Territory To Welcome Extra Cruise Ship Visits June 19-20

The U.S. Virgin Islands will welcome two additional cruise calls next week, the VI Port Authority said Thursday. 

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Empress of the Seas will visit St. Croix on June 19 and berth at the Ann E. Abramson Marine Facility in Frederiksted at 8:30 a.m. The ship will have aboard 2,270 passengers and crew. It will stay in port until 7:00 p.m. and then sail to St. Thomas to berth at the Austin “Babe” Monsanto Marine Terminal in Crown Bay on June 20, arriving at 7:00 a.m. and departing at 5:00 p.m., the authority said.

V.I.P.A. said the ship’s agent did not provide an explanation for the change in the ship’s itinerary. The authority’s acting executive director, Anise Hodge, said that the visits are enthusiastically welcomed by the territory during the usually slow summer season.  The two visits will also help to slightly offset eight canceled calls by the Symphony of the Seas this season due to propulsion-related mechanical problems, the authority said.