Bermuda used to be a destination for the
cruise industry's smaller ships. And the island nation would not
have wanted it any other way.
Until recently,
Bermuda's efforts to prevent overcrowding meant that large cruise
ships were rarely allowed to call there. While the island still
caps its cruise passenger intake at 9,000 per day, it has
reluctantly accepted that as the industry's vessels get larger and
larger, those are the ships that Bermuda will get.
"They are taking
these older, smaller ships and selling them off or redeploying them
to Europe," said Larry Jacobs, Bermuda's transportation
coordinator. "As a result, most ships in our neck of the woods are
larger ships."
At this point,
Bermuda will take them. While a record number of cruises called in
Bermuda this past summer, in 2008 Bermuda will see a marked
slowdown in cruise traffic.
Celebrity Cruises,
which has been calling in the islands since 1990, will not return
to Bermuda in 2008. Royal Caribbean International's Empress of the
Seas is transferring to Madrid-based Pullmantur Cruises in
March.
The decline comes
after many years of growth. In 2004, Bermuda had 156 cruise ship
visits; in 2006 it had 198. But in 2008, the island will get an
expected 135 cruise calls. In 2009, that number will increase
slightly, to 140 calls.
While the numbers
have declined, Jacobs pointed out that in both 2008 and 2009 the
ships will, on average, stay longer than in years past, when some
ships would stop for one day.
Plus, bigger ships
means a larger number of passengers per vessel.
The growth in 2009
will result from the island's recent 10-year agreement with
Norwegian Cruise Line to deploy two NCL ships to the islands
beginning in 2009, sailing at least 22 cruises per season,
primarily from Boston and New York.
The 2,000-passenger
Norwegian Spirit will sail from Boston on Fridays, staying in
Bermuda until Wednesdays. The 2,200-passenger Norwegian Dawn will
leave New York on Sundays, calling in Bermuda Wednesdays through
Fridays. The 1,468-passenger Norwegian Majesty will sail to St.
George's, Bermuda, from Charleston, S.C.; Philadelphia; and
Baltimore.
Because Bermuda is
not near any other ports of call, cruise ships that sail to Bermuda
tend to stay there for a few days. In negotiating contracts with
cruise lines, Bermuda is always on the lookout for ways that the
cruise lines can encourage visitors to spend money, such as
partnership opportunities with the island's chamber of commerce and
tourism department.
"In order to get
these berths -- and these are pretty desirable berths -- and as
more cruise lines wish to fill these berths, we strike a deal and
say, 'OK, if you want that berth, then here is what we expect in
return,' " Jacobs said.
NCL said it would
partner with Bermuda's tourism department to become a sponsor of
the annual Bermuda Music Festival, support various foundations and
develop a program to encourage its guests to dine ashore by giving
them vouchers for participating restaurants.
Bermuda's premier,
Ewart Brown, said in a statement regarding the deal, "This proves
once again that major players in the global tourism industry are
bullish on Bermuda, and they are bullish for the long
term."
Celebrity,
meanwhile, is still negotiating for a berth for a big ship, having
redeployed the smaller vessels that previously served the
market.
Dan Hanrahan,
president of Celebrity, said in early August that he wanted to
continue sailing to Bermuda with one of Celebrity's larger vessels
but said that Bermuda won't let the ships dock in
Hamilton.
Hanrahan said that
he didn't want to go to King's Wharf in Dockyard, the island's
docking facility on the West End, where ships longer than 700 feet
must berth.
Hanrahan was firm:
No Hamilton, no Bermuda.
But Bermuda is firm
on this issue, as well. Jacobs said in an interview that Bermuda
was not physically able to bring such large ships into its main
towns, and it was not willing to dredge the area's channels in
order to accommodate them.
"We could widen the
approaches, but for environmental reasons and good development and
planning reasons, we did not wish to do that," Jacobs
explained.
"We wish to
redevelop the waterfront in both St. George's and Hamilton into
first-class waterfront experiences. So long as you have ships tied
up the full length of Front Street in Hamilton, you can't really do
that.
"[Celebrity] said,
'We're not interested in Dockyards, we're interested in St.
George's and Hamilton,' " Jacobs continued. "We are still in
negotiations with them, but we said we'll find another cruise line
that is interested in Dockyard."
Dockyard currently
has one pier, but a second berth is under construction.
Dockyard has six
high-speed catamarans that hold 350 guests each to ferry guests to
St. George's and Hamilton, a half-hour and 15-minute ride,
respectively. Both the Norwegian Spirit and Dawn will berth at
Dockyard, while a smaller ship, the 675-foot Norwegian Majesty,
will be able to berth in St. George's.
Dockyard, which
Jacobs admits used to be remote and had little to do, is now full
of activities with more being planned, he said. The area has bars,
restaurants, and a man-made beach area with a snorkel
park.
"There is a lot of
improvement going into Dockyard areas," he said, adding that most
of Bermuda, which consists of only 21 miles of land, doesn't have
room for further development.
"Dockyards has the
space to do it. There is a lot of land that can be developed into a
first-class tourism experience."
Jacobs said that
due to the direction of shipbuilding and deployment, Bermuda had no
other choice for accommodating megaships.
"That's the
direction we're going simply because the ships are larger. If
someone wishes to bring a smaller ship to Bermuda, Hamilton and St.
George will be available for that."
To
contact reporter Johanna Jainchill, send e-mail to [email protected].