Tuesday 17 October 2017

Cruises to St. Thomas to resume in November.

© Ricardo Arduengo, AP A man walks past debris caused
 by Hurricane Irma in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, 
U.S. Virgin Islands, on Sept. 10, 2017. 
The storm ravaged such lush resort islands as St. Martin, 
St. Barts, St. Thomas, Barbuda and Anguilla.

Cruise ships will begin returning to St. Thomas on Nov. 10, less than two months after the island was devastated by hurricanes Irma and Maria.  

The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands on Monday said Royal Caribbean's 3,114-passenger Adventure of the Seas would be the first cruise vessel to visit the island since the arrival of the back-to-back storms. St. Thomas is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Irma and Maria caused widespread damage across St. Thomas, knocking out power, ripping roofs from homes and stripping foliage from vegetation. At least one reporter who visited the island in the days after Irma hit said it looked like a conflict zone.  

But the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands has been racing to restore the territory's top tourist areas so it can reopen to visitors. Tourism accounts for an out-sized portion of the Virgin Islands economy, and the livelihoods of thousands of Virgin Islands residents are dependent on a quick return of visitors, officials have said.

Cruise ship visits, in particular, are a major driver of the Virgin Islands economy. 

"Welcoming cruise visitors back to the U.S. Virgin Islands is key to our economic recovery," tourism commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty said in a statement released Monday. 

Royal Caribbean on Monday said it was working with the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to restore Magens Bay, a famed beach area on St. Thomas, in time for Adventure of the Seas' arrival on Nov. 10. Magens Bay is one of the biggest draws for cruise tourists.  

Royal Caribbean also said most downtown shops, restaurants and bars as well as tour operators would be fully operational when Adventure of the Seas arrives. Among tours that will be available to passengers are boat and catamaran excursions around the island and trips to area beaches, the line said.  

In addition to returning to St. Thomas on Nov. 10, Royal Caribbean on Monday said it was committed to resuming cruise calls at the hurricane-ravaged islands of Puerto Rico and St. Maarten by the end of November.  

By Dec. 1, all scheduled calls to the three islands will operate as planned, Royal Caribbean said. 



By Gene Sloan.

Culled from MSN News.

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