Carnival Cruises being courted as 'ideal' for St George's

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21: Could Carnival Cruise Lines be the long-term answer for St George’s?

On Wednesday the Carnival Glory made its inaugural visit to Bermuda with a welcome reception on board for the Ministry of Transport and WEDCO officials.

Transport Minister Terry Lister said he welcomed the opportunity to foster the relationships with Carnival.

After exchanging plaques and awards with captain Giuseppe Giusa, the Bermudian officials were given a tour of the Glory.

Mr Lister said “Carnival was ideal for St George’s”.

Carnival has more cruise ships than any other cruise line in the world.

Its oldest ships have a beam of 92.5 feet and a draft of 25.5 feet, too large to fit through Town Cut.

The vast majority of its fleet has a beam of 103 to 105 feet with a draft of just under 26 feet.

The Old Town has been without a regular cruise ship in port for three years now with Holland America’s Veendam tendering passengers in from Murray’s Anchorage.

Next year the Veendam will only stop in Hamilton, leaving St George’s without any direct cruise ship passengers.

Currently Town Cut is too small for most of the cruise lines ships to fit through.

There is discussion-taking place on whether or not the Town Cut should be widened, dredged or left alone.

The St George’s shipping channel would have to be widened to at least double its size for the ships to pass through.

A report by Government puts those costs between $48 to $71 million depending on which option is selected.

Any plan on making the Cut more accessible to cruise ships would not be completed until 2017 according to a Government report on Bermuda’s shipping channels.