SYDNEY, N.S. — The inaugural season for the Port of Sydney’s second cruise ship berth will see a total of 117 scheduled cruise ship visits to the harbour, including 27 at the new dock.
The port released its 2020 cruise season this week. The season is expected to see 212,597 passengers and 89,351 crew members, 18 double-ship days and nine triple-ship days.
There will also be three cruise visits to Louisbourg harbour throughout the season.
The number of ships that do come to Sydney may change during the season due to weather conditions.
“The ships are larger and the number of passengers are up, so it’s going to be a great season,” said Nicole MacAulay, Port of Sydney Development Corporation’s manager of cruise and administration.
There have been some delays in the construction of the second berth. In a recent statement, a Cape Breton Regional Municipality spokesperson indicated that there was a delay in achieving substantial completion for the second berth due to weather issues that prohibited placement of the final concrete deck slab, but that time is expected to be made up over the winter. The project is expected to come in within its $20-million budget. Part of the project also included an expansion of the initial dock.
The second dock is due to see its first ship arrive on June 3.
“We’ve been booking now for 2020 for a couple of years, so as progress on the second berth was made, we were really able to solidify those bookings and promote the second berth to our cruise line clients,” MacAulay said. “We’re on track for where I thought we’d be.”
The delays in the project did result in some changes to the cruise schedule last year, she said.
“But the clients were understanding, given the size of the construction project,” MacAulay said. “Everyone — our cruise lines and us — everyone is really excited about the second berth.”
Charlottetown is also adding a second berth currently, MacAulay said, noting they are relatively comparable ports within the Canada-New England region.
With the addition of a second berth, fewer ships will have to anchor in the harbour and transport passengers to shore via tender. MacAulay said that the larger ships, in particular, expect to be able to dock.
There will be five ships making their inaugural calls to the Sydney port in 2020 — Empress of the Seas, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Encore, Island Princess and Evrima.
One thing that MacAulay found encouraging is the number of calls earlier in the season, including four double-ship days in June.
“That’s never happened before,” she said.
Traditionally, peak season for Sydney has been September-October.
“We’ll always be known for our fall colors, but the destination is growing and pushing into the summer and spring season,” MacAulay said.
The port will work with a group in Louisbourg to plan for the cruise visits there this season, she said.
“Those ships are very niche and they want a different experience, that they’re choosing to go to a niche port as opposed to one of the larger ports,” MacAulay said. “We have a working group that we’re bringing together in Louisbourg to get things going there and continue on everything that they already have happening.”
The 2020 cruise season begins on April 28 and will wrap up on Oct. 30.
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