Why not tender at Tortola?

I am disappointed that Carnival dropped Tortola during constriction of their new pier. I wonder why they could not tender there or one of their other islands.

I am disappointed that Carnival dropped Tortola during constriction of their new pier. I wonder why they could not tender there or one of their other islands.

Good question.

Couple of questions. Can you direct me to the information about Tortola and how long is construction supposed to take? Tortola is a port on our cruise next year. Normally I wouldn't be too worried about it, but I've seen construction get delayed due to weather, finances, politician coughed, etc. Just want to prepare myself for a worst case scenario since that is one of the ports I'm really looking forward to.

Thanks.

Based on below bullet point two, below, I think Carnival is giving the island the Funship Finger.

"For one thing, the Tortola government is planning an overhaul of its cruise ship dock through most of next year. Passengers stopping in port may have been forced to tender, spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said.

And second, the Tortola government won't guarantee that the line will be able to call during its scheduled dates in 2015 - despite already giving Carnival berthing reservations, de la Cruz said."

Nevermind. Scrolled on down the threads and found it.

Based on below bullet point two, below, I think Carnival is giving the island the Funship Finger.

 

"For one thing, the Tortola government is planning an overhaul of its cruise ship dock through most of next year. Passengers stopping in port may have been forced to tender, spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said.

 

And second, the Tortola government won't guarantee that the line will be able to call during its scheduled dates in 2015 - despite already giving Carnival berthing reservations, de la Cruz said."

One would think that someplace that depends upon tourism would bend over backwards to accomodate Carnival. Very strange.

One of the articles (I can't find it now) stated they were wokring on contracts with NCL and DCL and couldn't give carnival the dates that they wanted.

We stopped there in Sept and I was eager to visit since we had never been there before. We did a land and sea excursion. Toured that whole island up and down and up and down all those hills. Then the next day we took an excursion to St John from St Thomas. The terrain was pretty much the same. I would bet the only thing you might miss would be the Baths at Virgin Gorda. The 2 islands are in such close proximity ( I think about 5 miles apart) that swimming and diving would be pretty much alike. I don't feel we got any extra experiences on Tortola that we didn't get on St John.

One would think that someplace that depends upon tourism would bend over backwards to accomodate Carnival. Very strange.

I may be wrong, but I think that a good percentage of Tortola's tourist industry is in the form of yachting, yacht charters, etc. When we were in Tortola back in 2009, our driver told us of the numerous marinas there and the expensive yachts that dock on the island. Apparently, there are not many huge resorts on Tortola as on other Caribbean islands, so many visitors arrive on their own private yachts. So, I would imagine that those boaters patronize the shops, vendors, and restaurants there. In fact, we met an American from Virginia, who now lives in Tortola, who arrived on a boat that she was ferrying down there for the owner. All of this is not to say that the cruise ships don't indeed provide an income for taxi drivers and tour companies. It just seems that many who live in Tortola may derive their income from sources other than the cruise ship industry. Financial services (just like in the Cayman Islands) is also very big there.

The Baths is what we planned to do while there. Not really enthused the replacement port of San Juan. Got some choices to make now; cancel, suck it up or find another itinerary that looks better to me.

We stopped there in Sept and I was eager to visit since we had never been there before. We did a land and sea excursion. Toured that whole island up and down and up and down all those hills. Then the next day we took an excursion to St John from St Thomas. The terrain was pretty much the same. I would bet the only thing you might miss would be the Baths at Virgin Gorda. The 2 islands are in such close proximity ( I think about 5 miles apart) that swimming and diving would be pretty much alike. I don't feel we got any extra experiences on Tortola that we didn't get on St John.

Don't forget Jost Van Dyke:rolleyes: We stopped here on the Breeze in April, and this island was BEAUTIFUL. Took a speedboat over to the island and spent the day at the Soggy Dollar Bar. This was a little slice of Heaven. Ahhhhhhhhhhh....I really hope Carnival brings this port back. It's a gem!!!:D:D

Makes it difficult to make it a tender port, We are going on the Freedom in Feb and picked this itinerary for Tortola and Antiqa so we are lucky to get there before the port change.

