Norwegian Escape To Make Unscheduled Stop To WICO On Wednesday

ST. THOMAS — The West Indian Company Limited announced on Tuesday that the Norwegian Escape has deviated from its scheduled port calls due to inclement weather and will be visiting the WICO dock on Wednesday. The ship is scheduled to arrive at 6:30 am and depart at 5:00 p.m., according to WICO.

Last week, the Virgin Islands Port Authority announced that the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) notified the Virgin Islands Port Authority that mechanical issues with its MS Allure of the Seas cruise ship forced itinerary changes that resulted in five cancelled calls to St. Thomas, V.I.P.A. announced Friday. The port’s executive director, David Mapp, said that the Allure was scheduled to berth at the Austin “Babe” Monsanto Terminal in Crown Bay on the following dates:

20-Sep-2017
18-Oct-2017
15-Nov-2017
13-Dec-2017
12-Jan-2018

V.I.P.A. said it received notice from Frederico Gonzalez-Denton, associate vice president of government relations for RCCL, that these five calls to St. Thomas had been cancelled.

“Mr. Gonzalez-Denton said that the Allure ship has an issue with its propulsion system, which makes it very difficult for the ship to travel to certain distances due to speed restrictions. RCCL was forced to cancel these five calls to St. Thomas and shifted the ship to San Juan, Puerto Rico,” Mr. Mapp said. Mr. Gonzalez-Denton also stated that the ship is scheduled to head to dry dock for repairs.

Mr. Mapp added that he is cognizant that these cancellations will have an adverse effect on the territory’s tourism industry. Therefore, he is arranging a meeting with the cruise line to discuss possible calls to St. Thomas by other RCCL vessels that may be in the region during the period in question. Mr. Mapp is hopeful that additional visits will be added in the future to offset these missed calls.

The Allure of the Seas is one of the world’s largest cruise ships and has the capacity to bring up to 6,296 passengers plus 2,384 crew to the shores of St. Thomas, according to V.I.P.A.