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SANDRA DAVIS
Telegraph-Journal
SAINT JOHN - The 1,900 passengers who disembark the Grandeur of the Seas Monday will be the first to use the Saint John Port Authority's new elevated walkway.
Noel Chenier/Telegraph-Journal
A Saint John resident on the Market Square boardwalk watches as the Carnival Victory docks at Long Wharf. There will be 81 cruise ship visits to the city in 2008.
"It's like a skywalk," says Capt. Al Soppitt, port president and CEO.
"The whole intent was that we have the walkway ready for when we have a double-ship call and Monday's our first two-ship day," he said.
Passengers on the Grandeur of the Seas will come ashore in Pugsley Park via the elevated walkway, while the Carnival Victory's 3,200 passengers will disembark at Long Wharf.
On Thursday, the Carnival Victory was in town for the first time this season and vendors set up at Loyalist Plaza offered passengers everything from key chains to photographs, handmade clothing and jewelry.
Bud Price and Suzanne McGuire peddled their wares just outside the front doors of Market Square selling souvenir lanyards, shot glasses and fridge magnets featuring local photographs shot by McGuire.
In Loyalist Plaza, Kory Harper played his original Maritime-themed tunes on guitar while his friend, Drew Chenier, spun some tricks with Poi, a form of juggling involving balls and ropes.
"All the days that the cruise ships are in, I'm going to be out here for eight or 10 hours," said Chenier, as Harper's open guitar case invited tourists to drop in their change.
Making their way around the plaza were Bill Murphy and his son, Billy, who had taken the train from Baltimore, Maryland to New York City to sail on the Carnival Victory, their first cruise and a grading present for young Billy, who is going into Grade 8.
"We've been going to shows every night," said Bill Murphy, a Baltimore firefighter.
"There's always something going on. There's a big pool deck and big screen TV where they show movies at night, there are hot tubs out there, “he said, pointing at the ship.
"We're not show connoisseurs, but we're going to see Spamalot when we get back to New York."
Young Billie's favorite pastime, so far, has been riding the ship's glass elevator to take in the panoramic views. As for Saint John, Bill Murphy said it reminds him a lot of the inner harbour area of Baltimore. "It has the same feel," he said.
Meanwhile, construction of the new cruise terminal is on track, said Soppitt, with the $8.7-million building expected to open by the end of August.
The two-storey brick building has been designed in a diamond shape so passengers can take advantage of the harbour vistas as they disembark at Water Street's Pugsley Terminal via the elevated walkway.
Amenities include a tourist information booth with an interpretation centre focusing on the Bay of Fundy as a cruise destination. Easy access to the dockside market will also available from the 24,000-square-foot building that will be surrounded by walkways and green spaces for cruise ship passengers and citizens to enjoy.
Cruise-ship traffic saw a 52 per cent increase last summer, with 134,000 passengers on 53 ships.
There will be 81 cruise ship visits to Saint John this season, for a total of 187,000 passengers and 90,000 crew members. Those numbers will shatter the previous record of 60 ship visits and 138,000 passengers in 2004.
On Sept. 30, four cruise ships carrying 8,500 passengers - the same number as the entire 1996 season - will call.
The port authority's goal is to see 200,000 cruise passengers a year.
