This article is New Royal Caribbean Port Tax in US Virgin Islands. It is about a new port tax of $5 per-passenger for guests sailing on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity sailings in 2024.
Port Tax
Ports frequently perform updates and pass on the charges to cruise passengers.
Normally such taxes get applied to all cruise lines. Meanwhile, in this case it is only being applied to Royal Caribbean owned sailings. They reserve the right to apply the taxes to other cruise lines in the future.
The new taxes will be $5 per-passenger for guests sailing to St. Thomas and St. Croix.
Above all, the taxes will be charged to the cruise line. The cruise lines charge the additional amount to passengers as part of the port charges.
St. Thomas
St. Thomas is a very popular cruise port. Many ships visit most days in St. Thomas. Guests love going up the hill to take in the view of the cruise ships in port. In addition, there are some amazing beaches that are popular with cruise passengers.
The St. Thomas port recently added a third cruise pier. These taxes are used to pay for the pier construction and renovations to the existing piers.
St. Croix
Similarly to St. Thomas, St. Croix is making improvements to the port.
St. Croix is a less frequented cruise port in the US Virgin Islands.
St. Croix is dredging the port area to accommodate larger ships.
In addition, St. Croix made other improvements to the port.
Port Charges
It is annoying that there is a new Royal Caribbean Port Tax in the US Virgin Islands.
Above all, with cruise demand so great, it only makes sense that ports are investing to improve the facilities and experience for guests. For example, this recently happened in Nassau with new port charges imposed on all Bahamas cruise calls including private islands.
Although additional taxes can help the local community, these increases continue to increase the already high cruise prices of today.