Cruises returning to Tortola

If this were April 1, I would say it was an April Fool's Day joke.

I can't wait to see the protocols they have in place for the cruise ships.

Visit The Baths and Cane Garden Bay now before they get over-run (again) by Cruise Ship passengers!

More information Here

Unlike cruises in Europe, passengers will NOT be limited to ship shore excursions, but may disembark on their own.

The ONLY good news in this, is that they all have to be vaccinated. So maybe they will drop the protocols for other vaccinated visitors. I will never welcome anyone off a cruise ship.

I can't wait to see the government's excuse for allowing the cruise ship passengers back but not the rest of the travelers. Such a shame.

press release

I can’t see how they won’t open up to anyone vaccinated to not quarantine. Cruise ships are giant Petri dishes. It would make absolutely no sense to quarantine regular visitors.

I wouldn’t go so far as branding them as the scourge of the Earth.
Most are basically armchair explores and adventurers who never left their jobs and homes to venture on their own, if you notice they wear tropical shirts have smiles on their faces and really believe they have succeeded in becoming the adventurers they always dreamed of.

In the Premier's statement, he mentioned there would be tour bubbles to isolate the passengers from residents. So basically, the government and of course the local agent for the ship will make money but nobody else.

It's impossible to have a full isolation if they come ashore so we'll introduce risk with reward only for the people who need it the least. No big surprise.

I agree with you Jason. Absolutely ridiculous to think there will be total isolation within a bubble. Do u mean to tell me that cab drivers, restaurant staff, Pier Park businesses will have NO contact with cruise passengers? I believe the Pier Park is open to the public. Unbelievable. From a health perspective, cruise ships have carried illnesses for many years, including the Norwalk Virus (Norovirus) and others.

It seems to be very unfair to visitors and hospitality businesses that the cruise ship visitors should be treated differently than land based visitors. The government is foolish indeed to think the residents will not be exposed.

Well it seems people are catching on to this worldwide Hoax, they even have the Aborigines in Australia’s outback wearing masks

Well then I guess you can't be polite to me or even Carol as we are both cruise ship people. You obviously know KNOTHING about us. We have chartered in the BVI and stayed in villas as well. we find cruising to be a great way of seeing places we might want to go visit for a longer stay. Everyone does not have to follow your choice of vacation. You know where you can go as far as I'm concerned. Yes Carol, if you feel the need to delete this go ahead but her comments are outrageous and insulting and should be deleted as well.

I'm happy to edit my post. We have friends and family who go on cruise ships, but I won't be making nice to anyone who comes off one.

I thank you for editing the post.

I'm guessing the tens of millions $$ in the Romney Family (Romasco) coffers need topping up as they control much of the cruise ship business. This is quickly going from the sublime to the ridiculous.

its funny how people think of cruise passengers, I have travelled the world, did all my adventures before I came to the BVI and now I actually like going on a cruise just to relax.

Peter - I 100% agree!! We do too!!

I have nothing against cruise ship passengers. They are taking the vacation they want. It’s the cruise ship industry I dislike. The industry is rife with corruption, flags of convenience and abuse of its workforce. In addition they do everything possible to circumvent pollution and environmental laws to keep costs low. Bonuses are paid for keeping costs low leading to illegal dumping and use of lower cost higher polluting fuels. There are plenty of sources to read up on how the industry operates. They even blatantly falsified records and health reports to operate on schedule and avoid quarantine issues with covid. Read up on what happened in Australia.
G

Respectfully, George, sounds like big business to me. SOP..

“It’s the cruise ship industry I dislike. The industry is rife with corruption, flags of convenience and abuse of its workforce. In addition they do everything possible to circumvent pollution and environmental laws to keep costs low. Bonuses are paid for keeping costs low leading to illegal dumping and use of lower cost higher polluting fuels. There are plenty of sources to read up on how the industry operates. They even blatantly falsified records and health reports to operate on schedule and avoid quarantine issues with covid.“

Add to what George outlines, negative cultural and economic impact. In the BVI, cruise shippers spend next to nothing and have chased away higher-spending charter and land guests. As noted, the only beneficiaries are government coffers and one family.

We ARE responsible for the decisions we make. Cruise ship passengers support the choices made by that industry.

Sailboats, on the other hand, have minimal environmental impact. Their spending supports local businesses and jobs. Were pump-out facilities available, their impact would be even less, but the government instead chose to build a giant cruise ship pier.

How do we travel? We stay at our own house, where we minimize the environmental impact. We have no air conditioning, no pool, no dryer, no dishwasher, no TV and no stereo. We use rainwater (no de-sal), gravity-fed without pressurization, and a well-functioning septic system. We have a small, efficient fridge, ceiling fans and LED lights. One advantage is a low electric bill, but since power in the BVI is generated from imported diesel, minimizing consumption is smart environmentally. We would love to go solar.

