The first of the 2005 cruise ships will dock today in Charlottetown as Prince Edward Island begins the official start to the cruise ship season.
Holland America’s Maasdam is scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. today and will return to Charlottetown 17 times this summer. When fully loaded, this particular ship carries 1,266 passengers and 602 crew members — very impressive numbers when you consider that a recent study commissioned by the Atlantic Canada Cruise Association confirmed that 95% of passengers and 50% of crew members disembark at a port-of-call.
To date, the total scheduled number of ships to arrive for 2005 has reached 23 which represents a total of 23,894 passengers and 10,954 crew members.
A wide variety of shore excursions are offered to those disembarking cruise ships coming to Prince Edward Island which showcase the Island as far west as the Confederation Bridge and as far east as St. Peter’s Bay with an economic impact to the Island estimated at 2.2 million dollars.
Minister of Tourism, Philip Brown, noted, “My department is very pleased to work closely with the Capital Commission of PEI and the various businesses, tourism operations and associations across the Island to ensure that we grow this very lucrative sector of the industry.”
For more information on the cruise ships arriving this year, visit the Capital Commission of PEI website at www.visitcharlottetown.com.