While 2025 numbers are down slightly, the cruise industry is going strong and on track to reach record highs in 2026, West Indian Company Ltd. CEO Anthony Ottley told a meeting of the agency’s board of directors Friday.
“I’m pleased to report that the cruise industry is healthy, booming and getting better. Fiscal year 2025 is projected to receive 280 ship calls with 938,000 passengers. To date, this season, 223 ships have brought 712,000 passengers — an expected 7% decrease compared to the same time last year,” said Ottley.
Much of the decrease is attributed to WICO’s regular high-capacity ships going to dry dock for public space upgrades, cabin additions and suite redesigns in the second quarter of the year, he said. However, “we see an immediate and significant rebound next fiscal year with a return of those ships to St. Thomas, along with added traffic,” Ottley said.
“We are projected to have 360 ship calls carrying over 1.13 million passengers,” in 2026, he said. That’s a projected 20% increase over this year and a 14% increase over fiscal year 2024, which Ottley characterized as “amazing news for the territory.”
“The last time we saw this many ships was in fiscal year 2016, prior to Irma and Maria,” he said, though he cautioned board members that the numbers could fluctuate depending on changes in ship calls during the year due to weather, operational challenges with vessels, or changes in itineraries.
Additionally, the global cruise fleet is poised to grow another 30% over the next eight years, said Ottley, which is great news for the Virgin Islands but also presents challenges as ships grow in size, he said.
“The larger ships entering the market continues to create challenges for many ports in the Caribbean with their limited berthing capacity and restrictions and St. Thomas is no different. This trend is evident with partners such as [Norwegian Cruise Line], which has ordered four ships that will be over 1,200 feet, beginning in 2030. This challenge, along with ship timing, conflicts, and the unfortunate delay of the Charlotte Amalia dredging project continues to cause incremental loss of ships for WICO,” said Ottley.
The long-awaited St. Thomas Harbor dredging project is critical to facilitating larger cruise vessels at the dock in Havensight. The project will be funded with $17 million from the V.I. Public Finance Authority via legislation submitted by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and $1.5 million from the Community Facilities Trust Fund.
Ottley has said previously that it’s important to get the project done as soon as possible. While St. Thomas might be Plan A, if a ship can’t safely navigate the harbor it will go to Plan B or C and the territory will lose out on additional revenue, he said at a V.I. Port Authority “Industry Day” last August.
Responding to questions Friday from board Chairman Jason Charles about canceled calls this fiscal year, Ottley said there have been 14, but only two were because WICO couldn’t accommodate berthing due to excessive lengths. Otherwise, two calls were canceled due to weather and 10 because of itinerary changes, he said.
Cruise lines generally book their berths 24 to 30 months in advance and cancellations — which can occur if there is a problem with a ship, or if they have to move the ship to the western Caribbean, for example — are a headache, said Ottley, “because now it opens a berth at our dock that we had closed off. There are challenges with that for us because it’s within maybe a year or 18 months, it would be hard to market that space to another ship that may have had interest in coming to St. Thomas,” he said.
To help mitigate the fallout from cancellations in the future, WICO is revising its new, upcoming contracts with wording “to utilize the space as efficiently as possible and be able to pivot to offer other lines that space in the interim,” said Ottley.
The CEO also gave a brief rundown of the agency’s participation at the Seatrade Cruise Global conference last month in Miami, considered the industry’s leading annual event.
“WICO and USVI government officials attended with 120 other countries and more than 70 cruise line brands. Pivotal and collaborative meetings were held between the USVI contingency and cruise lines to explore emerging trends, guest experience enhancements, infrastructure development, and strengthened partnerships with the cruise industry leaders,” Ottley told the board.
Among the agencies promoting the U.S. Virgin Islands to cruise partners and attendees were the Tourism Department, Port Authority and Government Employees’ Retirement System, which owns the Havensight Mall property, said Ottley.
“The U.S. Virgin Islands trade show presence was considered one of the most dynamic and culturally engaging with musicians, moko jumbies and traditional dancers. WICO also held a small reception to give our local senators the opportunity to meet with several of our crews and excursion partners. Representatives from Carnival Corporation, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Disney Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Virgin Excursions, among others, attended and were able to have fruitful discussions with our attending legislators, further strengthening our partnerships,” he said.
“Our executive team also met with our cruise partners to discuss operational challenges, berthing schedule conflicts, and possible property development opportunities,” said Ottley.
In other business:
- Finance Committee Chairman Hugo Hodge Jr. told the board that WICO is on solid financial footing, with revenues up and expenses slightly down, which he called “a good combination.” The company has seen an increase in operating profits and net income, though the numbers for fiscal 2025 are “still fluid,” and assets are unchanged and liabilities remain the same. “The company is heading in the right direction,” he said. “We are definitely on the road to getting the company to where we want it to be.”
- A project to replace the property’s water line infrastructure that is more than 60 years old, and an oil tank demolition project, should begin this summer, with permit approvals from the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and its Coastal Zone Management division expected “any week now,” said Ottley.
- The building that formerly housed the butterfly farm has been leased, WICO is in negotiations with a potential tenant for a vacant office space, and is also in talks to lease a portion of the company’s concrete yard for parking, Ottley said.
- WICO passed its 2025 Coast Guard inspection with no deficiencies and submitted its security plan, which is pending Coast Guard review. Routine camera maintenance is ongoing and replacement backup batteries have been ordered, he said.
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