Jet Blue rumors...

For the life of me I don't understand why the tourism people don't try to convince a discount carrier to service STX. They focused on the cruise ships and have generated some revenue for STX but I'm convinced that if we had a discount carrier (Jet Blue, Southwest, Spirit, etc.) that serviced STX we would make much more money from having tourists come here for several days at a time instead of an occasional ship discharing passengers for 8 hours...

i agree good.....we need more carriers besides A.Airlines (i try not to fly with them out of StX) i have found its easier to go out of St.Thomas to anywhere in the states.

I think traveling through San Juan is awful. If we could have more direct flights.

Jet blue would be perfect. and yummmmmmm those blue chips:D

They have to fill up planes so it's market driven. The Jet Blue rumors have been around a while & with the economy the way it is, I'm guessing it won't happen this season but I hope I'm wrong.

Thanks, guys...I guess I'll just keep hoping that they will be able to come eventually!

pilatesgal318

I think STX is in a bit of a Chicken/Egg scenario. The airlines look at the number of available hotel rooms on STX which is relatively small so they don't add service. But we need more air service before we can build more hotel rooms...and the cycle goes on and on.

I fly American and as a business traveler they serve me well. They are adding a second flight 3 times a week to/from Miami which will be a nice improvement. I am a little worried that if we got a discount carrier we'd lose some of the AA flights, which would be bad for me as a business traveler, but I agree better for tourism. It would also be nice to have more family/friends be able to visit, they don't now because its just too expensive to fly to STX.

Sean

it`s amazing, after all these years,you can still thank thank the fountain valley murders & Bert Brian for STX tourism problems.

I disagree with DUN. Fountain Valley was what...35 years ago? No, I think a big issue is people simply don't know about us. The previous tourism commissioner. was a waste of air space. Nicholson-Doty has only had the position a relatively short time. It takes time to build up "name recognition". It's getting better, but then the economy and flight prices got in the way. We need as much consumer marketing as we can possibly squeeze out of the tourism budget. And then we need to make the tourists that do come as welcome as possible. Call me cynical, but anyone that does remember FV will probably be asking the taxi driver to take them by that golf course where the massacre took place.

have seen the commericals running alot on tv in the mornings. what they don't add in commericals is "GOOD LUCK GETTING THERE"

maybe when the william punch project is in the works airlines will start looking at us. One can hope anyway.

American Eagle needs to improve. they like to cancel flights at the last minute which throws off your whole trip.

I'm in partial agreement with DUN...when I travel down island, I get so many comments (still) about FV. Many many people still remember that and relate it to the current crime in STX and do not want to come here to visit. On the other hand, I don't know anyone who ever heard of BB before coming to STX, so I don't think his attitude directly affects the toursim draw, rather chases away many implants that try to make it here.

Why is flying in and out of PR so bad? I want to be prepared. We are arriving on the 17th and they have us coming thru PR-first time we have done that.

Pat Cook
It's not that bad, it would be nice to have a direct flight from your original point of origin. Depending on the size of the puddle jumper you are on, it only takes 30-45 minutes to get to STX.

I've never really minded flying through San Juan, but it does entail a little inconvenience in that it's a plane change, and you leave the main concourse and actually walk out to a bus that takes you to your plane. No big deal. Some people have reported issues with lost or stolen bags or packages, but I have not had a problem. There also seems to be more delayed flights. And, the last thing I can think of right now is if you arrive in San Juan in the evening, even early evening, all the shops and restaurants are closed, so it's just sit and wait for your connection to STT or STX. I always grab the direct STX-Miami, if I can. With an extra direct flight, that should be easier now.

Juanita - it's been awhile since you flew through PR. There is no longer a bus to take. American Eagle is at their new gates. You still go outside, down a flight of stairs but you walk to the plane.

PR is only bad if you are flying American Eagle because of their questionable on-time performance that messes up your connecting flights to the mainland.

I disagree with DUN. Fountain Valley was what...35 years ago? No, I think a big issue is people simply don't know about us. The previous tourism commissioner. was a waste of air space. Nicholson-Doty has only had the position a relatively short time. It takes time to build up "name recognition". It's getting better, but then the economy and flight prices got in the way. We need as much consumer marketing as we can possibly squeeze out of the tourism budget. And then we need to make the tourists that do come as welcome as possible. Call me cynical, but anyone that does remember FV will probably be asking the taxi driver to take them by that golf course where the massacre took place.

