{"id":1305,"date":"2021-06-17T02:04:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T02:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/?p=1305"},"modified":"2021-07-23T15:54:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T15:54:34","slug":"royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Projects 213,000 Passengers to Visit and $40 Million in Revenues for Small Businesses by the End of 2021<\/em><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During the fourth USVI Community Business Forum held virtually on Wednesday, Royal Caribbean Group executives announced solid plans to safely return to the U.S. Virgin Islands beginning on July 6th<\/sup> of this year and projected some 213,000 guests will visit by the end of 2021, generating millions in revenues for the territory\u2019s small businesses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The fourth forum was co-sponsored by the Office of the Governor and the Royal Caribbean Group. Governor Albert Bryan Jr., who opened the forum, said the USVI government had been working with the cruise line for several months in anticipation of their return to the territory.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThey have been exemplary in their commitment to the Virgin Islands and to the Caribbean as a whole,\u201d Governor Bryan said. \u201cLooking forward to safe cruising coming back and entering our shores, not only in St. Thomas but also in St. Croix. \u00a0We long for those passengers who we haven\u2019t seen for a year and Royal Caribbean has done the work in terms of preparing their vessels and their tourism products to enter back to our shores.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to Jayne Halcomb, Director of Destination Development \u2013 the Caribbean and the Americas, for Royal Caribbean Group, the following calls are planned for the territory over the next several weeks:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

– July 6th<\/sup>, Celebrity Edge, St. Thomas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – July 29th<\/sup>, Allure of the Seas, St. Thomas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – August 18th<\/sup>, Celebrity Equinox, St. Croix.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – September 28th<\/sup>, Explorer, St. Croix.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThese ships will be arriving with approximately 30 percent guest capacity because of course we want to start out more conservative to make sure we\u2019re doing in a safe way,\u201d Ms. Halcomb said. \u201cBut as we evolve, and as we learn, as this process unfolds, we expect that to grow.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ms. Halcomb stated that with 15 to 20 ships cruising the eastern Caribbean this year and with the USVI holding steady as the most frequented port, the territory is poised to see approximately 213,000 cruise ship passengers \u2013 48,000 for St. Croix and 165,000 for St. Thomas \u2013 generating an estimated $40 million in revenues, based on a Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association study indicating cruise passenger spends an average of $165 each per visit to the USVI.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ms. Halcomb, making her third presentation in the USVI Community Business Forum series, reiterated Royal Caribbean\u2019s commitment for two-port visits and revealed new plans to stay in port longer, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., depending on the season.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During the forum, Royal Caribbean also described its COVID-19 protocols, which requires passengers who have not been vaccinated to provide a negative PCR test five days before arriving at the terminal, to be tested again once in the terminal, and then again five days into the cruise.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the Royal Caribbean brand, because we have so many children that are not eligible for the vaccine, we will actually fall below the 95 percent rate but based on the information we have, we can see already that 90 percent of our guests will be sailing with a vaccination, so we are not far from that 95 percent rate,\u201d Ms. Halcomb said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Royal Caribbean is also working closely with the USVI government to remove limitations on passengers moving freely about the islands.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThis means all aspects of the local community can be engaged just like it was pre-COVID and not limited to just guests who decide to purchase a shore excursion through the cruise line,\u201d said Elisa Shen, Associate Vice President of Onboard Revenue & Hotel Operations for Royal Caribbean.\u00a0 \u201cThis really is, I think, quite a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Other presenters included the VI Department of Health which provided more details on its \u201cHealthy\u201d certification program to incentivize businesses to be ready for cruise passengers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Office of the Governor\u2019s Territorial ADA Coordinator, Julien Henley, also announced plans to launch a \u201cBarrier-Free\u201d webpage on the VI Department of Tourism\u2019s website to inform customers about businesses that are accessible in the Virgin Islands.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The USVI Community Business Forum series is an initiative of the Office of the Governor that encourages businesses to adapt and innovate in the new COVID economy. For more information about the forum visit www.vi.gov\/cbf<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

###<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Projects 213,000 Passengers to Visit and $40 Million in Revenues for Small Businesses by the End of 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-post"],"yoast_head":"\nRoyal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Projects 213,000 Passengers to Visit and $40 Million in Revenues for Small Businesses by the End of 2021\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covid-19 Updates - US Virgin Islands\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-17T02:04:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-23T15:54:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929-1024x613.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"613\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Government House\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Government House\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/\",\"name\":\"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-17T02:04:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-23T15:54:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4755791b194a64352324bf8f62fa83\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929.png\",\"width\":3038,\"height\":1820},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/\",\"name\":\"Covid-19 Updates - US Virgin Islands\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4755791b194a64352324bf8f62fa83\",\"name\":\"Government House\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b13fde040a67e8a75c9d13137230a5845e1d64f679fe7fafe0817db32604916d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b13fde040a67e8a75c9d13137230a5845e1d64f679fe7fafe0817db32604916d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Government House\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/author\/government-house\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum","og_description":"Projects 213,000 Passengers to Visit and $40 Million in Revenues for Small Businesses by the End of 2021","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/","og_site_name":"Covid-19 Updates - US Virgin Islands","article_published_time":"2021-06-17T02:04:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-23T15:54:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":613,"url":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929-1024x613.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Government House","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Government House","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/","name":"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929.png","datePublished":"2021-06-17T02:04:33+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-23T15:54:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4755791b194a64352324bf8f62fa83"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shutterstock_212612929.png","width":3038,"height":1820},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/news-post\/royal-caribbean-announces-cruise-call-dates-during-community-business-forum\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Royal Caribbean Announces Cruise Call Dates During Community Business Forum"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/","name":"Covid-19 Updates - US Virgin Islands","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4755791b194a64352324bf8f62fa83","name":"Government House","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b13fde040a67e8a75c9d13137230a5845e1d64f679fe7fafe0817db32604916d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b13fde040a67e8a75c9d13137230a5845e1d64f679fe7fafe0817db32604916d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Government House"},"url":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/author\/government-house\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1305"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1368,"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305\/revisions\/1368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vi.gov\/covid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}