Royal Caribbean and Carnival to build new St. Lucia cruise pier

[mahdnc]

The new cruise pier is to be built on the southern tip of the island at Vieux Fort.

 

Caribbean Journal: Royal Caribbean, Carnival to Build New Saint Lucia Cruise Port

 

 

 

[rollie]

I wonder when they expect to finish this project.

 

Rollie

[ipeeinthepool]

1 hour ago, rollie said:

I wonder when they expect to finish this project.

 

Rollie

 I'm sure the will be working on island time.

[Fouremco]

The most interesting part of this news in my view is the possibility that the cruise port could be "a potential homeport for Southern and Eastern Caribbean-focused ships". We've enjoyed several land vacations there, and have visited on many cruises, so the thought of combining the two is very appealing. A week in an AI followed by a week's cruise (or vice versa) would be terrific.

[CruisingWalter]

I found this article very interesting as we just visited St. Croix a month ago aboard the Equinox.  During our food tour our host was excited to tell us that only about 40 cruise ships per year visit the island compared to about 30 cruise ships per week in some of the more busy Caribbean islands during busy season.  She said they like that the island is not overgrown to keep up with the cruise tourism.

 

Royal Caribbean (Celebrity's owner) and Carnival have signed an agreement to improve the existing port and build a new pier. "Additionally, the joint venture would design, finance, construct and operate a new cruise port in Vieux Fort on the southern part of the island that will be able to accommodate the latest and most innovative ships in the cruise industry, the companies said."

 

"latest and most innovate" is cruise speak for "larger and even larger ships."

 

We've cruised the Caribbean 10 times and this last one was the first time we visited St. Croix. Expect it to start appearing on more itineraries soon.

 

https://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/285183/carnival-royal-caribbean-sign-saint-lucia-deal/

 

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Host Carolyn

[hcat]

interesting news. It could certainly use an upgrade as a port.

 

For us St Croix was a one and done.  Very disappointing!

The pier area was run down,...long walk off the ship to the town,,,.no real stores, one or two bars ..a few  kiosks near the pier and  a beach close by. There is a historic fort  there in Fredrikstad that looked like it was falling down

 

We took a ship's  excursion to snorkel on the other side of the island  to Buck Island, which  involved a long  but not very scenic bus ride... Our  snorkel boat was located in  Christianstad,  that city was in better shape but still kind of tired looking,  It did have more  stores, eateries and historic bldgs...but did not really impress us.  The snorkel  boat  and crew were top notch  but the snorkel area was a bit of a ways off shore in  rough water and the trail was fairly narrow between  the coral.  We did not complete the trail.

 

The bus  ride home went past defunct refineries...kind of depressing.

 

Other cruisers  went to  resorts  and had a great time and wanted to buy time shares/condos..Maybe we just picked wrong  but we  would not rush back!

Edited October 23, 2019 by hcat

[BaumD]

St. Croix?????  You better re-read the article as the new pier is being added in St. Lucia, a few hundred miles away from St. Croix.

[EatonDoolittle]

Ummm...the new port is planned in St Lucia, not St Croix.  Big difference.

 

On the St Lucia board, regular contributor and local resident ReedPrincess indicates that it has been discussed for over 10 years, and that is will probably not be in play for some time. 

 

I agree with the Crucian natives, and hope that St Croix will not try and rival its neighbor St Thomas. 

Edited October 23, 2019 by EatonDoolittle

[CruisingWalter]

5 minutes ago, BaumD said:

St. Croix?????  You better re-read the article as the new pier is being added in St. Lucia, a few hundred miles away from St. Croix.

Whoops, I thought it said St. Croix.  St Lucia makes more sense actually!

[hcat]

 

BIG OOPS.,.l

Guess I flunked  reading 101...I read St Croix  in the title and post and never clicked on the article itself.. so  it seems St Croix will not be upgraded.. maybe the moderators should fix this thread?????

 

St Lucia makes more sense  but we actually enjoyed  the area where we docked ....out of the main city...had a few cute stores with lical crafts, and a great  bar/ restaurant.  For us if was all about the Pitons!

[CruisingWalter]

Yeah I don't know how to change the post title or have it deleted.  sorry for the mistake.

[Fouremco]

28 minutes ago, creativegenius said:

Yeah I don't know how to change the post title or have it deleted.  sorry for the mistake.

Ask the mods to merge it with the concurrent thread on the same subject.

[amunhbuu]

21 hours ago, Fouremco said:

The most interesting part of this news in my view is the possibility that the cruise port could be "a potential homeport for Southern and Eastern Caribbean-focused ships". We've enjoyed several land vacations there, and have visited on many cruises, so the thought of combining the two is very appealing. A week in an AI followed by a week's cruise (or vice versa) would be terrific.

 

Interesting thought.  What about the flight differences coming from the US?  I have found even going to San Juan is significantly more expensive and time consuming than flying down to FLL/MIA.  In some cases, it is more effective to take a 10/11 day cruise out of Florida than fly down to SJU for a 7 day cruise.

[PelicanLvr]

34 minutes ago, amunhbuu said:

 

Interesting thought.  What about the flight differences coming from the US?  I have found even going to San Juan is significantly more expensive and time consuming than flying down to FLL/MIA.  In some cases, it is more effective to take a 10/11 day cruise out of Florida than fly down to SJU for a 7 day cruise.

