United Airlines has added St. Croix to its route map from the Northeast. The first nonstop from Newark Liberty International Airport landed at Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on October 31, giving the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands a direct link to the New York metro area. The route runs on Saturdays, which makes it a natural fit for a classic seven-night Caribbean holiday.

The aircraft is a Boeing 737-700 with 126 seats, 12 of them in business class. And the inaugural flights came with a story worth telling: all four pilots assigned to the outbound and return legs grew up on St. Croix. Captain Shawn Lewis, who started flying in the Caribbean, and First Officer Eugene Washington — a Princess native and Air Force veteran who joined United in 2024 — flew the flight up from Newark. On the way back, it was Captain Douglas Armstrong, with more than two decades of military aviation behind him, and First Officer Regine Acosta, who came up through the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.

For travellers, the practical upshot is simple. Anyone in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut can now reach St. Croix without a connection, and U.S. citizens arriving from the mainland don't need a passport. The weekly Saturday rhythm also makes the island a genuinely easy weeklong trip rather than a stopover-heavy trek through San Juan or Miami.

So what's waiting at the other end? Christiansted's harbourfront town is the main base, with colonial-era streets and a strong restaurant scene — food is a real draw here, not an afterthought. The town is also the jumping-off point for boat trips to Buck Island Reef National Monument, one of the Caribbean's best-known protected reefs for snorkelling. On the island's west side, Frederiksted offers a slower pace, beach access and its own waterfront character. A week gives you time to do both towns, a Buck Island excursion and still leave room for long lunches.

Who is this for? Anyone in the tri-state area who has been putting off St. Croix because of the connections, Virgin Islanders living on the mainland who want a direct route home, and travellers who want the U.S. Virgin Islands without passport paperwork. The Saturday-only schedule means you should book your dates around it — miss the flight and you're rerouting through another hub. Business-class flyers get a small but real premium cabin on what is a four-and-a-half-hour flight.