Getting ready for Oasis
of the Seas. The Port Authority and Police
Department are working to get ready for the arrival of the Oasis of the Seas on
December 8th. This ship is twice as large as any ship that has ever
visited St. Thomas and all kinds of changes are lined up. The Crown Bay roads will be reorganized. All
traffic from Austin Monsanto Marine Terminal in Crown Bay will on route 304 past
Crown Bay Marina, Pueblo and the Bureau
of Motor Vehicles will be one way toward town. You will not be able to drive
west from Doctor’s Choice pharmacy toward the dock. From town back to the Crown Bay Dock you have to drive to the airport road and loop
around past WAPA.
Taxi’s will use Guttets
gade one way toward Market Square the loop back on Strand Gade. Store Taver
Gade will be closed from the Greenhouse to Main Street for pedestrians. At the east end of town, taxi’s from West
Indian Company Limited will turn on Tolbod gade, right along Emancipation
Garden and right past the firehouse on the way back to Havensight.
And Saturday and Monday there
will be a trial run of these traffic patterns.
There are improvements to the sidewalks and signs in Crown Bay area as they
are expecting a lot of foot traffic in the area.
The real test is December
8 with the Oasis of the Seas. Police Department officers will all be out in
force on Tuesday December 8 – no leave, no days off. Dept. of Tourism is
planning a steel pan welcome with Mocko Jumbies and at 2:00 PM at Crown Bay there is a full Caribbean show planned. There
will be cultural entertainment at Emancipation Garden and Rothschild Francis Market Square. Tuesday is a good day to stay away from the Austin
Monsanto Marine Terminal in Crown Bay.
There will be 4 other
ships in St. Thomas that day including the inaugural visit by the Carnival
Dream at Havensight Dock – which is that company’s largest ship ever. Along
with Norwegian Pearl and Sea Princess. And as if Oasis of the Seas were not
enough, Costa Atlantica will also dock at Austin Monsanto Marine Terminal in
Crown Bay – On December 8 will see 15,000
people disembarking in St. Thomas. And
just to add to the pressure – many of them travel agents and travel writers on
these new ships first cruise. YIKES.
Fine for HOVENSA – the OSHA
cited the oil refinery for violations of safety codes and fined HOVENSA
$225,000 for 56 violations. Process hazard analysis, failure to document procedures,
maintenance on critical instruments.
HOVENSA issued a statement saying they share OSHA’s goals and promise a
careful review of the problems and swift action to correct the problems.
Good News from the Virgin
Islands Energy Office – the Virgin Islands is among the first places in the US
to receive funds from the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficient Appliance
rebate program. Ther is 104,000
available for rebates on purchase of energy efficient appliances. And solar
panels.
Good News from Colorado –
while they have temps in the teens with snow, the scientists who study
hurricanes say EL Nino is responsible for the mild hurricane season this year. Nine
named storms, three hurricanes and two major hurricanes formed in 2009. None of
them hit the territory, but there were a few threats: Ana, Bill and Erika. Fewest
storms since 1997. Back in August the forecasters predicted 10 named storms,
four hurricanes and two major hurricanes. Mild season. Count your blessings.
GERS reminds all
government employees that the members retiring through December 31 will receive
credit for their years of service and sick leave or excess annual leave without
having to pay the employers contributions. The Legislature passed a bill to
offer 3 million to cover the cost of the government match for sick leave and
leave time for those who retire between January 2010 and December 2010. For more information call 776-7703.
Innovative Communication Corp. says they are having outages of the cable TV
on St. Thomas and St. John. The expanded
package is on the fritz, they will work on repairs immediately.
We are in the heart of the vaccination days in the public
schools. Today they are vaccinating
Yvonne E. Milliner Bowsky Elementary School, and on St.
Croix at Claude O. Markoe School today Eulalie (U-la-lee) Riviera School tomorrow.
Parents are reminded that schools need
the consent forms signed and delivered to make sure your child gets the
protection against the H1N1 Swine flu.
The Health department has an ample supply of swine flu vaccine on hand. The
rest of the school vaccination schedule.
On St. Thomas: Thursday at Gladys A Abraham Elementary
School, Friday at E. Benjamin Oliver School.
On St. Croix they are
vaccinating on Thursday at Eulalie (U-la-lee) Riviera School and Friday at
Arthur A. Richards Jr. High School.
Dept. of Agriculture says they are getting ready for the
Aggie Fair this weekend and the abattoir is closed today. Opening ceremonies are at 2 p.m. Saturday,
featuring awards to the 2009 Crop Farmer and Livestock Farmer. Saturday will
feature a beekeeping demonstration, and you can get a look inside a beehive, There
is a demonstration of goat and sheep herding, or fruit grafting or juice
making. Also food booths, music and for kids - baby bunnies to pet, chicks to
play with and a pony to ride. The Heritage Dancers, Addelita Cancryn High
Junior High School Quadrille Dancers and St. John's Ah We Band will keep feet
tapping on both days. Tickets $2 for adults, $1 for children.
Department of Education
will help the public school teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff take
one class at UVI in the spring semester with 100% of tuition costs and
associated fees paid. Sign-up start TODAY through Friday December 11th
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
There are limited number of available courses, so act quickly - first come,
first served. NO PHONE SIGN-UPS ALLOWED. Visit
our Offices located at Kongens Gade St. Thomas or Vitraco Mall in Orange Grove
St. Croix.
The Department of Tourism has unveiled a suite of
enhancements to its tourism Web site, VisitUSVI.com,.
The phase II enhancements include additional content and functionality in the
Packages & Promotions, Meetings & Incentives and Travel Agent areas of
the site, as well as a Spanish language translation available for the entire
site. Here are larger visuals to coincide with each promotion, and it’s easy to
see new destination packages and promotions. Check out the new INNTimate
Treasures package.And here is more news – the Department has created a new
Travel Agent Kit on VisitUSVI.com’s
Travel Agent page that includes key assets for agents to utilize for creating
visually-pleasing presentations to customers with images and video from all
three islands. And a new Spanish translation function also marks an important
step in reaching this key demographic of visitors to the destination. An
Español icon placed at the top right corner of the home page allows users to
instantly translate the entire site into Spanish.