With that concept, STX should be a formidable tourist destination in what, another 7 tourism commissioners?
Another 35 years?
Seems the airport memories are not the only ones dulled through time here...
Get real!

Unfortunately, only the bad gets remembered.

This is not a STT vs. STX. post, just trying to get some Cruzan newbies to think different, outside of the box!

I guess I am pretty dulled. I don't seem to be able to follow what DUN is suggesting. You can't change history. What would your marketing plan be?

yes if you are on eagle it seems to have more of a chance of being late or totally cancelled. I usually fly cape air out of S.J.and so far so good. i just DO NOT like the san juan airport. its too spaced out with alot of nuttin in between. I still prefer catching cape air to St. Thomas and flying out of there. more direct flights.

We do need more direct flights also.

I can not believe F.V. would still have an effect. it is not even mentioned in the local paper anymore. I

I was visiting the states a few years ago and was watching the N.York morning. something had happened here on STX and they interviewed a N.Y. travel agent. She said she tries to discourage her clients from coming to St. X. St. Thomas was safer..

I literally sat there with my mouth falling open. wanted to call that travel agent and tell her a few things.

When I talk to people in the NY Metro Area, they usually say "where is ST Croix". and didn't even know it was part of the USVI. So I don't believe that the FV incident has an effect of tourism today. I do believe that St Croix has always been considered the red headed step child of the USVI. Maybe change come soon!

FV has probably little effect on stateside tourism, but like I said, I've heard it mentioned in a negative light almost everytime I travel downisland and mention I'm from STX.

Dixie Chick - I believe issues like the one you described were due to Pamela Richards. She would constantly put St. Croix down to all who would listen. Our new tourism commissioner is doing a great job at reversing the damage done by Richards. It will take more than that. I was in STT sitting at the Greenhouse when I heard a tourist ask the bartender about a side trip to St. Croix. The bartender told them they should never go to St. Croix because it was way to dangerous "over there". I asked the bartender what gave him that idea and he said that everyone who "lives here" knows it - he couldn't provide any concrete proof for his statement. You should have seen his face when I said I lived in STX (he clearly thought I was also a tourist). I spoke to the other people and told them all about STX and how the crime rate in STT was indeed higher than STX. I don't know if they ever came over but I did my best to reverse the damage done by that bartender.

divinggirl if you happened to hear him say that to one couple can you imagine how many others have been told that.????
Thank god you were close by.

I have also n oticed in the Avis (not sure about daily as well) but the headlines or by line will say St. Croix, but when you start reading the article its actually in St. Thomas. wonder if that is for benefit of tourists seeing it.

I have also heard while in states and on other islands that ST. Croix has alot of crime.

And yes i think Pamela Richards was a fav of St. Thomas.

And of course when we started getting cruise ships back and the taxi drivers pulled that "stunt" about prices etc. that word gets back to the states. We shoot ourselves in the foot sometimes.

There's also just not much for the cruise ship passengers to do in Frederiksted and limited shopping choices. Some of the cruise ship activity directors are advising passengers not to get off the ship in F'sted because there is so little to do and/or shop for. There's a long list of vendors waiting for tent sites to open up. That just makes no sense. We have vendors that want to sell handcrafted goodies to the tourists, tourists that want to buy handcrafted goodies from the vendors, yet little is being done to bring the two together.

When I'm in STT and tell people I'm from St. Croix I often get "oh you're from St. Crime" back as the retort. I'm never sure if it's playful bashing or if a lot of St. Thomian's think that it's worse here than it is over there. The crime statistics really don't bear that out though.

I was at a bar in Manhattan a few years ago and ran into Steve Dunleavy (former host of TV show Current Affair and a NY Post writer I believe). We started talking at the bar (where he was a fixture) and when I mentioned St. Croix the first thing that came to mind was FV..."isn't that where they shoot American tourists on the golf course." For older people this is still something they associate STX with, but I don't think that it is holding us back too much.

Sean

I've lived on STT for 27 years & have never heard STX referred to as St. Crime. Ever.