Dear Reader
So we managed to steal Disney back from the BVI?
We must commend the young, aggressive, take-no-no style approach to pushing the 'St. Maarten Is Open For Business' agenda to the cruise line operators. It is a dog-eat-dog world down here in the Caribbean and the competition for cruise tourists is tough. So no Mister-Nice-Guys attitude from us St. Maarteners to the rest of the other cruise destinations out there. We aim to take back all the cruise business we lost.
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI
- The Virgin Islands being “back on its feet and open for business” brand by Premier and Minister of Finance Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL) is not being bought by everyone, including a major cruise line that will not be heading to these ports until April of next year.
The move by Disney Cruise Line (DCL) is being seen in some quarters as a blow to the already frail economy of the Virgin Islands following the two Category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria in September.
Disney Cruise Line announced to its booked customers today, December 4, 2017 that they will be returning to the Eastern Caribbean, but with a slightly altered itinerary.
VI continues to recover
“Tortola, British Virgin Islands continues to recover from the effects of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria. As a result, DCL will alter the ports of call for the Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean beginning with the December 30th sailing through March to include Philipsburg, St. Maarten, instead of Tortola, British Virgin Islands,” the letter to its customers read.
According to disneycruiselineblog.com, pre-reserved Port Adventures in Tortola will automatically be removed from guests’ cruise activities. DCL encourages guests to explore Port Adventure opportunities in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, by visiting DCL’s My Cruise Activities section of the website once the reservation is paid in full and within the Castaway Club level booking window.
As it stands, the next scheduled Disney Cruise to Tortola will be the April 7, 2018 departure of the Disney Fantasy.
While many have expressed concern on social media over the absence of the major cruise line for the next four months, many feel it was a necessary move since some of the roads on Tortola are unsafe and some of the beaches are also in no state to accommodate visitors.
It is also unclear if the cruise line acted following advice from the Government of the Virgin Islands.
Efforts to secure a comment from the BVI Ports Authority (BVIPA) and the Ministry of Communications and Works were not successful up to time of publication.
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Now it is up to us in St. Maarten to show Disney Cruise Line (DCL) their
decision to return to St. Maarten is justified.
In other news, Parliament is in full swing these days. Today, Wednesday, December 6th, Parliament has a full day of sessions scheduled. Here is the line up:
We will be enjoying the parliamentary sessions while you enjoy the newsletter and have a good laugh at the new
vanity plates we will be selling to our returning cruise visitors as souvenirs.
The Publisher,
StMaartenNews.com
Notice: If you would like to place an advertisement congratulating the participants of the 1st Annual Customer Service Week with obtaining their certified CSMA certificates, please send us an email. We will be doing a social media special this week on this.
