Cruises Sail Back to St. Croix in U.S. Virgin Islands

A cruise ship line will make 11 daytime stops in St. Croix starting in October, bringing a desperately needed surge of visitors to the poorest island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the government announced Thursday.

The Norwegian Dawn, with a crew and passenger capacity of more than 5,500, will make its first stop October 15, the government said. No dates for the other stops were announced.

Some 40,000 cruise passengers have visited St. Croix this year, mostly during nightly refueling stops aboard Royal Caribbean ships. Islanders welcomed the refueling stops, desperate to lure cruise passengers back after just 1,600 visited in 2004 aboard two ships.

With unemployment around 13 percent, the new stops by Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Lines could boost the local economy.