RCG-Royal Caribbean Group announced it had reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the USVI/ Virgin Islands.
The deal is expected to further enhance Crown Bay on Saint Thomas Island USVI, as well as a redevelopment of Saint Croix Island in the future.
This is the first step in a longer process of expanding the RCG visits to the islands and looking at ways to expand the cruise port facilities and passenger experience at both islands.
Royal Caribbean will expand its presence in St Thomas and St Croix. The deal will feature specific targets for bringing cruisers to each island. In the short term, the cruise company will bring more guests to the islands but enhancing the piers is a big part of the process.
A 3rd pier will be added to Crown Bay in Saint Thomas, which will mean there will be a total of 3 berths there, with 2 of them capable of handling an Icon Class liner.
Royal Caribbean will also look to expand St Croix (Frederiksted). This includes work on dredging the cruise pier to accommodate bigger ships. Currently, St Croix Pier can only handle vessels as large as RCI's Voyager Class.