Empress of the Seas
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Empress of the Seas has added two visits to St. Croix to its itinerary — one in February and one in March, the Virgin Islands Port Authority has announced. The ship has notified VIPA that it has changed its schedule and canceled its call to the Austin “Babe” Monsanto Marine Terminal in Crown Bay, St. Thomas on February 13. Instead, the revised itinerary will bring the Empress of the Seas to Crown Bay on February 12 at 8 a.m. with departure at 7 p.m.
The ship will then sail to St. Croix and berth at the Ann E. Abramson Marine Facility in Frederiksted on February 13, arriving at 7 a.m. and departing at 3 p.m. The Empress of the Seas has also scheduled an additional call to Frederiksted on March 25, arriving at 8 a.m. and departing at 6 p.m.
The Empress of the Seas is an Empress-class cruise ship with a passenger capacity of 1,840 guests and 668 crew.
VIPA previously announced two changes to its Frederiksted cruise ship schedule, adding a call from the Empress of the Seas on January 16 and from Holland-America Cruises’ Nieuw Amsterdam on January 22. VIPA Executive Director Carlton Dowe said that he is thrilled to announce more cruise ship visits particularly for the island of St. Croix.
“We welcome every additional cruise ship visit as they bring thousands of passengers to our shores. Increased visits from tourists positively impact the tourist-related businesses, our restaurants, taxi drivers and the territory’s economy overall," Mr. Dowe said.
Cruise ship schedules for the U.S. Virgin Islands are posted on the Seaports section of VIPA’s website: www.viport.com.
