z
- Description: Isanaja Consulting of Guadeloupe created the Caribbean Business Cruise in 2019 and now runs it with the OECS. Curaçao's private sector association runs its own, and published fares on 20 October for a second sailing from 16 to 26 February 2027: €1,850 per company, plus a cabin from about €1,257.38.
- Author: Theon Alleyne
- Tags: curacao, oecs, Caribbean, Trade, MSME, Business, Beat: trade-market-access, MSME: direct

**Quick summary:** Isanaja Consulting of Guadeloupe created the Caribbean Business Cruise in 2019 and now runs it with the OECS. Curaçao's private sector association now runs its own, and published fares on 20 October for a second sailing from 16 to 26 February 2027: €1,850 per company for the business programme, on top of a cabin from about €1,257.38.

By LCN Business Desk

There is a market in Caribbean trade missions that sail rather than fly, it is seven years old, and it was built in Guadeloupe. Curaçao joined it this year and has now put a price on its second voyage.

## Who created the Caribbean business cruise?

Isanaja Consulting, a Guadeloupe consultancy founded in 2009 by Isabelle Adonis-Flandrina, who is also the overseas delegate of OSCI, the French association of international trade businesses.

The firm created the Caribbean Business Cruise in 2019, and its founder has described the idea as a way for business owners to travel on a trade mission with their families aboard. It has reached a seventh edition, holds a partnership with the OECS Competitive Business Unit, and is among a small number of French private firms to do so. The sixth edition sailed from 8 to 15 March 2026 over Tortola, St Martin, St Kitts, Antigua and Martinique. The seventh is set for March 2027 on a southern route aboard an MSC ship.

The same firm runs a second format. The French West Indies Business Cruise Mission brings buyers from Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Martin to a single island for a day of meetings, first in 2020 and again on 26 February 2024 in Dominica, where it was hosted by the Alliance Française de la Dominique with six Dominican agencies and the OECS as partners.

Registration for the OECS-backed editions runs through Isanaja directly, and invitations have gone out through national channels across the Eastern Caribbean, including Montserrat.

## Is Curaçao's the same programme?

No, and the similar names mislead. Two separate organisations run two separate voyages.

|                      | Caribbean Business Cruise                                   | Curaçao Business Cruise                                                                 |
| -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Run by               | Isanaja Consulting with the OECS Competitive Business Unit  | Vereniging Bedrijfsleven Curaçao with MEO, CINEX and CTB                                |
| Created              | 2019                                                        | 2026                                                                                    |
| Latest editions      | sixth, 8 to 15 March 2026; seventh, March 2027              | first, February 2026; second, February 2027                                             |
| 2026 route           | Tortola, St Martin, St Kitts, Antigua, Martinique           | Barbados, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Antigua, Sint Maarten, Tortola, St Kitts, Saint Lucia |
| Public funding named | OECS 11th European Development Fund, for MSME participation | RVO Support International Business, subject to eligibility                              |

Sources: [OECS pressroom](https://pressroom.oecs.int/oecs-entrepreneurs-set-voyage-on-5th-edition-of-the-caribbean-business-cruise?ref=lacaribenanews.com); ZJB Radio Montserrat for the sixth edition's dates; the organisers' own pages.

The two 2026 sailings were three days apart and crossed the same islands. Every port on the OECS edition's route also appears on Curaçao's longer one, which is less a coincidence than a consequence: these are the ports a commercial Caribbean itinerary already calls at in February. Neither Isanaja nor Adonis-Flandrina appears as a party to the Curaçao mission, which sails on a different line.

Each voyage also draws on a different public purse. The OECS funds MSME participation in its editions through the European Development Fund, while Curaçao's organisers point companies towards the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

## What does a berth cost?

For 2027, a cabin plus a separate fee for the business programme.

| Item                            | Price                                          |
| ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Single occupancy, outside cabin | XCG 4,063.88, about €2,012.82 per person       |
| Double occupancy, outside cabin | XCG 5,077.76 per cabin, about €1,257.38 each   |
| Business matchmaking package    | **€1,850 per company**, additional to the fare |

Source: [CINEX](https://cinex.cw/2026/10/20/2nd-curacao-business-cruise-2027-connect-explore-do-business-across-the-caribbean/?ref=lacaribenanews.com), 20 October 2026\. Fares are described as indicative and subject to confirmation. XCG is the Caribbean guilder, and the euro conversions are CINEX's own.

The second line is what separates this from a holiday on the same ship. The fee covers meeting venues in each market, transfers between the cruise terminal and those venues, company visits, and advice before and during the voyage. A company sharing a cabin therefore pays the lower fare twice over once the programme is added, which puts a two-person delegation close to the cost of a single cabin with no programme at all.

The first mission carried no published fare at all, which leaves the two editions impossible to compare on price. Companies were sent to Corendon with a booking code, no cabin rates were listed, and the figure for the business programme was deferred.

