...and I think we have reached it. Yesterday on White Bay , JVD the endless flow of cruise shippers made it impossible to find a chair ,very hard to order a drink and food..and just when one wave left another followed.I ran a tab at Gertrudes for close to $200 and it took me 20 mins in line to pay it. because people lined up with tickets for a "free' rum punch! Think this is good for our economy?Then today I made a blunder and went to CGB thinking the cruise ship left at 2.30...the place was more jammed than I have ever seen it..ever.I made it to the ATM and then was completly jammed in by double parked "Safari' buses..with others trying to get down the road.. As I sat..completely jammed in a group of cruise shippers passed me and one said" God..they must really hate us!".Nuff said..Oh and was there a cop to be found directly this romeo foxtrot???Its really time to look at the number of passengers we can handle and the nub ler of massive Safari buses on our narrow windy streets. Sadly this just drives awy the folks who come to "Nature;s Little Secrets" and rent a villa, car and dine out..Rant over. and I hope the Tourist Board reads this ( yeah right).
ugh. Here's what the crowd tracker modeled for yesterday, seems pretty accurate based on your intel. There was one ship that left early, but the other stayed until 7pm. No cruise ships in town until the 29th!
In my "previous life" I was a land-based BVI visitor, probably around 8 weeklong visits between 1996 and 2007. We usually stayed at Long Bay in villas, or at different villas in Belmont and CGB. This was prior to the cruise pier expansion, and the number of cruise visitors was much lower than today. We met many other land based folks, and the balance between bareboat folks and land visitors, while a bit wide, wasn't too out of whack.
During 2013 I returned for a 3-day stay before a week in St John. The changes from 2007 to 2013 were pretty noticeable. Fewer places open for dinner. Tons of loungers all over CGB. Lots of cab traffic during the day with cruise ship folks, and then very little activity anywhere except CGB in the evenings.
In May of 2025 my daughter and son-in-law honeymooned on Tortola. From her description things are even quieter for land based visitors than it was in 2013. Even more cruise trippers, and even less activity in the evenings or the days when ships weren't in port. Lots of beach bars weren't even open when there were no cruise ships in port. It feels as though the BVI is shifting even further toward catering to bareboaters and cruise ship daytrippers, and even further away from being a land-based destination
ANEGADA if you want to get away from the crowds February will be our 22nd visit always 10 days or two weeks. If you're on CGB grab a couple beers and laugh at the clowns.
We used to stay at Myett's in Cane Garden Bay but the cruise ship crowds ruined that for us. We have moved on the Virgin Gorda as well. I was a little disheartened to see a cruise ship anchored offshore there last year. I'm sure they will build a dock in the future.
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