There will be plenty of qualified solar installers in the BVI soon as they are completing their college courses just now to work on the Anegada facility

We are getting very far afield of the original post.

I am quite surprised that there has not been any reaction to the (apparent) fact that cruise ship visitors will not have to quarantine at all? Perhaps the BVI government is going to change the entrance requirements to do away with quarantine for those that are fully vaccinated?

Carol, there has been plenty of reaction on FB. But that's not all - now the $175 fee will not cover quarantine transportation, yet they fail to say what it will cost or how arrangements will be made. So potentially cruise shippers will be coming in with no test, no fee, while homeowners on outer islands, even fully vaccinated, have to quarantine for four to fourteen days and pay thousands for Good Seal approved land and water taxis. They did say they would take groups of ten to Jost for no extra fee.

As I said, I was surprised there was no such reaction here. I think that is by far the biggest complaint that other visitors could have. Cruise ship visitors will come back to the BVI at some point, that is a given. But to allow them access without a quarantine is inequitable.

I was surprised by that as well, Carol — that was my first thought as our trip is in the beginning of June and we will both be vaccinated by then. If they are allowing cruisers to traipse off the both without testing and quarantine? I’d better not have to!

Testing, they are requiring before boarding the plane, yes. But I guess not on arrival. Quarantine, apparently not.

Carol - did you mean to say before boarding the ship?

Actually, probably it is before boarding the plane. To enter into St Maarten, one has to have a Covid test 2 to 5 days before, depending on the type of test, before getting on the plane to go to St Maarten. Current requirements to go to SXM do not require any test AFTER arriving on island.

and there in lies the problem, there is Covis in the community of SXM as well as the other islands before they intend to arrive in the BVI so their test means nothing for entering the BVI only their vaccination and if its good enough for the masses why not for the overnight guests. Hopefully it will be

Yes - exactly - it would ridiculous to force charter boat guests to quarantine and spend loads of money testing, etc.....while Celebrity dumps cruisers out....oy.....

There is concern, not sure I would call it outrage. —-in typical BVI, they announce new protocols for cruise ships as if this population operates in a siloed atmosphere away from and with no correlation to the other tourism products offered.

I will hold off on my outrage until more information is given. The assumptions and speculations are just that. The assumptions and speculation by others on this forum do not stop us from coming back to visit our Villa. What will stop us is the entry requirements for us and our guests as defined by the BVI government.

As final information comes out and is operationalized we will make decisions about our time spent and investment.

At no time will we be rude or unkind to someone because of the type of vacation they choose to take. Owning property in the BVI is not for the faint of heart......but the rewards can be priceless if you have the ability to roll with the changes.

Hopefully we have seen the worst of this pandemic, see you all on the other side.

What she said

When we cruised, we would leave the ship and explore what we could on foot. Never took any excursions after a disastrous episode in the Canary islands. But now, you are faced with being denied boarding on your ship if you do NOT go on an approved excursion.

Just one more reason to avoid cruise ships for the foreseeable future.

Having found excursion people using our private dock (well signed) and defecating on our property, it's hard to be charitable. Fortunately the USVI day trips are still off limits.

706--It depends. I believe this cruise that is sailing from St. Maarten does not have those requirements, which as I understand it are CDC requirements, which only apply to ships sailing from US ports. I think that those requirements will be lifted sometime this year for ships sailing from US ports also. It is just way too restrictive to make sense.

Here is the Premier's statement that describes the "bubble concept" for cruise ship passengers that is supposed to separate passengers from residents but I don't understand how that would actually work.

Does anyone know if that's an industry term with real definition behind it?

Jason - this same idea was tossed around for the USVI cruise passengers - there was some proposal put forth to “designate” certain areas of beaches there to keep passengers in their own little “bubble” - the objections were long and loud! The biggest concern was how to police the passengers to make sure they stay in the “bubble”.

I just can’t see how they will be able to justify leaving all the testing and Q rules in place for fully vaccinated charter and villa guests while allowing this to happen.

That original story is WAY old, August of last year. It's unclear what the date of the 'update' is. Again, I believe the rules for ships sailing from US ports are going to be different than the rules for ships sailing from outside the US. Unless things change before then, the ship sailing from St Maarten will NOT have the bubble concept.

Thanks. It looks like even if the passengers had a designated space and the ship staffed it themselves, at a minimum the taxi drivers would be exposed.

Can't really imagine a way to do this safely so it will be interesting to see how it evolves.

I do hope it forces the conversation about eliminating the quarantine requirement for vaccinated guests.

Can we elect Jason to head the Tourist Board?

