The Virgin Islands Port Authority Wednesday authorized a New York engineering firm to design an extension and modernization that would bring St. Croix’s cruise pier into the 21st Century.
The $835,490 contract tasks Moffatt & Nichol with creating designs and permitting services for the Ann E. Abramson Marine Facility Cruise Pier Improvements Project to be able to accommodate Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Freedom-class ships, officials said at the authority’s board meeting.
Funding for the project would come exclusively from a $5 head tax on Royal Caribbean passengers in place since January 2024, said Executive Director Carlton Dowe.
The Abramson Pier can currently only handle the Voyager-class ships, which debuted in 1999. Named for the first of their kind, Voyager of the Seas, these 138,000-ton ships are 1,021 feet long, 157.5 feet wide, and require a minimum of 29 feet depth. They can hold 3,114 passengers.
While similar in design and layout to the Voyager class, which first introduced the cavernous open middle section of the ship called the Royal Promenade, the 154,407-ton Freedom class ships can accommodate 4,370 passengers. Named after Freedom of the Seas, which debuted in 2006, these ships are 1,111 feet long and more than 183 feet wide.
Port Authority officials also voted for a fifth time to extend a memorandum of understanding with Royal Caribbean and Cruise Terminals International for the further development of the Crown Bay Center on St. Thomas. Port Authority Chairman Willard S. John expressed disappointment that plans for a third cruise berth in the area were taking so long. John said the board would be dismayed if the need for a sixth extension arose.
The board took no action on a suggestion to waive a $534,006 charge to the Virgin Islands Justice Department to store its mobile morgue on VIPA property. The temporary medical examination center is at the Wilfred Allick Port and Transshipment Center — the container port— on St. Croix.
