Disney Cruise to return to STX

While you are entitled to your opinions, there are many many people who would take offense at your characterization of "FrederiksDead," including me. Thankfully, however, there are enough people who do not share your opinions and actually do frequent, live and oh my, actually enjoy Frederiksted!!

When was the last time you spent a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon in Frederiksted? Did you go to the Jazz Festival a few weeks ago? Do you have plans to visit the Festival Village this season? If you participate in these events you might actually be pleasantly surprised by what Frederiksted has to offer. It is a smaller town than C'sted granted, but I have rarely found a dearth of things to do. Blue Moon's jazz on Wednesday and Friday nights, the great food at Le St Tropez nightly, nightly pier dives, Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts events, goings-on at Fort Frederik, political discussions at Pier 69, the St. Lucian bar that always plays country music and has couples dancing...I could go on.

When cruise ships used to dock, Harbor Nights were a weekly occurrence and were really a lot of fun. They only added to the atmosphere at the local restaurants and bars. I am not a big supporter of cruise ships in bulk, but a once or twice a week docking might really enliven F'sted further. The town still has a ways to go before becoming the "place to be" as it was before Hugo, but it is getting there and is certainly NOT dead.

yes Neil, perhaps you should do something to help, i truly am tired of people like you bashing st.croix and f'sted in particular, maybe you could map out the most logical cab routes from f'sted to various points on the island and try to see that they are cleaned up over the next year, or maybe you could do some work with "our town fredriksted" and since we have no mental health facilities here maybe you could round up the homeless wanderers in f'sted and take them out to lunch or the beach on ship days so they don't bother anyone, perhaps you could work with the couple that feed the homeless on king street and get to know f'sted better than you do now.

Despite my personal opinions of Disney generally, I can't help but think it is a good thing for the economy and people of STX.

Every time I go there (weekly) I am saddened to see all the taxis at the Seaplane scrabbling for the bits that come in, while here on STT we have more than we need (has anyone tried to drive to Havensight at 5:00pm lately?).

Onika, I do it daily. 🙁

Hope it gives STX a boost!

I like it the way it is here on STX. Will it really help the locals with the Disney ship? Maybe some Taxi Driver's, Maybe some Restaurants. How would it help the homeless? I liked what they did with Frederiksted, I think it looks great. I would rather see more Direct Flights out of the Northeast, fill the hotels with tourists for a week or longer. Make more Economic Business Development loans and grants for locals only. When a discount cruise line use to visit STX , they left a mess on the beaches, argued with the merchants, and SOME crew and tourists got a hard lesson on a bad drug deal. So more Plane's Please!

well lizard growing up in minnesota and north dakota i was not conscious of the usvi, in 1992 some friends of mine took a cruise and st croix was one of the islands they stopped at, they did an island tour and fell in love they returned and bought a house here and moved, i came to visit them in 94 and also fell in love with the place and bought a house, working in the hotel/restaurant i've met quite a few people who's first exposure to st croix was on a cruise ship either to here or st thomas and they decided to return as hotel people or home buyers, as so yes the exposure is good in the long run

I agree with Lizard and trw. If an occasional cruise ship came it might help the merchants in Fedricksted which is looking great in my opinion. I too like St. Croix the way it is but realize that tourism would boost the local economy. Flying here is expensive and there are not enough flights. U.S Air from Charlotte is seasonal and American from Miami is unbelievably expensive. You can fly here from the west coast cheaper than from the Northeast. You can fly to Europe from the states cheaper than you can fly to anywhere on the east coast from St. Croix.

From my limited perspective, I would tend to agree that a little bit of Cruising could be a good thing for the Crucians. But the St. Thomians on this board have infected me with an anti-cruiseship bias (even though 2 of the several times I've come to STT I have arrived by such). Maybe I need shots. I'm Pro-Disney too. It's a great religion.

