Tourist arrivals up despite dark clouds over ports project
The streets of Road Town, the Virgin Islands capital city, are buzzing with tourists and taxi operators may be especially enjoying a good Christmas season as the three ships have combined to bring more than 8000 tourists on one day, although it is not clear how many actually leave the ships.
The ships berthed at the expanded cruise pier today are Queen Mary II and Norwegian Escape while Aida Luna is anchored off shore.
According to Leasing and Marketing Manager of Tortola Pier Park Limited, Ms Meslyn M. Allan, Norwegian Escape was scheduled to bring 4200 passengers, Queen Mary II 2620 passengers and Aida Luna 2050 passengers.
November 18, 2015 was the first time that the VI had berthed three ships since the enhancement of the cruise pier. The Norwegian Escape, which was the biggest ship in port on that day, had its inaugural call and, according to Tortola Pier Park Ltd, expressed their delight in being able to dock a ship of this magnitude at the new cruise pier.
The Norwegian Escape is the newest and largest ship of the cruise line and has a GRT of 164,600 and holds up to 4,248 passengers plus 1,651 crew members.
Meanwhile, the Queen Mary II, once the biggest ship in the world, is still amongst the top 10 largest cruise liners in the world being 1,132 ft in length and having a GRT of 148,528.
Since November 18, 2015 there have been three other occasions in which three ships have made ports of call on the same day.
Comparing the number of cruise passenger arrivals for the month of October over the last three years, the BVI Ports Authority has reported that October 2013 saw 4,098 cruise passenger arrivals; October 2014 saw 5,465 cruise passenger arrivals and October 2015 saw 32,133 cruise passenger arrivals. This news site was unable to get any information on arrivals for November.
Ms Allan also stated that 2 cruise ships anchored off Virgin Gorda, 2 off Jost Van Dyke and 1 off West End today, December 30, 2015.
Shadows over Cruise pier project
Meanwhile, the ‘Grand Opening’ of the Tortola Pier Park, which consists of an enhanced cruise pier and a five-acre landside shopping facility, was postponed from December 22, 2015 to February 16, 2016, a story first and accurately broken by this news site.
There have been criticisms of the new opening date announced by Minister for Communications and Works Hon Mark H. Vanterpool (R4) since many buildings are reportedly far from being complete.
This is in addition to the recent revelations of Mr Hugh E. Darley, a former developer of the cruise pier development project and President of IDEA Inc., who has accused the National Democratic Party (NDP) Government of perverting the process of the project’s development and causing it to balloon far beyond what it would have cost originally to build.
During an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online, Mr Darley also accused the government of not honouring their licencing obligations for the use of his designs, some of which he said they changed in an effort to “cheapen” the project.
He also said he plans to sue the government for monies owed to him.
Virgin Islands News Online can also confirm that Claude O. Skelton-Cline’s contract as Managing Director at the BVI Ports Authority has not yet been renewed.
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