Photos & Video: Three Cruise Ships Arrive
The Azamara Journey, AIDAluna and Disney Magic cruise ships all arrived in Bermuda this morning [Oct 31], three of six cruise ships the island will host today, which marks the largest number of cruise passengers to ever visit Bermuda in a single day.
The Azamara Journey will dock in Hamilton, AIDAluna will be anchored in Grassy Bay, and the Disney Magic is heading to Dockyard, with all three arriving in Bermuda’s waters at around the same time this morning, which is shown in the live stream below.
They join the Hamburg which in already St George’s and the Carnival Conquest which is currently in Dockyard, while the Norwegian Escape is set to arrive in Dockyard this afternoon.
In total today, Bermuda is projected to host 9,341 cruise ship passengers until 4.00pm, and 8,048 passengers from 4:30pm through November 1st.
The 26-minute live video replay is below:
Transport Minister Walter Roban previously said, “This is an exciting and unprecedented time for Bermuda. In fact, on one day alone, this represents the largest number of cruise ship passengers in Bermuda’s tourism history.”
“In 2018 our cruise ship season started in March and will end in December. I wish to commend the Bermuda Tourism Authority, who have worked diligently to extend the seasonality of the cruise ship season, which traditionally has been between April and September.”
Minister Roban confirmed that industry partners “have been planning for the influx of visitors since March of this year, and have increased various support services to ensure that our visitors have the best possible experience while in Bermuda.”
“As an example, all Public Service Vehicles [such as taxis and mini-buses] will be in service to meet the transport demands; select community service vehicles and licensed hotel properties have been granted permission to operate their shuttles; increased public ferry lift has been added, including a supplemental ferry route to St. George and Hamilton from Dockyard; the BTA has increased their Visitor Service Centre team and Ambassadors; and, special events have been scheduled in Dockyard,” the Ministry said.
Minister Roban concluded, “We expect this will be a very busy time for our Island. This influx of visitors is good for Dockyard, Hamilton and St. George’s; it’s good for our economy and it’s good for Bermuda. And we are encouraging all residents to support our efforts as we welcome these visitors to our shores.”
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Meanwhile at the bus depot, our GREAT transport minister is probably prepping for photo ops.
Pathetic!
It’s 10:30 am on Wednesday, a large number of cruise ships in and as I look at Marine & Ports dock in Hamilton , I see 3 fast ferries and 1 small ferry sitting unused.
Please give me some reasonable explanation as they are not being operated.
This many cruisers all arriving even on the same day has to be poor planning. At Dockyard you can see long lines of cruisers departing their ships with a majority headed for the ferry dock. There are long lines at the ferry and wait times will get longer. You can also see a stream of tenders bringing in cruisers from Grassy Bay. There is steady taxi line movement and on a day like this taking a taxi will be the best for cruisers if they don’t want to stand in line. I would be surprised if there isn’t grid lock before noon today.
Transport Minister Walter Roban and the PLP Government will very likely want to take credit for this, when in actual fact it was the previous Government of the OBA that made this happen.
It’s amazing how many of the PLP supports will believe that their Gomment did this.
With the weather, will the ship at anchor even be able to tender her passengers to shore?
There is little doubt the various government ministries and the BTA have provided these cruise lines with tax concessions and financial assistance and all we hear is how many cruisers are expected on the island, no one seems to care about the true cost and the ROI. Bermudians easily forget that they are shareholders and ignore the true cost to the Government purse.
THE VSC IN DOCKYARD WOULD LIKE TO SEND OUT A HUGE THANK YOU TO MARINE AND PORTS AND DPT. THE BUSES AND FERRIES RAN WELL AND WE DIDNT HAVE A SINGLE WAIT TIME COMPLAINT ABOUT EITHER FORM OF TRANSPORTATION!! TAXIS AND MINIBUSES WERE FANTASTIC AS WELL. JOB WELL DONE EVERYONE!!
Is this just a political thank you crap.
Please explain why it ran so well when there were 3 fast ferries sitting at the Marine & Ports dock in Hamilton.
And your comment is just political banter! Just shut up as you were not there and obviously not helping our tourists either! You don’t get to criticize if you chose not to help!
This response is pure fabrication, Dockyard ferry had cruisers in line for over an hour and same with cruisers at Horseshoe waiting to return to Dockyard. BTA is attempting to cover up what was a transportation problem across the island. Kevin Dallas was on ZBM bragging about working with cruise lines to bring in more ships in October and November but obviously didn’t work to insure there was adequate transportation. The Hamilton/Dockyard ferry was running normal schedule, why wasn’t second ferry put into service???