As far as Fsted goes... no, I would not go there in the evening. Maybe they've fixed it up in the five months since I've been there, but the central town looked shuttered and empty, and the orange barrels were out in force. You couldn't get there from here. It's no Csted, but I'm willing to keep an open mind. Educate me. But with all due respect to the Fsted jazz lovers and restaurants, the Disneyians ain't coming for that. They'll be gone by sundown. I guess if you own the jewelry store and tshirt concession, and bus to the local bar, it's a good thing.

My first trip to St. Croix was also via a cruise ship and I liked the island enough from that short intro that I came back to live.

St. Croix doesn't have enough hotel rooms for additional airlines to come to the island. The hotel rooms have to be built before it makes any sense to add flights when we are already at capacity most of the year. Until hotel rooms are built, bringing in oen or two cruise ships each week would add some tourism dollars that would directly benefit the small businesses, especially in Frederiksted where the $$ are most needed.

When cruise ships come regularly, Frederiksted merchants open up more shops and businesse and can afford to paint and maintain the exterior of the buildings. When the town doesn't look dilapidated, it doesn't have the questionable vibe that it gives off to some people who don't spend enough time there to see beyond the surface.

At Capacity most of the year????? Check the numbers with, ST Croix Chamber of Commerce, ST Croix Hotel & Tourism Association (HTA), ST Croix Department of Tourism (DOT). The Chamber of Commerce has a site to get ideas to help increase tourism. www. USVI-ideas.com.WHY?

I don't think Frederiksted looks dilapidated. Questionable vibe? Spend enough time there to see beyond the surface (Ships arrive at 9:00AM and depart at 5:30PM same day).Again I say MORE PLANE'S!

the cruise ship people do not spend all that much time in f'sted to begin with, most of them hop in cabs and go to c'sted or sightseeing or the beaches, as far as shopping the ships are going to st thomas or st martin as well and there is no way st croix will ever be able to compete with the sheer volume those islands have in terms of stores or discounts, st croix will never be st thomas or st martin thank god. as far as the taxi drivers the government needs to stop issuing new medallions the cabs on st thomas are like ticks on a dog and most drive around with half or less capacity, they clog the streets bring traffic to a standstill with are their begging and arrogance. Neil i also worked in f'sted at night for about 3 years and never had a problem, the only hassels i ever saw were on gov paydays when the male gov employees spent their checks, got drunk and into fights at the prostitue bars on queen street, or late night fights at the lost dog,i've always felt safer in f'sted than i ever did in c'sted or charlotte amalie. by not going to f'sted at night you are missing out on blue moon,aqua west,st tropez,sunset grille beachside cafe and all the local places, alot of those places have been there since before hugo and i guess their owners have faith in the area or the doors would have been closed long ago

Neil had it right in his first post.

The best thing in Frederiksted is the highway leaving!

Anybody hear anything about a new cruise ship terminal being built at Molasses dock?

It would be a great idea. Shorter commute for the passengers to get to c'sted and stx doesn't have to be embarrased by passengers seeing f'sted in the first place.

my my are'nt you just nancy negative today, will you be providing details as to why you don't like F'sted or do you perhaps own a business in c'sted, tsk,tsk

Julie Barstow,
The Highway goes both directions to and from! STX is the only USVI with a Highway! This resident is not embarrassed by cruise ship passengers seeing Frederiksted first. I find it interesting that other posters on this thread arrived on STX via a cruise ship, and came back to live and work here POST HUGO.

On my cruise ship trip to STX, we didn't even go to Christiansted that day. All we saw was Frederiksted. It was the people of F'sted who made the day so positively memorable.

There were more shops open then and more of the buildings had been recently painted. Cruise ship passengers don't mind seeing "old" places, that's part of the charm and history of exploring any of these islands. It would be great if the waterfront renovation could be taken further into the interior of the town at least by giving the buildings a coating of fresh paint to make things cheery as that would give a better first impression to new arrivals.

Alexandra,
Just arriving on st croix from the North in the winter months is cheery enough! I Like the people in Kansas city, but I wouldn't move there. However if it was the people that made you move here, that's great.