## Where do they sail, and on what?

Curaçao's first mission ran twelve days from Willemstad, calling at eight ports with a day of meetings at each.

| Day | Port                           |
| --- | ------------------------------ |
| 3   | Bridgetown, Barbados           |
| 4   | Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe     |
| 5   | Fort-de-France, Martinique     |
| 6   | St John's, Antigua and Barbuda |
| 7   | Philipsburg, Sint Maarten      |
| 8   | Road Town, Tortola             |
| 9   | Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis |
| 10  | Castries, Saint Lucia          |

Source: the association's own programme page. Days 2 and 11 were at sea; the ship sailed on 21 February 2026 and returned on 5 March.

The 2027 voyage sails from 16 to 26 February and goes to seven markets rather than eight, five of them new: Bonaire, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Barbados, Antigua, Sint Maarten, Tortola and St Kitts drop off, which moves the mission from the northern arc to the south and east.

The delegation sailed on the Renaissance, a ship with four names behind it.

|                        |                                                                                                |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Vessel                 | Renaissance, IMO 8919257                                                                       |
| Built                  | Launched January 1992, completed October 1993, by Fincantieri at Monfalcone, hull 5882         |
| Flag                   | Bermuda, registered at Hamilton                                                                |
| Size                   | 55,575 gross tons, 220 metres, about 1,200 berths, 560 crew                                    |
| Earlier names          | Maasdam, for Holland America Line until 2020; Aegean Myth, for Seajets until 2022              |
| Owner                  | Ambassador Group, majority owned by Njord Partners, minority stake Cheyne Capital              |
| Operator               | Ambassador Cruise Line, whose French arm took the name Ambassador Croisières in September 2026 |
| Marketed in Curaçao by | Corendon                                                                                       |
| Last major refit       | January to March 2025, reported at €15 million                                                 |

Sources: CruiseMapper's vessel record and the ship's documented history for the construction, registry and dimensions; [Ambassador's merger announcement](https://www.ambassadorcruiseline.com/merger-announcement/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) of 9 January 2025 for the ownership; [Cruise Industry News](https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2026/09/cfc-rebrands-as-ambassador-croisieres-announces-expanded-2028-program/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) for the September rebrand. Berth figures range from 1,100 to 1,285 across the operator, its Curaçao seller and ship databases, the spread reflecting a planned reduction in cabins.

An IMO number is the only durable way to name this hull, since it has carried three others. The refit that closed the gap between them cost eight cancelled voyages in early 2025 and brought the machinery, a scrubber and a shore-power connection up to current emissions standards, so the ship a trade delegation boards today is a 1993 Fincantieri hull with 2025 engines.

Its connection to Curaçao predates the mission. The ship carried a Willemstad port of registry briefly in 2020, between its Dutch and Greek owners, and today Willemstad is one of four Caribbean ports it embarks passengers from in winter, alongside Bridgetown, Fort-de-France and Pointe-à-Pitre, each serving a different national market. Corendon sells the Dutch one. Eight business calls in twelve days from a single cabin is affordable because that season already runs and already fills with holidaymakers, so the mission buys into a tourism route rather than chartering a vessel.

## What has come of the voyages so far?

The fullest published account is of the 2024 mission to Dominica, and it records interest rather than concluded business.

Franck Annette, general manager of the Indigo Factory in Martinique, was reported as looking to source Dominican products for his supermarkets in Guadeloupe and Saint Lucia, having recently opened a laundromat in Saint Lucia. Patricia Beauzor and Olivier Adolphe of Mozaik Karaib in Guadeloupe were interested in construction work. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Sainte-Anne invited Dominica's tourism operators to Guadeloupe with a view to formalising trade relationships, and Ludivine Butelet of LB Conformedia looked at bringing hospitality operators the other way. Seven Dominican agro-processors exhibited, from herbal teas to botanical gin, and there was interest in Dominica's capacity to host IT and connectivity work.

[Dominica News Online's report](https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/fwi-business-cruise-mission-facilitates-key-partnerships-and-investments/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) of 12 March 2024 sets out what those amounted to at the time, noting that the tourism sector would benefit if the activities came to fruition. Imanuelle Andrew of Healthy Islander, exhibiting herbal products, put the stage plainly: "what we are doing right now is sharing contact information with them and we'll see where it takes us."

No concluded contract, order value or trade figure has been published for any edition of either programme, on the public record this newspaper can find. Curaçao's export agency carries no account of the first mission. Invest Saint Lucia, which presented to the Curaçao delegation, [published its own report](https://investstlucia.com/invest-saint-lucia-presents-opportunities-at-the-curacao-business-cruise/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) on 6 March 2026, the day after the ship docked, describing the mission's aim to generate commercial opportunities.

Trade missions are not alone in that. [Puerto Valparaíso has scheduled 30 cruise calls for the 2026-2027 season against 24 the season before, with no figure for what any of it earns](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/valparaiso-cruise-calls-25-per-cent-season-no-revenue-figure-2026/). Where the numbers do get published they carry weight: [Global Ports Holding's 30-year concession for Saint Vincent Cruise Port commits not less than US$20 million in phase one and US$60 million in phase two, against the US$19.28 million cruise tourism put into the country in the 2023/2024 cruise year](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/global-ports-holding-saint-vincent-cruise-port-30-year-concession-2026/).