I am hopeful we will see some policy changes for the BVI by May. The effects of the vaccination seem to be exceeding any expectations. The best example to date is Israel. With just over 50% of the population vaccinated they are seeing herd immunity. They are now down to 500 new cases a day and dropping from a peak of 10,000. Considering that Covid rates are raging in the Middle East and Europe this is a remarkable result especially when you factor in the Palestinian situation where the vaccine rate is nil and they intermix within Israel. The only European country with a semblance of control over covid is the UK with a 30% Vaccination rate. They are running about 5000 new cases a day compared to France at over 30,000. France has a very low vaccinated rate.
The BVI could easily adjust the current policy to eliminate the current day 4 test and release vaccinated tourists from quarantine after receipt of the day one test at zero risk to the local population. Tourism would boom!
G

That is EXACTLY what we are hoping will happen in time for our June trip, George!

I'm hoping for it in the next month!!

The hoops all the restaurants and bars had to go through before 1st December will be enforced and will keep everyone safe, now they should also let overnight guests in this way so the economy can start before the season ends as if it stays as is, they might be more plcaes lost.

Pusser's in CGB closed last week. It's happening everywhere.

Jason `- is that closed for good or temporarily until things pick up?

permanently

As they were leasing the restaurant from Val and Kareem I guess it reverts back to them now..interesting to see what happens. Fewer and fewer options on CGB..I miss Stanley's!

They just took back the operations of the Chill Zone on the Pier Park so I'm not sure they are really prepared to restart in CGB too.

Love to see Tony /Stanley take it over..

I second that! Jason, you are wealth of knowledge and up to the minute information. Thank you!

Thought you were my friend...

Haven’t read all the posts here, just caught the early disdain for cruisers and I agree with you Fran. Some land vacationers who have never cruised - or have tried cruising with no research and hated it - look at cruising as an inferior travel experience based on their limited knowledge, and can be a bit arrogant as a result. We too cruised 20 years ago and it was a great exposure to the different destinations, and we found our favorite places to spend more time and where we wanted to retire in the Carib. The right ship and itinerary make a world of difference of course...I was hoping cruises would not be restarted for awhile yet but it is a huge industry. We’ve been enjoying some of the other huge port destinations like Cozumel during this cruise respite...

We love cruising as well - for all of the reasons above. We typically do our own thing in each port and have discovered new places to us - such as Belize and Roatan - that we have loved!

My only hope here....is that the protocols are relaxed for charterers and villa customers who are fully vaccinated. It just seems ridiculous not to....

Agree...And that may happen as further testing confirms that these vaccines actually prevent infection, which would reduce concerns of those vaccinated being asymptomatic and spreading the virus.... The newer data seems to be pointing that way

Good news from CGB this morning. Myett's will reopen and will be operated by the Rhymer's again. Val and Kareem back in control!!

Great..just bring back Kapeye and all will be well!!!

Fantastic news, I always need a bowl of that Conch chowder!
G

"Pusser's" was a horrible fit for that location..maitre d' wearing a tie!! The food and drinks prices were not right either ( being kind)..went there once and never returned. Good for Val and Kareem and with Quito's and Stanley/Tony's gone they should thrive..will they keep Indigo House as a bar too?

Quito's is still there. Thursday-Sunday for now.

I’d hoped with the admittance of cruise ship passengers who have been vaccinated with no quarantine that they would do the same for other travelers who had been vaccinated.

I know last month the health minister said when they got 70 % of the population vaccinated they could relax their protocols. Today I see a news item that they have only half 7,000people take the first dose of the vaccine . That is very few more than they had more than a week ago.

It is hard to tell from the piece if the vaccine was now open to anyone who wanted a dose or not. If so and from the comments and from what a friend told me about a number of C&I people not planning on being vaccinated, they are going to be way under that 70%.

https://bvinews.com/end-of-vaccine-shelf-life-nearing-but-number-of-vaccinations-low/

If this is accurate I suspect the BVI is going to see a spike in cases as they open ports and cruise ship passengers and not be opening fully as I hoped and be removing the quarantine for all travelers this summer.

Personally, I don't think we'll ever come close to 70% vaccination but at the current pace of 418/week here is how the math works out. We have 30,030 residents and roughly 24,000 are 18+. To get to 70% (16,800) would take another 24 weeks at this pace. Add 10 weeks to get to the second shot, 2 additional weeks for the 2nd shot to be fully effective, and you'd have 36 more weeks to go. Just in time for Christmas.

And most recently, the Minister of Health actually said 70-80%. That is the point in which they said they would consider evaluating the current protocols. Draw your own conclusions from that.

Looks like they are vaccinating 150 a day give or take. The UK should redirect the next shipment where it can be properly used.