The brains behind the St. John Spice Cam are those of a couple of hard-working transplants from Boston.
Ruth Ernst and Ron Piccininbought the St. John Spice business in 1999. Then, the shop was buried off a corridor at Wharfside Village. Then in 2005, they moved the shop downtown, in a second-floor retail space right at the end of the ferry dock. While such a space location can be death for retail, The Spice couple's offerings, and low prices, draw a steady line of people up the stairs.
The store is best known for its collection of spices and hot sauces, hundreds of them. The Cruz Bay Grill Rub, created by Ernst, is a top seller at $5 for 2.5 ounce or $27 a pound(!) The Grill Rub won a dry rub/seasoning honors in the 2009 competition staged by firey-foods.com.
Sounds like the airlines are getting fed up with the management of the St. Thomas airport.
A report of a meeting between the Governor and representatives of the major airlines serving Cyril E. King was headlined, by the Governor's press contact, as "an open and frank discussion." Those of us with any experience in Washington know what THAT means!
While the Governor complained to the airlines they they have to be more active in alerting the territory when people bring guns in their luggage, the airlines were more focused on business issues.
The government's reaction was to start talking about new fees. Everyone knows the airport baggage facilities are not. Port Authority officials said, "Once solutions are identified … (they) may consider implementing a baggage belt charge as a funding source.," the Governor reported.
What next? charge for using the turnstile to come into the airport from the tarmac?
Anyone who's passed through the Cyril E. King airport knows the baggage handling system is awful. That includes even the V.I. Port Authority which oversees the airport.
At a recent meeting of the Authority, plans to redo the baggage system, replace the air conditioning system, improve the runways and alter the layout of the building were discussed. The cost estimate was about $20 million, according to a report of the meeting by the St. John Source.
US Airways
is now taking reservations for a Saturday-only non-stop flight from
Boston to St. Thomas. One-way fare was priced online at $369 for the
3-hour 50-minute flight the new route. With a non-stop return, the
round trip ticket is $668 including taxes and fees.
The release from the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism
about the new service is fascinating.
Tourism is ‘dedicating’ (giving?) $25,000 to help the airline’s marketing of the new service.
DOT
has ‘earmarked’ $1 million for TV ads from now ‘til December ‘with US
Airways as the call to action.”This meansTourism’s doing TV
to promote the Territory and tagging each spot with a pitch for US Airways.
Tourism will sponsor a reception for travel agents and media in Boston in
December to promote the service, ‘followed by a familiarization visit
(!!) for a group of key US Airways travel agent suppliers and top-tier
journalists in early January 2010.” No cost estimate was provided.
The economic slump is hitting the islands hard, to judge by the Department of Tourism’s budget estimates for the next year. DOT has told the VI Senate it needs $4.38 million, half of which is for personnel. None of it is for advertising and marketing the islands.
“Fringe benefits” add another $727,252 in costs, according to a report by the Virgin Islands Daily News. (Read the full story here.)
The Inquiring Iguana thinks this is wacky, at least. Fringe benefits add another 36% to costs. Must be one hell of a company picnic. Some researchers say 11% is more the norm.
But, back to business. Tourism said it expects to receive $13.6 million from the Revolving Fund. That comes from the 8% Hotel Tax you pay when you stay on St. John. Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty told the Senators her department expects 30% less marketing dollars as a result of fewer visitors. She said she’ll have to be more “savvy and efficient.”
Anyone doubt that. despite this, the police will still get new SUVs?
Whether American Airlines really means it when they suggest you arrived at the airport four hours ahead of departure, to insure your bags get on the plane with you, there are some things you can do to reduce the stress of the airport.
Log on to AA.com where you can print your boarding passes the night before you are set to fly.
Try to live with one carry on bag. How much room do shorts, underwear, t-shirts and sandals require, anyway?
Use the automatic check-in machines at the airport. An agent will sticker the bags and you’re on the way.
The customer relations office of American Airlines is not on board with that notice from the St. Thomas AA people about your having to show up at the airport four hours ahead of departure.
AA’s Debbie Mahan e-mailed a News of St. John reader saying, “In looking at our Web site, aa.com, it states … "(for) flights departing Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands, recommended check-in time is at least two hours prior to scheduled departure.” (It also says the baggage acceptance cut-off time is one hour.)
In other words, the “four hour” announcement about 11 days ago is not official airline policy. But, it is also not without reason.
Anyone who’s gone through check-in, Customs, and then TSA/Baggage screening at STT knows it’s a nightmare. Random searches of carry-ons and suitcases sure can gum up the works. (Here’s the TSA list of what’s not allowed in your checked baggage and which can set off alarms and stop the process.)
