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No St. Thomas?

kgrassel

By kgrassel,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Eng23

Eng23

Posted
Posted
Does anybody know what's up with Royal replacing St. Thomas with St.Kitts (at least it's like that for Dec 22/23 sailings). ?????

It would help to know which ship or itinerary you are referring to.

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Darkwolfe

Darkwolfe

Posted
Posted

St Thomas has been getting a bit rough of late from what I'm hearing. The last time I was there, the island was looking noticeably shabby. No idea if that's what's going on or not, just .02 from what I've seen in recent years.

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LEtue

LEtue

Posted
Posted

Was just there in April and it is definitely not "shabby" in my book. Love St Thomas and would much prefer it to St Kitts.

 

I'm betting it has to do with too many ships in port because it can get very congested. I was there once during Thanksgiving week and there were 7 ships in port. Getting to St John was impossible :(

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mairem17

mairem17

Posted
Posted
Does anybody know what's up with Royal replacing St. Thomas with St.Kitts (at least it's like that for Dec 22/23 sailings). ?????

 

I believe you are talking about the Independence of the Seas. This ship regularly doesn't go to St. Thomas. It continuously does 8night / 6night voyages. The custom itinerary for the 8 nighters is St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, Labadee. This ship is not replacing any of the ports.

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Ashland

Ashland

Posted
Posted
I believe you are talking about the Independence of the Seas. This ship regularly doesn't go to St. Thomas. It continuously does 8night / 6night voyages. The custom itinerary for the 8 nighters is St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, Labadee. This ship is not replacing any of the ports.

We loved doing the 8 nighter on INDY when she did go to St Thomas instead of St. Kitts..we have also done this same itinerary on the LOS...one of our favorites..

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smoosh21

smoosh21

Posted
Posted
St Kits has had a few high visibility holdups over the last few years.

 

Even so, I have been to St Thomas enough times and want to see some new islands. This is why I hvae booked the Indy next year.

 

I would also love to see a Southern Route do St Vincent, or an Eastern Route do Santo Domingo.

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negc

negc

Posted
Posted
St Kits has had a few high visibility holdups over the last few years.

 

A lot of factors are in play whenever itineraries are set or changed and attributing things to any one single factor is more likely to be wrong.Name a Caribbean island, including St. Thomas, St. Kitts, etc. and a little research will come up with similar crime reports, though frequently those crimes did not involve cruise ship passengers or even take place when ships were in the port. Violence, unfortunately, is found almost everywhere including your own home town most likely and establishing or changing itineraries is a much more complex situation. Input from past passengers, port fees and facilities, availability of berthing facilities on the dates in question, local holiday celebrations etc. can also play a role.

All too often we read complaints that the cruiselines only offer the same old, same old itineraries but when they do offer something new or different, complaints are raised by those who seem to prefer the "same old, same old"

Just goes to show that in some situations there is no way the cruiselines can win.

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Maraprince

Maraprince

Posted
Posted
I booked a last minute cruise on Explorer OTS, 11/4/12 to the Caribbean. Explorer will not stop at St Thomas but will stop at St Kitts and Antigua. I'll take St Thomas over St Kitts or Antigua anytime. :)

 

 

Hi,

 

You are on the same sailing as me!

 

Totally agree that I would take St. Thomas any day. Just there in June with Carnival. St. Thomas has much more to offer whether you choose to shop in town, tour the island, go to a beach or go over to St. John's. It is a US Virgin island while both St. Kitts and Antigua are much smaller by comparison and have less to offer visitors other than you can step right off the ship and be in the center of town.

 

Sounds like RCL is on the bottom of the list when it comes to certain ports. Overall, Carnival has more ship lines (not just a odd ship here and there) sailing into St. Thomas and provides more revenue to the locals than RCL does.

 

MARAPRINCE

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Ocean Boy

Ocean Boy

Posted
Posted
I am looking at cruises for 2014 winter. RCI and Celebrity have two ships going to the exact ports except Celebrity Summit is going to St. Thomas and RCI is going to St. Croix. A bummer in my opinion as RCI has better entertainment.

 

That is a bummer as I would take RCI over Celebrity and St. Thomas over St. Croix anyday.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

Posted
Posted
complaints are raised by those who seem to prefer the "same old, same old"

Just goes to show that in some situations there is no way the cruiselines can win.

 

Well said for the whole post, but the same old, same old caught my attention. One of the questions I was hoping to ask in the Q&A session they do on Allure was one about new ports potentially opening up for the Oasis class. For me, I've had two great visits to St Thomas with a third time there May 1st of next year where I will be scuba diving (great place for that) but seeing St Kitts, I was thinking of something new as I'm already contemplating my 2014 cruise and a new Island on a Freedom class ship sounds inviting.

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Ocean Boy

Ocean Boy

Posted
Posted
Well said for the whole post, but the same old, same old caught my attention. One of the questions I was hoping to ask in the Q&A session they do on Allure was one about new ports potentially opening up for the Oasis class. For me, I've had two great visits to St Thomas with a third time there May 1st of next year where I will be scuba diving (great place for that) but seeing St Kitts, I was thinking of something new as I'm already contemplating my 2014 cruise and a new Island on a Freedom class ship sounds inviting.

 

I was really happy to finally get to St. Kitts last year after wanting to get there for years. And I will be very happy to return there this coming year. However, St. Thomas does offer many more activity options for people than St. kitts does. And I can see how, in the future, multiple visits to St. kitts might start to feel a bit old where I still seem to find new things to do when we stop at St. Thomas.

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joe6666

joe6666

Posted
Posted
A lot of factors are in play whenever itineraries are set or changed and attributing things to any one single factor is more likely to be wrong.Name a Caribbean island, including St. Thomas, St. Kitts, etc. and a little research will come up with similar crime reports, though frequently those crimes did not involve cruise ship passengers or even take place when ships were in the port. Violence, unfortunately, is found almost everywhere including your own home town most likely and establishing or changing itineraries is a much more complex situation. Input from past passengers, port fees and facilities, availability of berthing facilities on the dates in question, local holiday celebrations etc. can also play a role.

All too often we read complaints that the cruiselines only offer the same old, same old itineraries but when they do offer something new or different, complaints are raised by those who seem to prefer the "same old, same old"

Just goes to show that in some situations there is no way the cruiselines can win.

Over the last few years here's what has happened in St. Kitts.

One of the "Ship's Tour" busses was held up by men with shotguns.

They blocked the road with a fallen tree. Robbed everyone on the bus, including children.

That doesn't happen in my own hometown.

A US Supreme Court Justice was robbed at gunpoint in his vacation home.

Why would you try to minimize what has happened on St. Kitts when you don’t seem to know anything about the events?

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