## Key figures

\- **2019.** The year Isanaja Consulting created the Caribbean Business Cruise, seven years before Curaçao's first edition. - **€1,850.** The business matchmaking package for Curaçao's 2027 mission, per company, charged on top of the cabin. - **XCG 4,063.88.** The indicative single-occupancy outside cabin fare, about €2,012.82 per person. - **7.** Curaçao companies in the delegation that sailed on 21 February 2026\. - **8.** Ports that mission called at in twelve days, each hosting a day of meetings. The 2027 voyage visits seven markets. - **IMO 8919257.** The Renaissance, 55,575 gross tons, a 1993 Fincantieri hull in its fourth identity and third ownership era, reportedly re-engined in a €15 million refit in early 2025\. - **3 days.** Between the Curaçao mission docking on 5 March 2026 and the OECS sixth edition sailing on 8 March. - **Nil return.** What seven years of these voyages have yielded in published, concluded business: no contract count, no order value, no trade figure, by either organiser or any partner agency.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What does the 2027 Curaçao Business Cruise cost?

CINEX published indicative fares of XCG 4,063.88 for a single-occupancy outside cabin, about €2,012.82 per person, and XCG 5,077.76 for a double-occupancy outside cabin, about €1,257.38 each. The business matchmaking package is a further €1,850 per company. CINEX notes that fares are subject to confirmation and that support from RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, may be available subject to eligibility.

### What did the 2026 mission cost?

Neither the association nor the export agency published one. Booking went to Corendon under a code issued for the voyage, and the figure for the business programme was left to be announced later. Neither body's site carries a price sheet or flyer for that sailing.

### Where did the first Curaçao mission go?

From Willemstad on 21 February 2026 to Bridgetown, Pointe-à-Pitre, Fort-de-France, St John's, Philipsburg, Road Town, Basseterre and Castries, returning on 5 March. The 2027 mission visits Bonaire, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

### What ship do they sail on?

The Renaissance, IMO 8919257, a 55,575-ton ship with about 1,200 berths, built by Fincantieri and completed in 1993 as Holland America Line's Maasdam. It sailed as Seajets' Aegean Myth from 2020 to 2022 and flies the Bermuda flag. Ownership sits with the Ambassador Group, in which Njord Partners holds the majority and Cheyne Capital a minority stake; Ambassador Cruise Line runs it and Corendon markets it in Curaçao. No ship has been named for 2027, and Isanaja's seventh edition is booked on an MSC ship.

### Is the Curaçao Business Cruise the same as the Caribbean Business Cruise?

No. The Caribbean Business Cruise was created in 2019 by Isanaja Consulting of Guadeloupe and runs with the OECS Competitive Business Unit. The Curaçao Business Cruise is run by the Vereniging Bedrijfsleven Curaçao with Curaçao government agencies, and no connection between Isanaja and the Curaçao mission appears on the public record this newspaper can find.

### What results have the missions published?

The 2024 French West Indies mission to Dominica is the only voyage with a detailed public account, naming interested buyers, a construction firm, tourism officials and seven exhibiting agro-processors. Everything in it sits at the stage of interest. Searches of both organisers, the OECS, the participating agencies and regional press turned up no figure for business concluded on any edition.

### The entities

- **Isanaja Consulting** is the Guadeloupe consultancy, founded in 2009 by **Isabelle Adonis-Flandrina**, that created the Caribbean Business Cruise in 2019 and runs the French West Indies missions.
- **Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)** partners the Caribbean Business Cruise through its **Competitive Business Unit (CBU)**.
- **OSCI** is the French association of international trade businesses, of which Adonis-Flandrina is overseas delegate.
- **Vereniging Bedrijfsleven Curaçao (VBC)** is the private sector association of Curaçao and organiser of the Curaçao Business Cruise.
- **CINEX** is the Curaçao Investment and Export Promotion Agency, which published the 2027 fares, alongside the **Ministry of Economic Development (MEO)**, the **Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB)** and the **Curaçao Manufacturers Association (CMA)**.
- **11th European Development Fund** funds MSME participation in the OECS programme, and **RVO** is the Netherlands Enterprise Agency named for the Curaçao mission.
- **Renaissance** is the ship, IMO 8919257, built by **Fincantieri** and formerly Holland America Line's **Maasdam** and Seajets' **Aegean Myth**. It is owned by the **Ambassador Group**, majority owned by **Njord Partners** with a minority stake held by **Cheyne Capital**, operated by **Ambassador Cruise Line**, whose French arm is now **Ambassador Croisières**, and sold in Curaçao by **Corendon**.
- **Alliance Française de la Dominique** hosted the 2024 Dominica mission, where **Indigo Factory**, **Mozaik Karaib**, **LB Conformedia** and **Healthy Islander** were among the businesses named.