St George’s, Grenada Cruise Ship Port Guide

Cruise ships calling at St George’s, Grenada tie up at the Melville Street Cruise Terminal, slap in the middle of the capital. Smaller ships skip that and dock at the Inner Harbour instead, dropping you right onto The Carenage waterfront. Either way, it’s Grenada’s only cruise port, and the shops, forts and beaches are all close enough to fit into a few hours ashore.

Your cruise documents might call it St George’s cruise port, Saint George Grenada cruise port, or just the St George’s, Grenada cruise port. They all mean the same horseshoe shaped harbour, one that plenty of people rate as the prettiest in the Caribbean, ringed with pastel warehouses and red tiled colonial roofs.

Where do cruise ships dock in Grenada?

The main Grenada cruise port is the Melville Street Cruise Terminal, a purpose built jetty dredged deep enough to take the largest ships in the world. It was built by the St. George’s Newport Property Development Company Ltd, a joint venture between Zublin Grenada Ltd and the Grenada Ports Authority, and opened a little over two decades ago as one of the island’s biggest public-private projects.

Larger ships berth right alongside, so you walk straight through the Esplanade Shopping Mall and into town, no shuttle bus in sight. Smaller ships, including most of the luxury and sailing lines, use the Inner Harbour and land you on The Carenage instead.

The terminal can fit four small ships at once, or two mega ships plus one medium sized one. Any more than that and the extras anchor offshore, tendering passengers in, so build in extra time on the busiest days.

St George’s, Grenada cruise terminal facilities

The terminal itself is small and easy to find your way round, built around a Duty Free Mall that’s open to locals as well as passengers, so don’t be surprised to see St George’s residents browsing the same shops as you. There are roughly 35 shops and ten kiosks selling electronics, jewellery, watches, local crafts, spices and rum.

Getting around from the cruise port in Grenada

Because the cruise port sits right in town, there’s no shuttle needed to reach the streets of St George’s. The Carenage is about a ten minute walk from the terminal, though the ground is hilly and the pavements have seen better days.

• Taxis wait outside the terminal with an ‘H’ on the door and fares set by the government, but agree the price before you climb in anyway.
• The St George’s Bus Terminal is three blocks north on Melville Street, with buses running roughly 7am to 7pm on weekdays for a flat fare that won’t dent the holiday budget.
• A water taxi runs between the Carenage and Grand Anse Beach, and the one way fare is modest enough not to think twice about.
• There’s no Uber or Lyft on the island, so it’s a regulated taxi or the local bus, not an app on your phone.

Things to do near the Grenada cruise port

If you’ve only got a few hours, Grenada’s compact capital and a handful of easy add ons make it simple to fill a morning or a full day without booking a single formal tour.

Fort George, on Grand Etang Road, looks straight back down over the harbour and whatever ships happen to be parked below. Fort Frederick, up on Richmond Hill, looks the other way entirely, over miles of green hills, and its cannons point inland rather than out to sea. The British who finished it were more worried about an attack from behind than one from the water.

No beach is really within walking distance of the terminal, so factor in a short taxi or water taxi ride to Grand Anse, Grenada’s best known stretch of sand. Divers and snorkellers head instead to the Molinière Underwater Sculpture Park, the world’s first underwater art gallery, created by the sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor and reachable on trips run by operators based at Grand Anse. Pack a tube of reef safe sunscreen, since the site sits inside a protected marine reserve.

Further inland, Grand Etang National Park protects 450 acres of rainforest around a volcanic crater lake, with trails, mangrove swamp and mona monkeys who’ll pose for a photo without being asked twice. Grenada sits at the southern end of the wider Windward Islands cruise circuit that plenty of southern Caribbean itineraries follow.

When more than one ship is in port

The Melville Street Cruise Terminal can berth four small ships, or two mega ships plus one medium sized one, at the same time. The busiest day on record had the 4,400 passenger MSC Preziosa and the 3,600 passenger Celebrity Reflection tied up together, and two large ships sharing the port is a regular feature of the season now, not a rare event.

The trouble starts when a third or fourth ship turns up: there’s no room alongside, so the extras anchor offshore and everyone gets ferried in by tender. Those queues eat into your morning, and everyone has the same idea about getting off first.

