Tuesday, May 15, 2001 – When the Pacific Venus steamed out of the Charlotte Amalie harbor Friday afternoon to continue its cruise around the world, the Japanese liner left behind a crew of six videographers on assignment to record some of the most compelling tourist attractions on St. Thomas and St. John.
The video team, sponsored by Panasonic Corp., is involved in the production of a Japanese television program called "Ship Doctor's Travelogue," a series featuring a Dr. No Koukai-ki, who travels around the world aboard the luxury cruise ship providing information about each port of call along the way.
Tomoe Namihisa, coordinator for Cyg & Associates, one of the production companies involved in the project, said the Virgin Islands will receive about 15 minutes of airtime. "Our objective is to shoot the travel-related locations on St. Thomas in order to introduce the island and provide travel information to our audience," she said.
The series will be divided into four hour-long programs covering the Caribbean and South America — including the Virgin Islands, Panama, Peru and Chile — along with the South Pacific, Asia and the Mediterranean.
On St. Thomas, the crew spent three hours filming at Coral World, where they were "mesmerized by the marine exhibits," according to Coral World publicist Ruth Butler. "We were very fortunate," she said. "Our fish performed well for the cameras."
The crew was working in high-definition digital video to shoot the footage. "I have never been so impressed with video equipment," Butler said. "It was magnificent."
The videographers also visited St. John and hired a helicopter so they could shoot aerial footage of the ship berthed at the West Indian Co. dock on St. Thomas.
The cruise footage will be edited at the end of the year and the program is to air early next year, carried by BS-I Satellite TV, a subsidiary of the Toyko Broadcasting System, Namihisa said.
She added, "This is interactive TV, where the audience can retrieve written information from the TV program."
The call by the Pacific Venus at St. Thomas was the first ever by a cruise ship flying the flag of Japan. The Japanese Cruise Line vessel carried 170 passengers and a crew of 185. It arrived in the Virgin Islands after a trans-Atlantic crossing from Lisbon, Portugal. The ship's agent for the St. Thomas port of call was Deliver-It.
After completing their V.I. assignment, the crew members flew to Peru to await the arrival of the Pacific Venus, which will head there after transiting the Panama Canal.
