Oasis will dock at Crown Bay ...

[pms4104]

Ran into an interesting item ... at least in the short term, when the Oasis is in St. Thomas, it will dock at Crown Bay ... and the ships (like HAL) that normally would be at Crown Bay that day will go to Havensight.

Should be good news for those here who favor Havensight ... at least until the harbor dredging is completed.

The link is here: http://www.wsta.com/news/default.aspx?storyid=7250

[sail7seas]

Almost makes it worth it to be in port with the behemouth in order to dock at Havensight. :rolleyes:

[Sailaways_]

This has been in effect since December. If you do dock at CB now, you'll see a trailer on the pier, it houses all the check-in kiosks for Oasis when she visits.

[sail7seas]

Groan.... :(

[Krazy Kruizers]

Darn -- wish we would be in St Thomas the same day as the Oasis -- then we might be lucky to be at Havensight.

But think about it -- if you are in St Thomas on the same day as the Oasis -- and maybe 4 other ships -- then some other ship also has to dock at Crown Bay.

[Krazy Kruizers]

This is just an example -- March 2 -- 7 ships in St Thomas:

Tuesday March 2nd 2010


Costa Atlantica

8:00 AM - 6:00 PM


Noordam

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM


Norwegian Pearl

9:00 AM - 6:00 PM


Carnival Dream

10:00 AM - 8:00 PM


Carnival Freedom

7:00 AM - 6:00 PM


Explorer Of The Seas

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM


Oasis Of The Seas

7:00 AM - 6:00 PM

[rangeley]

We were just in St Thomas. We know the woman who runs the info booth at the dock. She told us they do not have adequate security scanners on the ship to process all the passengers getting back on the ship. They built a building to shuffle people through. Also the gangplanks did not reach the ground, so they had to build extensions. Those are also at the dock.

[sail7seas]

Darn -- wish we would be in St Thomas the same day as the Oasis -- then we might be lucky to be at Havensight.

But think about it -- if you are in St Thomas on the same day as the Oasis -- and maybe 4 other ships -- then some other ship also has to dock at Crown Bay.


Or they could tender from both inner and outer harbor. ;)
We tendered on Noordam from inner harbor and I liked it better than being at Crown Bay. At least that day, with that crew doing a great tendering job. Maybe it doesn't always run as smoothly but that experience was quick and efficient.

[bishop84]

This is just an example -- March 2 -- 7 ships in St Thomas:

Tuesday March 2nd 2010


At least with the berth priority and no Princess ships then Noordam should be docked, albeit with the Oasis of the Seas, at Crown Bay rather than anchored. Although I am sure some would prefer to be tendered to the Waterfront Highway in Charlotte Amalie.

[K&RCurt]

Even with getting a "better" docking spot, I still would prefer not to be in port with the Oasis. Just too many people being dropped off all at once.

[Krazy Kruizers]

At least with the berth priority and no Princess ships then Noordam should be docked, albeit with the Oasis of the Seas, at Crown Bay rather than anchored. Although I am sure some would prefer to be tendered to the Waterfront Highway in Charlotte Amalie.

The example I gave doesn't happen every day -- thankfully.

But you are right -- on that particular day Noordam will be in Crown Bay with the Oasis.

Glad we are not on that cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Or they could tender from both inner and outer harbor. ;)
We tendered on Noordam from inner harbor and I liked it better than being at Crown Bay. At least that day, with that crew doing a great tendering job. Maybe it doesn't always run as smoothly but that experience was quick and efficient.

We have been to St Thomas many times when there were at least 6 - 7 ships -- and only once did we tender in -- Norway!!

All other times we have been docked.

[pms4104]

Almost makes it worth it to be in port with the behemouth in order to dock at Havensight. :rolleyes:

Darn -- wish we would be in St Thomas the same day as the Oasis -- then we might be lucky to be at Havensight.

But think about it -- if you are in St Thomas on the same day as the Oasis -- and maybe 4 other ships -- then some other ship also has to dock at Crown Bay.
From what I saw elsewhere on the net ... Oasis will be there every Tuesday this current season. Likely until St Thomas finishes dredging the harbor to accommodate such a gynormous vessel.

[sail7seas]

We have been to St Thomas many times when there were at least 6 - 7 ships -- and only once did we tender in -- Norway!!

All other times we have been docked.

We tendered from inner harbor in January 2007 on Noordam.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That's 3 years ago -- times have changed and now more ships in St Thomas ONLY on some days.

[Typhoon1]

That's a good place for that behemoth and the masses of humanity it will be carrying.