But the Big advantage is not having 4 sea days (2 down and 2 back) needed for a Florida departure.  Some love sea days....4 is too many for us.

 

We love the SJU based Summit cruises and would welcome more ships home-ported in the Caribbean.   You spend the entire cruise in the beautiful tropical weather!

[amunhbuu]

5 minutes ago, PelicanLvr said:

But the Big advantage is not having 4 sea days (2 down and 2 back) needed for a Florida departure.  Some love sea days....4 is too many for us.

 

We love the SJU based Summit cruises and would welcome more ships home-ported in the Caribbean.   You spend the entire cruise in the beautiful tropical weather!

I agree it is all about what you want.  We do the summit cruises out of SJU quite a bit.  But there are a lot of times I weigh in the full day of travel and more hotel / meal costs vs. the direct flight to Florida.

 

Every time I look at flights to some of the further islands (St. Marteens, Barbados, Martinique, St. Thomas) so I can try some other smaller cruise lines, I shake my head at the cost / logistics of getting down there.  🙂

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, amunhbuu said:

 

Interesting thought.  What about the flight differences coming from the US?  I have found even going to San Juan is significantly more expensive and time consuming than flying down to FLL/MIA.  In some cases, it is more effective to take a 10/11 day cruise out of Florida than fly down to SJU for a 7 day cruise.

I can't comment about US prices, as I live in Canada, but the price differential isn't that much from here, certainly not enough to deter us. As I said earlier, we've done land holidays in St. Lucia several times, and while flight time is longer than to FLL, I consider travel days to be lost days anyway, so a bit more time in the air isn't a big deal. While I might not fly that far for just a 7-day cruise, a 14-day cruise and resort holiday is a different matter.

[NMTraveller]

I do not view more cruise ships at a destination as a plus.  The fewer the better the experience.

 

The Pitons were nice.

Edited October 24, 2019 by NMTraveller

[kag19]

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 11:08 AM, Fouremco said:

The most interesting part of this news in my view is the possibility that the cruise port could be "a potential homeport for Southern and Eastern Caribbean-focused ships". We've enjoyed several land vacations there, and have visited on many cruises, so the thought of combining the two is very appealing. A week in an AI followed by a week's cruise (or vice versa) would be terrific.

 

I think that is a fabulous idea!  We have wanted to do a week at an AI on St. Lucia for years but combining it with a week on a cruise would be an even better idea!

[Tatka]

I wish it was closer to Pitons.

Also people won't be able to use tours like Cosol from there...

[Luvcrusn]

18 minutes ago, Tatka said:

I wish it was closer to Pitons.

Also people won't be able to use tours like Cosol from there...

I think those tour operators will adjust and add tours from there, it'll be a nice source of income for them. I think they'll go where the opportunities are.

[volk904]

We were fortunate a few years ago after the Hurricanes damaged St. Thomas are Cruise on the Sunmit went to St Crox instead.  Glad we got to visit.  

 

Interesting news for St Lucia.  Great island to visit but it is so far South it does not pick up traffic from the 7 day Fl cruises.   I would like to see them try some 8 day cruises that drop PR and pick up some Some Southern Ports like St Lucia.  

[boscobeans]

22 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I do not view more cruise ships at a destination as a plus.  The fewer the better the experience.

 

The Pitons were nice. DID YOU SEE THEM ON AN EXCURSION OR FROM A SHIP???

From the looks of the town I don't think it could handle more than one ship at a time and if it did it would be several years down the line with major improvements and money from both the cruise lines and government of St. Lucia as well.

 

It would be interesting to find out if there were cruises that visited Vieux Fort. I don't think I have ever seen it listed on any itinerary..??

I would love to hear from past passengers about their experience.  

 

The only time we ever came within viewing distance to the PITONS from a ship and not on an excursion was on a Holland America cruise to Islands to the South of St. Lucia

[NMTraveller]

Excursion

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, boscobeans said:

The only time we ever came within viewing distance to the PITONS from a ship and not on an excursion was on a Holland America cruise to Islands to the South of St. Lucia

I don't know if they still offer it, but Holland America also used to offer a shore excursion starting in Castries and finishing in Soufrière. At the end of the day, the ship would depart Castries and cruise down to Soufrière to tender aboard the passengers from the excursion, then continue on past the Pitons. Unfortunately, only those who paid for that excursion were allowed to reboard in Soufrière, so you couldn't arrange a DIY excursion finishing there.

[NMTraveller]

On 10/25/2019 at 7:27 AM, boscobeans said:

From the looks of the town I don't think it could handle more than one ship at a time and if it did it would be several years down the line with major improvements and money from both the cruise lines and government of St. Lucia as well.

 

It would be interesting to find out if there were cruises that visited Vieux Fort. I don't think I have ever seen it listed on any itinerary..??

I would love to hear from past passengers about their experience.  

 

The only time we ever came within viewing distance to the PITONS from a ship and not on an excursion was on a Holland America cruise to Islands to the South of St. Lucia

 

There were at least 2 cruise ships in port and possibly 3.  Adding a 3 or 4th would diminish the experience.  It would be good for the town economically but not good for the tourist.