Lizard - I knew I was going to move to the tropics, but was still figuring out where to go. I had been an exchange student in Mexico while in high school, so knew about cultural differences and vast differences in daily life. After visiting a lot of different islands, STX just felt like the best fit. Having had an unpleasant day on STT the day previously, the dramatic difference of the local welcome we received in F'sted was quite remarkable.

Alexandra,
You made the right choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that Fsted does need some more restaurants and shops, however without more visitors from outside the island or people staying long term on the island visiting Fsted, the businesses can't afford to open.
I do like the wider streets of Fsted, Lost Dog has great Pizza, however friends who live in that area tell me never to park at night over in the parking by the ball field for fear of being mugged. True?? I don't know, but sometimes perception is as real as truth.
There are seedy parts of Csted that I don't go into at night as well. No place is perfect.

I hope there aren't too many cruise ships that stop in. If so, there goes the pier diving. Also while many don't like STX because there is not of lot of shopping and night life, I am just the opposite, that is one of the things I like. I have only been to STT twice, and both times were in the tourist areas and one tour guided tour. I could not get off of that island soon enough.
STT er's don't take that wrong, I'm sure that there are many very nice spots and areas that I didn't get to spend any time in. I also understand that they have cracked down on the store owners standing outside trying to drag you into the store.

I have been told over and over...do this in f'sted do that in f'sted...get to know f'sted.

I have been here for six years, I have been there and done that.

F'sted is a dump, can't change my mind.

And no, I don't own a business in Christiansted, I am just smart enough to know where to be and not get mugged.

(please don't quote statistics, I know them)

"Dump" is in the eye of the beholder. How about "quaint" ?

My opening comment was that the town (and area) seemed dead to me. Impressions matter.
Good to hear they're fixing it up, but can't imagine the cruise crowd being ecstatic with fresh paint and some open stores. But I guess it's a start.

2000 people fanning out throughout the island to spend money is a good thing ...as long as I don't end up in the same place they are that day.

well julie and neil, i think you're both being negative which is something that st croix no longer needs, after 14 years of living here and dealing with tourists,snow birds and everyone else that lives here i've come to realize that we all need to be goodwill ambasadors and promote all parts of st croix and try to represent ourselves in public with some tact,grace and dignity if we want these people to return and help foster the economy,sorry for the lecture but it's how i feel.

trw,
You are right on. As a former DMO (Destination Marketing Org.) for a major CVB in the states, I can tell you without a doubt, the destination has to be marketed first, and that means the entire island, before you can start selling your individual products (or township). To be successful, you must have the support of the residents and businesses. I, for one, am very pleased that we can expect Disney in 09, and I plan to get involved someway, maybe through the Chamber of Commerce, in making sure we're ready. I don't think any of us want another St. Thomas, and I think we are in a position right now to start controlling our tourism growth in a positive direction.

trw and juanita, I truly appreciate your point of view. BUT.....this board is not the chamber of commerce.

I'd like to think that the information being posted here is individual honest opinion, not propaganda. To me, that's the real value of this Relocation Board, --that it's not an advertisement for real estate and vacation destinations.

Julie's comments were pretty harsh, but they sounded honest, and I've heard other people on STX and this board say the same thing. Of course, opinion is not fact OR tact. I was trying to be more diplomatic. (and occasionally succeed 😉 )

I'm hoping for some details of how Fsted is improving. Managed intelligent growth should improve the lives of local people, especially the kids and schools, -which is a bottom line for me. Not sure how more bars, jewelry stores and snorkeling adventures can do that with no sales tax. Willing to be educated!

I more than strongly suspect that Tourism doesn't benefit the local population enough to offset the negative impact of tourists in the Carib basin. The jobs aren't well paying, and the money tends to flow to the owners, not the workers and their families. Which is to say that STX needs less CVB and more local indigenous businesses producing real goods and not just services, to raise the standard of living for the locals.