St. John's cruise ship season more buoyant than before pandemic, says expert

Sizable cruise ships are squeezing themselves though the narrows ofSt. John's harbour once again, after the COVID-19 pandemic effectively scuttledthe industry for more two than years.

So far this tourism season, 13 ships have docked in St. John's and 16 more are scheduled to visit. In all, almost 30 ships are expected to grace St. John's shores in 2022, bringing about 37,000 passengers with them.

Cruise industry expert Ross Klein,a professor at Memorial University, says this year's season is a little more buoyant than ones before the pandemic and therehas been a shift in the type of ships and passengers visiting.

He says there's been a move toward European-based lines and expedition ships on longer trips, rather than U.S.-based lines on shorter sails.

"We're seeing more ships that are doing what I would call voyages, so they're out for 12 to 30 days," Klein said Tuesday.

Klein says it's because the U.S.-based companies, including Carnival and Royal Caribbean, don't travel as far as Newfoundland and Labrador on shorter trips. He also says those companies are rebounding from COVID-19 more slowly.

"Sales are not as robust and I think they are struggling a bit more," he said.

Klein says the ships that are making the long voyage to the province are attracting an older crowd with more time and money to pay for a three-to-four-week trip.

"The Seabourn, which is the ship that comes in today it's a pricey cruise line," he said. The ultra-luxury cruiseliner Seabourn Quest, which is ferry about 450 passengers on a transatlantic cruise from Europe to Canada, costs "probably anywhere from $600 to $1,000 a day" he said.

The ship is on a 38-day expedition that departed fromSpainwith stops in France, the United Kingdom, Iceland and Greenland before making landfall in St. Anthony and continuing on to St. John's. A similar itineraryon the ship departing this time next year costs nearly $27,000 per person, while seven days aboard a Seabournvessel in the Caribbean will set you back about $5,000 a head.

"It's not your typical tourist, and in some ways it's the kind of tourist we would like to be attracting here," said Klein.

He said he'd like to see businesses in downtown St. John's better prepared to cater to wealthier tourists like those on the Seabourn lines ones Klein said aren't looking for T-shirts and trinkets but perhaps a larger purchase from a higher-end shop or art gallery.

"They're looking for things that are certainly unique, something they'd want to take home as a souvenir, and the cost may not be as as much of an impediment as they are for for many visitors."

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