All smiles for Pier Park operators as cruise visitors flock stores
It was all smiles for store operators at the Cyril B Romney Tortola Pier Park last Wednesday as passengers from the Mein Schiff 2 cruise ship were seen exploring the shops and purchasing souvenirs before returning to the ship.
The cruise ship was a 1,886-passenger vessel from TUI Cruises and its stop at the Pier Park was not expected at the start of the season.
According to one shop operator in the park, the cruise ship was not added to the list of arrivals until early last week. However, he is grateful it stopped in the Virgin Islands because this is the first time since the start of the cruise ship season, he has seen as many customers in his shop.
“It has been good, the tourists are coming and visiting. They are browsing the items and buying stuff. They are outside enjoying the place, drinking coffee, buying food and engaging with the music. So, it is a good site to see,” a phone store operator said.
Meanwhile, Xavier Javier, the operator of That’s Spirit Liquor store said at the very least, it is nice to see people are coming into the stores again and interacting with operators. Javier spared a moment in between his busy time of explaining the different liquors and allowing the customers to sample the rums on display to give a comment to our news team.
“It is a refreshing sight to see people coming into the store, especially after the last few cruises that came. I’m very happy about this and I hope it continues with the other ships that will be arriving very soon,” Javier said.
“People have been coming in non-stop from the cruise ship since they landed this morning. And as you can see, it’s been pretty busy. They are also actually buying things from us when they come into the store. So, I’m really happy about that,” he added.
BVI News got to speak to one of the cruise passengers on the ship. He said it was his first time stopping over in the BVI and he has enjoyed the little time he spent in the territory. He added he hopes to get some souvenirs to take back home to Spain.
The operations of Mein Schiff 2 are a stark contrast to that of Seabourn Odyssey whose passengers were not allowed to visit the shops in the pier park or also explore Road Town when they arrive at the start of the cruise season.
BVI News tried contacting the Director of the BVI Tourist Board Clive McCoy to ascertain why the operations were different. Our news centre was unsuccessful.
November is gearing up to be a very busy month in the cruise ship season and operators in the pier park are expecting to reap the benefits of the traffic.
Approximately 16 ships are expected to dock at the port between now and the end of November.
According to one shop operator in the park, the cruise ship was not added to the list of arrivals until early last week. However, he is grateful it stopped in the Virgin Islands because this is the first time since the start of the cruise ship season, he has seen as many customers in his shop.
“It has been good, the tourists are coming and visiting. They are browsing the items and buying stuff. They are outside enjoying the place, drinking coffee, buying food and engaging with the music. So, it is a good site to see,” a phone store operator said.
Meanwhile, Xavier Javier, the operator of That’s Spirit Liquor store said at the very least, it is nice to see people are coming into the stores again and interacting with operators. Javier spared a moment in between his busy time of explaining the different liquors and allowing the customers to sample the rums on display to give a comment to our news team.
“It is a refreshing sight to see people coming into the store, especially after the last few cruises that came. I’m very happy about this and I hope it continues with the other ships that will be arriving very soon,” Javier said.
“People have been coming in non-stop from the cruise ship since they landed this morning. And as you can see, it’s been pretty busy. They are also actually buying things from us when they come into the store. So, I’m really happy about that,” he added.
BVI News got to speak to one of the cruise passengers on the ship. He said it was his first time stopping over in the BVI and he has enjoyed the little time he spent in the territory. He added he hopes to get some souvenirs to take back home to Spain.
The operations of Mein Schiff 2 are a stark contrast to that of Seabourn Odyssey whose passengers were not allowed to visit the shops in the pier park or also explore Road Town when they arrive at the start of the cruise season.
BVI News tried contacting the Director of the BVI Tourist Board Clive McCoy to ascertain why the operations were different. Our news centre was unsuccessful.
November is gearing up to be a very busy month in the cruise ship season and operators in the pier park are expecting to reap the benefits of the traffic.
Approximately 16 ships are expected to dock at the port between now and the end of November.