TSA is working in a fairly confined space with just a few X-Ray machines. The work area can easily get inundated because so many flights bound for the mainland have scheduled departures between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. The Inquiring Iguana has been told a ‘significant number” of pieces of luggage have been left behind as a result of such baggage screening crunches, insuring VI-vacationers arrive at their home airport with more than the glow of their tan wearing off after what may have been a great vacation.
The VI Tourism department, although publicly silent about the local American statement, has been talking with AA corporate about what the VI Port Authority can do to make leaving paradise less stressful.
It's always a huge PITA to get out of the St.Thomas airport, right? Well, it's going to get more painful. American Airlines this week issued a notice saying it recommends passengers departing the USVI check in at the baggage counter "at least (4) four hours prior to scheduled departure."
And if you're not there early, you may really be out of luck because, says AA, "All flights … out of St. Thomas will close for check-in … 60 minutes before any departure." It sounds like, "If your bags don't have tags an hour ahead, you're staying in STT for the night."
Someone leaving on American's flight for Miami at 11:20 a.m., and staying on St. John, is going to have to get the 6 a.m. ferry and pray. The rest of us will have to pray that US Airways, Delta, Continental, and United Airlines don't follow the lead of American.
St. John's Accommodations Council members were surprised by American's new policy statement, some wondering if the Department of Tourism may get involved. After all, having to be at the airport clearly puts the islands at a disadvantage with tourists.
This morning, Thursday, the Tourism Department’s list of news releases works.
It’s really odd, tho … instead of clicking links to see the story, you have to click either the "Word" or the "PDF" button to get the text in those formats. No other web site I’ve seen does this.
Wonder what the Department doesn’t like about Web pages. Could it be that this way, converting it to two formats, takes more time and makes more work?
Yesterday’s post:
The government could do better promoting tourism in the Virgin Islands. Perhaps that’s the reason the Commissioner of Tourism, Beverley Nicholson-Doty will make an appearance at a lunch meeting of the Territory’s top advertising people.
An e-mail from the American Advertising Federation of the U.S. Virgin Islands (formerly known more simply as the ‘Ad Club’) says Doty will offer a look behind-the-scenes at the work she and JWT, the island’s advertising agency, are doing.
"It seems the stateside image of the U.S. Virgin Islands needs to be changed," the advertising group said. "Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty of the Department of Tourism will show us what people’s perceptions really are and how our advertising needs to be repositioned."
From my surfing on the Web, it appears JWT is a new player this year. The Tourism Dept.’s Web site says M. Booth and Asssociates of New York are the PR contacts for the Territory. In the past, however, JWT has worked for the Tourism Department, as long ago as 2001. There was a change for 2008 and JWT is back, and now has some research and opinion polling which will help inform its promotional efforts for what appears to be a new campaign for the islands.
Lord knows, efforts have been pretty minimal recently – despite declining tourism and cutbacks in airline service. The "official" tourism Web site still sucks: no fresh content, nothing posted daily to keep people interested in what’s happening on the islands, God-awful slow to load pages and the Department’s "Press Room" hasn’t had a new release in months, offering media nothing new to write. Even the Events Calendar is blank! ("Nothing to see there folks, move along.")
But, the #3 press release on the page touts an award to Commissioner Nicholson-Doty, in June, naming her an "Outstanding Woman in Travel." Here’s a link to that story: http://www.onepaper.com/stcroixvi/?v=d&i=&s=Business:St.+Croix&p=1212899165. Ironically, you can’t read the Department’s own release about that honor – because none of the links on the Press Room page work, at least on my Mac and its two browser.
Don’t get me wrong. I want the Commissioner and JWT to do well at the lunch. And I want them to do well in promoting the islands over the next year. And I REALLY want them to do much better than they have.
The VI’s could have had a direct Jet Blue flight from New York … if the Virgin Islands government had agreed to guarantee the company $1.5 million. That proposal was reported by a committee appointed by the Governor working to maintain air service to the Territory in the face of cutbacks. The “offer” was rejected.
Jet Blue was not alone in trying to pry cash from the Territory in exchange for scheduling flights into St. Thomas. Continental Airlines wanted $1 million for a weekly flight from Newark. US Airways ”considered dropping one weekly seasonal Charlotte-St. Croix flight” if it didn’t get $1 million, according to a report published ion the Virgin Islands Daily News.
Now, we know the airlines are in trouble. United is asking as much as $9 for a “fresh” snack. Now we learn the airlines are asking for cash for service. The Tourism Commissioner said there have been no such payments. But the VIs have committed $1.6 million in marketing partnerships with four airlines to promote their flights in Atlanta, Boston, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale.
This Daily News story (read it here: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article?id=17627816) just makes the airlines sound thuggish, desperate and heavy-handed. Without air service, the islands’ tourism business goes in the dumper. You could say the airlines have their foot on the throat of the local economy. Is Vladimir Putin running the airlines?
