Jan. 18, 2002 – A change in the schedule of the Explorer of the Seas cruise ship so that it stays an extra hour when visiting St. Thomas on Tuesdays got mixed reviews from merchants Friday. Meanwhile, a merchant on St. John said the fact that the Norway no longer drops passengers off at Cruz Bay before going on to St. Thomas hasn't made much difference to the business community.
This week, the first for the later stay in port by the Explorer of the Seas, "I had customers up until 5 p.m.," said an enthusiastic Selwyn Puig, owner of The Crystal Shoppe in downtown Charlotte Amalie. She said the downtown shopping district is usually a ghost town after 3:30 p.m. because tourists leave by then to get back to the ships in plenty of time for their scheduled departure. "They get nervous," she said.
The Explorer of the Seas now stays until 7 p.m. instead of departing at 6 p.m. Calvin Wheatley, The West Indian Co. spokesman, said Royal Caribbean International made the change to conform with Atlantic Standard Time.
WICO's president, Edward E. Thomas Sr., said in a news release announcing the change that WICO had been "courting" the various cruise lines in hopes they would keep their ships in port later to give passengers an extra hour of shopping.
In contrast to the Crystal Shoppe experience, the Perfume Palace, on Main Street, was not unusually busy on Tuesday afternoon. "There was no impact," assistant manager Erema Hunte said.
At Havensight Mall's Carnival Gift Shop, clerk Brenda Doyling said while there were shoppers in the store until the 5 p.m. closing, she did about the same volume of business as she normally does.
Passengers shopping in Havensight Mall, located adjacent to the WICO dock, do not have to face traffic to return to their ship as those downtown do. They can make a last-minute dash across the asphalt with no fear of missing the boat.
With the extra hour now before departure, Puig said, Explorer of the Seas passengers can avoid the afternoon traffic jam that typically extends from the Charlotte Amalie waterfront to Havensight. "It's easier for them," she said.
WICO said the Norway discontinued the practice of dropping passengers off on St. John two weeks ago. As a result, those visitors who have booked St. John excursions board a ferry that picks them up by the Norway after it anchors in the St. Thomas outer harbor.
According to the WICO release, the change came about because the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service no longer allows passengers to be cleared by INS agents while en route from St. John to St. Thomas. Agents previously boarded the ship off. John. The Norway now anchors at 6 a.m. Thursdays off Thomas.
The change has had minimal impact on St. John retail businesses, Pink Papaya owner Kate Campbell said. The Norway passengers had come ashore early in the morning when few shops were open, she said.
"We get very little cruise ship business anyway," Campbell added, because most cruise passengers who visit St. John do so to take pre-booked tours. They depart on their tours right after they hit land and have very little time to shop after their tour bus returns them to the Creek for the trip back to their ship, she said.
