Radio personality Tom Joyner, whose Tom Joyner Foundation supports Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), will bring his "Fantastic Voyage" cruise to St. Thomas on Thursday, May 20. More than 3,000 passengers will be on board when Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' Liberty of the Seas docks at the West Indian Company at 7 a.m. The Fantastic Voyage is an entertainment-packed cruise that raises money for the Tom Joyner Foundation.
On Thursday, Havensight Mall will have live entertainment provided by the V.I. Department of Tourism. There will be a contingent of UVI staffers - including UVI physics professor and mocko jumbie Dr. David Smith - as well as a welcome tent set up by the UVI Bookstore. Volunteers will be on hand in various locations to host passengers as they participate in their shore excursions while on St. Thomas. Ackley Media Group's Kiss 101.3 FM will broadcast the Tom Joyner Morning Show and will have continual live coverage throughout the day from Havensight Mall.
The University of the Virgin Islands has benefitted from its affiliation with the Tom Joyner Foundation as a "Tom Joyner School of the Month" in the past, having raised more than $200,000 with the help of Joyner's national broadcast. In 2006, UVI, the V.I. Department of Tourism and the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce welcomed the Fantastic Voyage with "Shop Because," an event that transformed Main Street in St. Thomas into a pedestrian mall, and in 2008, the University hosted a "Buccaneer Beach Party" for passengers at the University's own Brewers Bay beach on St. Thomas.
This year, the University welcomes the Tom Joyner Foundation's "Party with a Purpose" to raise scholarship funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities throughout the United States. For additional information on the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage contact the UVI Office of Institutional Advancement at (340) 693-1040.