Charlottetown cruise season set to sail

The port of Charlottetown is hoping to finish renovations over the next couple of days and be ready to host the first cruise ship of the season on Monday.

• Ship shape: Charlottetown's 2017 cruise schedule busiest yet
• Charlottetown cruise ship visits down in 2016

The Veendamwill make the first of what will be 83 cruise ships visits in 2017, with the last ship scheduled to visit Oct.28.

"We're seeing a big increase year-over-year," said CorrynClemence, business development manager for Port Charlottetown, noting 53 ships stopped in the port in 2016.

"Last year we had a couple of cruise lines that didn't call just because of timing, really," she said, noting new cruise lines are coming to Charlottetown this year as well as others returning that didn't visit last year.

This year is exciting for the port as the number of passengers will top 100,000 for the first time.

"It's just kind of been a few years in the making we've been building up to this point," Clemence said.

The big growth in cruise tourism has been in the summer months, she said, giving Charlottetown "a solid six-month season," but there are still plenty of summer dates available.

What's new this year

Two or three ships will spend the night in the harbour in 2017, allowing visitors to enjoy Charlottetown night life.

New cruise lines from Germany will make inaugural stops in Charlottetown this year, as well as one Disney cruise ship, Clemence said. Viking and Royal Caribbean will also send new vessels.

There will be more vendors at the seaport building this summer, and the public is welcome,

"We've done a lot of things to make the port more welcoming and comfortable environment," said Clemence.

This season, a record number of cruise ship passengers 750,000 are predicted to visit the region, said the Atlantic Canada Cruise Association in a news release Tuesday, calling the numbers an impressive gain.

Last year, the association said, direct spending by the cruise industry in Atlantic Canada totalled $102 million.

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