Having spent a lot of time on Tortola in the past I can tell you construction projects can take forever sometimes. Island time you know. :D

oncruisecontrol is absolutely correct, cruise ships are not the primary source of tourism income in the BVI, villa rentals and charter sailing make up most of the tourism dollars. Many people in the BVI wish cruise ships would leave and never come back.

I'm sure the lack of cruise passenger customers might cut into local income a little, but I don't think it would be hurt that bad. I'm sure the BVIs still can pull in enough tourists without cruise ships.

I was in St. John during hurricane season and the place was still fairly active on days without cruise customers.

That said, it sucks that Tortola is off the list for some time.

One would think that someplace that depends upon tourism would bend over backwards to accomodate Carnival. Very strange.

I agree it is wad scratching material. They have done several of these toes of decisions over the last couple of months. Like you, I don't know the reason. There are several potential ones I can think of. Tortola may be being coerced by NCL and Disney to make it unique to them by guaranteed increased stoops (over and above what they might get from all three on occasional use). What I hope it is not (and we wow.l probably never know) is Uncle Gerry pinching pennies.

I'm sure the lack of cruise passenger customers might cut into local income a little, but I don't think it would be hurt that bad. I'm sure the BVIs still can pull in enough tourists without cruise ships.

 

I was in St. John during hurricane season and the place was still fairly active on days without cruise customers.

 

That said, it sucks that Tortola is off the list for some time.

Actually I think it hurts the local economy a lot.

The article that Laura posted stated that they were looking at other cruise lines to dock there. Sure enough when I checked the Carnival cruise that I wanted Tortola has been swapped for San Juan, and when I check NCL, it lists Tortola as a stop. Since Tortola was the island I really wanted to visit, i may (:eek:) try another cruise line. But it also was with Barbados, Aruba and Curacao, which actually covered 99% of my bucket list for Caribbean islands.:)

I am disappointed that Carnival dropped Tortola during constriction of their new pier. I wonder why they could not tender there or one of their other islands.

Good Question! There is a tender dock in Tortola right in town.

There was a time when we always had to tender there. :confused:

LuLu

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We were in San Jaun a few weeks ago and hired a taxi for a local tour.

Got to talking with him about tourism and this time of year they get very few ships (our day we were the only ship in port) and the local economy will definitely suffer.

Would think that having 3000 potential customers coming ashore for tours, trinkets and a few meals would be worth a lot to Tortola.

C'est doque a la Tortola

I am SO thankful I got to visit Tortola twice now. It is easily in my Top 3 port stops. Hope Carnival brings it back at some point.

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Sorry, was trying to delete this but couldn't figure out how.

From what I read, this Tortola issue is about a lot more than just a docking issue. The Tortola government won't stand behind the berthing reservations that Carnival had already made with them, and thus Carnival couldn't ensure passengers that they could deliver the promised itinerary. Sunshine, Freedom, Liberty, Glory, and Valor itineraries are all impacted. While Carnival had already made arrangements with Tortola, it sounds like Tortola is trying to back out to accommodate Norwegian and Disney cruise lines; most likely for more lucrative arrangements. Not exactly the "right" thing to do since they had already given Carnival reservation agreements.

Don't forget Jost Van Dyke:rolleyes: We stopped here on the Breeze in April, and this island was BEAUTIFUL. Took a speedboat over to the island and spent the day at the Soggy Dollar Bar. This was a little slice of Heaven. Ahhhhhhhhhhh....I really hope Carnival brings this port back. It's a gem!!!:D:D

Yes! My husband and I went here in 2009 and it was HEAVEN! Plus just knowing Kenny Chesney goes there, makes it even better, lol! Some day we'll make it back there again (Jost Van Dyke) hopefully for a week stay.

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