Why does Magic stop at St Martin first?

[Babadee]

Does anyone know why the Magic does not stop at St Thomas first and therefore eliminate the need for the 6:00 am immigration procedures?

This topic has probably been discussed before but I could not find it using the search function. What I did find using the search function was the reason for the immigration procedures is because the ship has visited St Martin (a non-US port) prior to arrival at St Thomas and thus everyone on the ship needs to be cleared regardless as to whether you are getting off the ship or not in St Thomas.

Could this not be avoided by making St Thomas the first stop? What am I missing here?

Is it that the St Thomas port can't accept any more cruise ships on a Tuesday?

 

[Werner Weiss]

The reason that the Disney Magic goes to St. Maarten first is based on the distances that the ship must travel between ports.

St. Maarten is the most distant port. The Magic arrives in St. Maarten after two days at sea.

When the Magic departs from St. Maarten, it essentially turns around, stopping at St. Thomas and Castaway Cay on the way back to Florida.

The Magic departs from St. Thomas around 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, and arrives at Castaway Cay around 9:00 a.m. on Friday. The ship needs that much time to travel from St. Thomas to Castaway Cay. (I understand it can do the trip in somewhat less time, at the expense for far greater fuel consumption.) That's why the Magic doesn't stay in St. Thomas until later at night.

If the Magic had to travel the greater distance from St. Maarten to Castaway Cay instead, the ship would have to leave St. Maarten much earlier or arrive at Castaway Cay much later. Essentially, one of those port days would become so short as to be nearly worthless. I haven't seen any math on how many hours would be involved, but I think it's safe to say nobody wants their time at Castaway Cay reduced by a significant number of hours.

Does anyone have some real calculations, based on the distances involved and the ship's normal cruising speed?