TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Cruise Ship question

I'll start by saying I've never been on a cruise ship. The schedule below is during the start of our charter, the 28th we'll probably be somewhere between Norman and Cooper. What is their routine? seems like they arrive when passengers are probably just waking up, where do they typically send them off to explore? they don't seem to be in port very long.


Tortola Cruise Ship Schedule For July 2025
Day Cruise Line Ship Times Passengers
July
Mon 28
🧍 Disney Cruise Line logo Disney Magic a 0900 d 1600 1942
Wed 30
🧍🧍 Norwegian Cruise Line logo Norwegian Aqua a 0600 d 1230 3571
Thu 31
🧍🧍 Norwegian Cruise Line logo Norwegian Escape a 0600 d 1400 4248

With these shorter and earlier port times most day visitors will just go to CGB or LB, Beef, while others will head for the Baths or White Bay, Jost. The only brave souls you may run into are those who book daysails with Kuralu, Sunshine, etc…

The schedule usually works about like this:
Arrive 6am. Use massive thrusters to dock stirring up huge clouds of mud dropping water vis to nothing.
7am, start onboarding large amounts of cheap fresh water from the BVI even if the island is in a drought and locals can’t get water. Ships desalination plants are expensive to run.
8am, forget to switch to expensive low pollution diesel and keep burning super cheap bunker oil choking out Roadtown if no wind that day.
9am, drop a few thousand people onshore choking out the streets in Roadtown.
10am, cover all sand in Cane Garden Bay with human bodies.
11am, contest at the baths to see how many humans can be wedged in the rocks. Bonus points for people over 75! Remember the old VW bug challenges!
12 noon, lunch meetings and appropriate payments made.
1pm, ship bilge cleaning and assorted illegal dumping.
2pm to 6pm, depart with thruster use to keep the water vis low like it belongs. Tub boats would be expensive!
30 minutes after departure dump thousands of gallons of raw sewage!

Good grief!!!

Tell it like it is George..thank you. I'd get flamed if I'd said that!

I went on a cruise one time a few years ago with a friend. By the 2nd day I would have given everything I owned to be off that ship.

Years ago I hit a sales goal and won a free cruise. It wasn't worth it!

Regarding your question, luckily you’re there low season. Other months there are smaller (300 - 700 pax) but frequent cruise ship stops at VG (the Sound and Spanish Town), JVD (GH and WB), Soper’s Hole and even Norman!

We have tried to like cruises several times and just can't make it stick. The very first one, decades ago, was fun - because it was our first and we were relatively newly married. It still felt a bit "off" (the number of people on board, descending on the port like cattle, etc.). Tried a few more over the years - a group we hung with wanted to go, there was one close by with a unique itinerary - but they were "meh".

Last one was on Virgin Atlantic and we thought "Okay, this will be different because it's 'Adult'".

Nope. We are done. Just not our cup of tea and I just don't like being associated with all the things that go along with the cruise infrastructure and impact as noted previously.

We enjoyed cruising years ago. 25 years ago we were brand new to traveling outside the US, and it was definitely a great way to see several Carib nations in a short time, and affordably. Like anything else cruising is not for everyone, but we always had fun with friends, no regrets!
We enjoyed our first cruise in 10+ years this year - beautiful ship, amazing itinerary with no crowds aboard or on land and meeting old fiends. The ship and itinerary definitely matter for folks who enjoy cruising…

My sole cruise ship tale will be in my next book..it involved a Carnival Cruise from LA to Ensenada called "The OJ Cruise" after the infamous "Trial of the Century". OJ Trial junkies paid to hear from some of the key characters and I was on board with a camera crew..and we wanted the chauffeur who had never given an interview even after a $100,000 offer.
I managed to sneak him ashore in Ensenada under the nose of a couple of other crews and,over a very large lobster lunch at a secret beach bar I knew ,and lots of drinks..we got the BIG interview..for the price of an amazing lunch.Keeping him away from everyone else on the trip back was the next challenge....Needless to say my shipboard bar bill was $$$..but we got the story..exclusively...
I do remember that the beach bar food was one heck of a lot better than Carnival's best!