St George's welcomes only its second cruise ship of the year

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5: The town of St George welcomes only its second cruise ship of the year today.

The Silver Explorer, which used to be called the Prince Albert II, is due to come through Town Cut this morning.

The cruise ship will come alongside at Penno’s Wharf and is due to remain in town until 4pm the same day.

The Silver Explorer can carry 132 guests and has been designed to navigate some of the world’s most remote destinations including the polar regions.

The ship began its most recent journey in Montreal on September 20 and has visited a string of east coast cities including Louisburg, Halifax and Lunenburg on her way south to Bermuda.

Almost all of the passengers will get off in Bermuda and make their way home after a short stay on island.

Whereas the crew will take the ship down to St Maarten in the Caribbean for her next scheduled itinerary.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the island, Dockyard will welcome the Norwegian Gem and Carnival Pride along with thousands of cruise passengers early this morning.

This weekend will see the arrival of a further two cruise ships to Dockyard.

The Carnival Fantasy is due to get in on Saturday at 4pm while the Norwegian Dawn comes in on Sunday at 11am.

Yesterday was a busy day out at sea. The American Navy vessel USNS Grapple stopped in at Five Fathom Hole at 9am to drop of a sick 54-year-old crewmember.

The USNS Grapple is a rescue and salvage ship that comes to the aid of other vessels when they need towing, salvaging or heavy lift capabilities.

Yesterday morning also saw the arrival of the fuel tanker Meriom Glory into the Oil Docks off St George’s.

She brought in fuel for BELCO and is due to leave this morning.

Finally, all three container ships will be heading into Hamilton this week.

The schedules of the Oleander, the Somers Isles and the Bermuda Islander were unaffected by Hurricane Ophelia.