[sail7seas]

That's 3 years ago -- times have changed and now more ships in St Thomas ONLY on some days.


Sigh......... The sky is blue and the grass is green. :)

[Sailaways_]

Does anyone know why Princess and HAL always get stuck at CB when CARNIVAL is the one who paid for the pier? Yes, I know they're all owned by Carnival blahblahblah, but I personally think that if Carnival paid for the pier to be built, then they should be stuck there the majority of the time. JMHO, but hopefully I'm not the only one who thinks this!

[BruceMuzz]

Does anyone know why Princess and HAL always get stuck at CB when CARNIVAL is the one who paid for the pier? Yes, I know they're all owned by Carnival blahblahblah, but I personally think that if Carnival paid for the pier to be built, then they should be stuck there the majority of the time. JMHO, but hopefully I'm not the only one who thinks this!

Princess and HAL are NOT "stuck at CB". They dock there by their own choice. The cruise piers in St Thomas are privately owned and managed. The owners determine the docking fees.

Ships docking at Havensight pay $17 more PER PASSENGER, per day than ships docking at Crown Bay. That adds up to big money very quickly.

Remember all those passengers screaming for lower and lower cruise fares? You are probably part of that group. The cruise lines are listening. Some of them - like Carnival and NCL - save money by spending less for your food every day. Some of the others (Princess and HAL) choose to keep your fare lower is by cutting corners on docking fees in St Thomas.

[mamaofami]

On the March 2 date described above, we will be in St. Thomas on the Explorer docking, I hope, at Havensight. We have friends who live there who'll be picking us up and hope we can find them.

We usually go to Magen's Bay, but with so many people in town, I'll worry about getting back to the ship in time so we're looking for a beach closer to Havensight. It should be an interesting day.

[Sailaways_]

Princess and HAL are NOT "stuck at CB". They dock there by their own choice. The cruise piers in St Thomas are privately owned and managed. The owners determine the docking fees.

Ships docking at Havensight pay $17 more PER PASSENGER, per day than ships docking at Crown Bay. That adds up to big money very quickly.

Remember all those passengers screaming for lower and lower cruise fares? You are probably part of that group. The cruise lines are listening. Some of them - like Carnival and NCL - save money by spending less for your food every day. Some of the others (Princess and HAL) choose to keep your fare lower is by cutting corners on docking fees in St Thomas.

Touchy touchy! Guess I hit a nerve. Anyway, from reading CC it looks like most cruisers prefer Havensight to CB, so I know I'm not the only one with this complaint. If Carnival helped build the pier, one would think they'd share it equally amongst their subsidiaries. So, I'm just wondering why that's not the case. If you like CB, more power to you. Where do you get your docking fee information, just out of curiosity? Link?

BTW - I'm not screaming for lower cruise fares - but thanks for the assumption. You know what they say about those... :rolleyes:

[pms4104]

Touchy touchy! Guess I hit a nerve. Anyway, from reading CC it looks like most cruisers prefer Havensight to CB, so I know I'm not the only one with this complaint. If Carnival helped build the pier, one would think they'd share it equally amongst their subsidiaries. So, I'm just wondering why that's not the case. If you like CB, more power to you. Where do you get your docking fee information, just out of curiosity? Link?

BTW - I'm not screaming for lower cruise fares - but thanks for the assumption. You know what they say about those... :rolleyes:
I believe he works for the cruiseline.

[bishop84]

Does anyone know why Princess and HAL always get stuck at CB when CARNIVAL is the one who paid for the pier? Yes, I know they're all owned by Carnival blahblahblah, but I personally think that if Carnival paid for the pier to be built, then they should be stuck there the majority of the time. JMHO, but hopefully I'm not the only one who thinks this!

Princess and HAL are NOT "stuck at CB". They dock there by their own choice. The cruise piers in St Thomas are privately owned and managed. The owners determine the docking fees.


I am not sure whether Carnival Corp & PLC actually paid towards the pier extension and improvements at Crown Bay, I believe the port area is still owned by the US Virgin Islands Port Authority. However the separate agreements between the Port Authority, Princess and HAL guaranteeing berthing their ships allowed the Port Authority to attract investment to complete the shopping village and other improvements. This agreement has resulted in an empty Havensight whilst Crown Bay is busy causing the merchants at Havensight to ask for reduced rents etc from the owner, the West India Company.

IIRC they were 10 year agreements whereby the 2 lines agreed to berth their ships at Crown Bay even if there was a berth available at the privately owned Havensight dock. In return the Port Authority guaranteed that Princess, followed by HAL, would get the berths over any other line, including other Carnival brands.