Crown Bay Dock Docking or Tendering - St. Thomas

[Grumbo]

I read today that our March 10 stop in St. Thomas will be using the Crown Bay Dock.
I want to confirm that this will be docking and NOT tendering?
Thanks in advance for any info.

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

The two sites I usually use to check the docking assignments, ships.vi, and usvi-on-line.com, do not yet have the March schedules up.

I have not heard of the Magic docking at Crown Bay since it has been calling at St. Thomas. I've always thought it was too large, but I don't know that for sure. The vinow.com site, which does have a schedule posted, lists the Costa ship as being on the WICO pier. It's always been at anchor when I've been there and there were three other ships on the WICO dock.

So, I guess this is a long-winded way of saying I don't know the answer to your question, but I'd suggest checking back with the ships.vi site. You might even want to drop them a line and ask. They've been pretty good about answering me in the past.

 

[Grumbo]

Thanks Lloyd I actually just received a response and they are going to phone and confirm for me this afternoon where the Magic is going to be.

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

When you get your reply, please post it. I would be very surprised if, indeed, they used Crown Bay.

 

[Grumbo]

This is the one site that says Crown Bay. I'm still awaiting the reply via email.
http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/getting_here/Cruise-Schedule_2004/STT-Mar-2004.php

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[Grumbo]

Spoke with the folks from the other website via phone. Very nice lady but told me the Magic "always docks at WICO" and doesn't tender unless for a specific reason. Sooooooooooooooo that doesn't clarify the subject so have to wait and see but both sites now say "dock" as opposed to tendering so keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[musicgirl]

This is confusing. According to the above sites, some say inner anchorage, there are some marked as WICO and there are some marked at docking at Charlotte. The shopping info from DCL talks about tendering in as well. So it can not always be Havensight.

What does DCL state?

How about some of the recent cruisers, what did you do?

 

[mobetsy]

I may be totally confusing things here, because my memory is not 100% (perhaps not even 50%!), but I recall seeing that if the ship isn't docked at WICO/Havensight (for whatever unspecified reasons), tenders go to Charlotte Amalie. Would that then be listed as Crown Bay (I don't know my geography well enough to tell)...not the ship herself docked there, but the tenders coming in there?

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

On the schedules, WICO = Havensight, CB = Crown Bay. I don't believe a cruise ship of any size could dock near downtown Charlotte Amalie. If a ship is scheduled to anchor, it will list that on the schedule. The tenders all go to the tender pier in downtown, not to Crown Bay.

Crown Bay Marina is a bit west of downtown, on the other side of Hassel Island, past Frenchtown (here's a map of St. Thomas). Probably a bit further from downtown than Havensight. It has a cruise ship pier, but it can only handle smaller ships. I don't know if the Magic can fit there. I'm almost positive it has never docked there before.

 

[musicgirl]

OK, let's see if I have this correct.

According to ships.vi, They use the term inner anchorage which means to tender into Charlotte Amalie.

According to usvi-on-line, they list CB for Crown Bay, CA for Charlotte Amalie ( which probably means they do not dock here, but rather tender into CA). They also indicate if nothing is marked, it means WICO.

The second site list CA for Feb 11, 2004. I think I'll try to find one of those cruisers to find out.

Does this make any sense?

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

On the usvi-on-line site, "CA" means Charlotte Amalie harbor, which means that the ship anchors and will tender. This is the same as "inner anchorage." You can see ships at the inner anchorage on the Charlotte Amalie webcam when one is there. They will appear to the right, in front of Hassel Island. There is also an "outer anchorage" which, as you would expect, is outside the harbor. Before the SS Norway blew up, it would be anchored there, since its draft was too deep to enter the harbor. If there are too many ships on a given day, there will be a ship or two in the outer anchorage.

 

[musicgirl]

Thanks Lloyd, I knew I was reading the CA right. That makes sense!

Lorie

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

The usvi-on-line site now has the March schedule up. It also has the Magic listed as docking at Crown Bay. I'm still dubious, but this would seem to add credibility to the Crown Bay angle. This might make it hard for people to make the 9:00am ferry at Red Hook to get over to St. John.

 

[Grumbo]

That site is the one I initially got the information from Lloyd so really it is merely confirming itself.
I just want to grab a cab anyway asap so just have to wait and see once we get there.
I would think the crew would know the first or second day enroute whether it will be a tender or docking.

Cheers,
Grumbo