Rough seas and inclement weather threatened to cancel the first ship for the cruise season on St. Croix this morning. However, when the weather conditions improved, Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas successfully berthed at the Ann E. Abramson Marine Facility at 11 a.m. and remained in port until 7 p.m. The ship brought 1,958 passengers and 780 crew members to the shores of Frederiksted, with many of the cruise line’s guests disembarking to explore the treasures of St. Croix.
Today’s ship was the first of 69 scheduled calls for the 2022-2023 cruise season on St. Croix. There are nine ships scheduled for the month of November, with two inaugural calls this week: Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas on Tuesday, November 8 and Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady on Wednesday, November 9. The robust cruise season is attributed to the partnership between the Virgin Islands Port Authority, the Bryan/Roach Administration and the Royal Caribbean Group, which has committed to significantly increasing cruise visitors to St. Croix by 180 percent in comparison to the 50,000 passengers that visited St. Croix in 2019. Complete cruise schedules for the U.S. Virgin Islands are posted on VIPA’s website, www.viport.com.
