January 14, 2010

More than 200,000 passengers to visit port

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SANDRA DAVIS
Telegraph-Journal

SAINT JOHN - A thriving cruise ship industry is expected to bring 210,000 visitors to the city this season, two years ahead of time.

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Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal

The 2010 cruise ship season begins on May 28 when the Hanseatic, operated by Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, visits the port.


Three years ago, the port set a goal to reach 200,000 visitors by 2012, but Betty MacMillan is happy to report that number should be reached this year.  MacMillan is the Port of Saint John's manager of business development.


She credits the Bay of Fundy with attracting interest in the area and with prompting some cruise lines to add more visits.


Princess Cruises will be calling 15 times with two of its grand-class ships - the Princess Grand and the Caribbean Princess - and Celebrity Cruises has an expanded program to the city with the Celebrity Summit calling five times, the most ever. In the past, the line has visited twice per season.


"The focus on the Bay of Fundy has been a home run," MacMillan said.  "Aquila Tours, our tour operator, is (concentrating) everything around the Bay of Fundy," she said. Lobster dinners and the draw of bayside destinations such as St. Martins, Fundy National Park, the Hopewell Rocks and Fundy Trail Parkway are big selling points, she said. "Everything is geared toward the Bay of Fundy. That's what sells," she said.


"We have the highest tides in the world. People are changing, too, in what they want. The don't want to sit on a bus and see sights.
"They have a checklist of what they want to do and walking on the ocean floor is one of those things."


MacMillan believes that by 2015 the city will be welcoming 300,000 passengers.


"Saint John is a very cruise-friendly city and region," she said.


The 2010 cruise season begins May 28 with a visit by the Hanseatic, operated by Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, and stretches to Oct. 29 when the Queen Mary 2 will continue her recent tradition of being the final cruise ship to call on Saint John for the year. There will be 77 calls in total with a passenger count of more than 210,000.


Once again, Carnival Cruise Line will be the city's most frequent visitor with 26 calls carrying close to 100,000 passengers, MacMillan said.


"Saint John continues to see impressive growth in our cruise business," said Capt. Al Soppitt, president and CEO of the Saint John Port Authority. "The increased visitor numbers, as well as the larger size of vessels calling on our port, constitute a strong vote of confidence from both the passengers as well as the cruise lines."


Last year, Saint John welcomed 187,000 cruise ship passengers.


The cruise industry has an estimated economic impact of about $25 million a year on the region.