162 Visits Set For Next Year’s Cruise Schedule
St. George and Hamilton will see sharp increases in cruise calls next year, the Ministry of Tourism, Transport & Municipalities and the Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] announced today [Oct 25].
“Scheduled calls in St. George will surge 300 percent from four in 2016 to 16 next year. Scheduled Hamilton calls will increase 44 percent from 16 to 23. Overall the number of scheduled calls increases from 151 this year to 162 next year,” the BTA said.
“Our stakeholders told us it was important to recruit more cruise calls to Hamilton and St. George and I’m proud to say we have delivered,” said Bill Hanbury, BTA CEO.
“Our team went out to create and cultivate important cruise industry relationships over the past two years, then worked with the Ministry to close the deals. We know these additional calls may be the difference between make or break for some of our tourism industry partners, particularly in the east end.”
“In addition to the dramatic increase in calls, Norwegian Cruise Line has planned to provide two tenders to transport their guests between Dockyard and St. George next year. The carrying capacity of the two tenders is a combined total of 500 passengers,” the BTA said.
“They will work alongside the normal ferry service already operating between the two hubs. The Corporation of St. George and the Government of Bermuda have also partnered to upgrade the existing cruise and ferry infrastructure at Penno’s Wharf.”
Slideshow of various cruise ships in Bermuda:
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“The increase in the number of cruise calls to St. George was made possible through negotiations with Norwegian Cruise Line which was encouraged to increase the number of times its smaller premium brands visited the island. Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas brands will call on St George 12 times in 2017 and on Hamilton twice.
“Meantime, also in Hamilton, the luxury brand Viking Ocean Cruises will come to Bermuda for the first time – making two calls with its Viking Sea and Viking Sky.”
“With the significant increase in calls and the improvements we’ve made with water transport and maritime infrastructure, 2017 has the potential to be a game changer for the east end,” noted Michael Fahy, Minister of Tourism, Transport and Municipalities.
“These luxury brands bring to Bermuda exactly the kind of premium traveller we have been pursuing. I expect 2017 to be a year of busy cobblestone streets, active shops and bustling attractions for St. George. And not far off is a new St. Regis Hotel which will bring increased air visitors to the old town, perfectly complementing the cruise lines we’ve attracted.”
Other cruise developments in 2017:
- Cruise ships also making inaugural calls include Norwegian’s Epic, Le Soleal and Le Boreal
- The World [condominiums at sea] will make one visit to the Island
- Aida Cruises [German-market cruise line] will return with five calls
- Holland America Line’s MS Veendam will return to Hamilton, with an increase to six calls in 2017 from the four in 2016. MS Prisendam will also make one call to Hamilton.
A number of America’s Cup-related cruises will occur in June 2017. This includes
- The Fred Olsen Line cruise ship Boudicca, scheduled to visit June 22-25. Fred Olsen Line, in coordination with the America’s Cup Event Authority [ACEA], will offer America’s Cup packages for their guests.
- Celebrity Cruise Line will make an extended stay of the Celebrity Summit from June 22-25 in order for their guests to participate in the America’s Cup offerings.
- The BTA said they continue to work on other cruise calls associated with America’s Cup.
A total of 408,000 cruise visitors are projected to visit Bermuda in 2017, about the same amount projected to visit in 2016.
This is great news especially for St. George’s!
GREAT JOB OBA! Especially for St. Georges!
UHHH, I think you mean BTA!
“the Ministry of Tourism, Transport & Municipalities”
guess you missed that part too…who’s in govt now?
The BTA have worked very hard, not Fakhy, so give credit where credit is due!
that’s funny…I thought the whole purpose of making a tourism authority was so that the Government wouldn’t be responsible.
this is good to hear…love it !
and to think there are still people out there opposed to bringing the America’s Cup event to Bermuda.
I don’t understand the math. More cruises but roughly same amount of visitors??
More crusies, but smaller capacity of passengers. Not all are Mega ships, so some vary from 500 passengers to 5,000.
Great news…
Time will tell
I wish NCL, Celebrity had a regular calls to Hamilton and St. Georges. The luxury cruises are great but expensive with nothing for kids to do. Hamilton and St. Georges are a FAR better destination than the dockyard.
All these are regular scheduled cruise ships and are not coming specifically for AC.
How far off is the St. Regis Hotel?
In reality it is 5 years away. Still someplace in the planning stage and no construction started yet.
Interesting…. 5 years!…Why did the beach hut have to move last summer? A year has already been wasted and who knows if it will ever be built.