The fix is simple enough. If you know several ships are in that day, skip tours with a fixed early start and keep your first stop close to the terminal, Market Square or The Carenage, so a slow start off the ship doesn’t cost you the places further out.

Cruise lines and the best time for a Grenada cruise

Grenada is a regular call for Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line and Celebrity Cruises, alongside MSC, Norwegian and Ponant. Smaller luxury and sailing ships, among them Royal Clipper, SeaDream, Windstar, Silversea, Seabourn and Regent, turn up less often, and Star Clippers has started using the 166 guest Star Clipper as a Grenada homeport for a run of upcoming sailings.

The Grenada Tourism Authority publishes a cruise schedule covering roughly autumn through to early summer each season, though it flags that dates can change at short notice, so treat any published call date as a guide rather than a promise. Cruise traffic has grown steadily since the port’s early years, when annual passenger arrivals reached 273,809, still short of the Ports Authority’s medium term target of 300,000, according to the Grenada Ports Authority’s annual report. More recently, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank recorded 181 ship calls at the port in a single year, according to Statista.

Plenty of southern Caribbean itineraries pair a Grenada call with nearby stops such as the turquoise shallows of Tobago Cays in the Grenadines or the historic waterfront of Bridgetown, Barbados, so check the rest of your itinerary before deciding how much time to spend on excursions here rather than just seeing the town.

Money, language and staying safe ashore

The official currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar, pegged at 2.70 to the US dollar, but the US dollar, credit cards and traveller’s cheques all get accepted around St George’s without fuss. English is the official language and runs right through the tourism industry, so there’s no language barrier to worry about.

The US State Department has recently raised its travel advisory for Grenada to Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, pointing to a rise in opportunistic crime such as armed robbery and burglary, and recommends staying alert after dark in particular. Grenada also bans civilians, tourists included, from wearing camouflage clothing, so leave it out of the suitcase.

The town itself is hilly, and the pavements can be steep, broken or missing altogether in places. If mobility is any kind of concern, a taxi beats a walk for some of these stretches. Given the terrain, a decent pair of supportive walking shoes makes a real difference to how far you can comfortably get on foot.

For emergencies, dial 911 for police and fire, or 434 for an ambulance. The Grenada Tourism Authority office in St George’s can also help with general enquiries on +1 473 440 2279.

Common Questions

Is Grand Anse Beach within walking distance of the cruise port?

No. It’s Grenada’s best known beach, but it’s a short ride away rather than a walk. A taxi or the water taxi from The Carenage gets you there in around ten minutes and is by far the easiest way to do it.

Do I need Eastern Caribbean dollars, or is the US dollar accepted?

The US dollar is accepted right across St George’s, along with credit cards and traveller’s cheques, so there’s no real need to change money before you arrive.

Is Uber or another ride share app available in Grenada?

No. There’s no ride share on the island at all, so it’s regulated taxis marked with an ‘H’, or the local bus network from Melville Street.

Can I walk to Fort George or Fort Frederick from the terminal?

Fort George is a manageable uphill walk from town, but Fort Frederick sits around two miles out on Richmond Hill, and the climb makes a taxi the better option.

Do I need to book the Underwater Sculpture Park or Grand Etang in advance?

Not usually, but on days when several ships are in port, boats and taxis fill up fast, so it’s worth agreeing a driver or booking a snorkel trip early.

What’s the emergency number if I need help ashore?

Dial 911 for police and fire, or 434 for an ambulance. The Grenada Tourism Authority office in St George’s can help with anything else.

Is camouflage clothing really banned in Grenada?

Yes. Like several other Caribbean nations, Grenada bans civilians from wearing camouflage print, so it’s best left out of the suitcase altogether.

Can non-cruise visitors shop at the terminal’s Duty Free Mall?

Yes. The mall inside the Melville Street Cruise Terminal is open to everyone, not just passengers, so locals shop there too.

Why Trust About2Cruise

This guide draws on published Grenada Ports Authority development records, Grenada Tourism Authority information and current government travel advisories, rather than secondhand blog posts, so the details on terminal capacity, transport and safety reflect what’s properly documented. You can find out more about how we research and fact check our destination guides on our about us page.