Photo Essay: Cruise Ships Return to Frederiksted After a Long Hiatus

Cruise ship passengers disembark a visiting ship at St. Croix’s Ann E. Abramson pier in Frederiksted on Tuesday, November 9. Cruise ships are just beginning to return to the island after a long, COVID-induced hiatus. (Source photo by Patricia Borns)

Back-to-back cruise ship visits to the west end of St. Croix were noticed by cautiously optimistic Crucians near and far as the ships’ massive profiles rose higher than many local building. Giant vans waited to transport many of the passengers to island tours while local taxis waited for stray fares, but the atmosphere at Frederiksted’s Buddhoe Park was festive with music and vendor kiosks.

A visiting cruise ship rises above the horizon at St. Croix’s Ann E. Abramson pier in Frederiksted on Tuesday, November 9, as a rising sun lights the fields of nearby Raising Cane farm. (Source photo by Patricia Borns)

Cruise ships returned to St. Croix in August after a year and a half hiatus. Back-to-back trips to St. Croix are a good economic indicator for an island that traditionally has fewer visits than St. Thomas.

Workers at Raising Cane, a sugarcane farm on Mahogany Road, pause to take in a visiting cruise ship rising above the horizon at nearby Ann E. Abramson pier in Frederiksted on Tuesday, November 9. (Source photo by Patricia Borns)
A visiting cruise ship berths alongside St. Croix’s Ann E. Abramson pier in Frederiksted on Tuesday, November 9. (Source photo by Patricia Borns) 
Cruise ship passengers disembark a visiting ship at St. Croix’s Ann E. Abramson pier in Frederiksted on Tuesday, November 9. (Source photo by Patricia Borns)