The 2nd berth may not be ready in 2018 but Port Sydney NS (Canada) is expecting another busy cruise season, with a number of new ships making their first visits.
Port of Sydney Development Corporation unveiled its cruise schedule for 2018 on Thursday, February 1. It is due to be the busiest season the cruise port has ever seen, with 90 visits scheduled carrying a total of 149,231 passengers and 64,779 crew members.
Germany-based AIDA Cruises will return to the port in 2018 with AIDAvita. 3,600-passenger Royal Princess will also make 4 calls in October.
In 2017 the port of Sydney was visited by 82 cruise vessels carrying 118,361 passengers and a total of 63,759 crew members. This was the busiest season yet for the cruise port, and represented passengers' highest number during one cruise season.
Some changes to cruise schedule had to be done in 2017 due to weather and due to efforts to slow down vessels in Gulf of St Lawrence to mitigate the impact on right whales that resulted in some itinerary changes. While some areas like Charlottetown saw reduced number of visits as a result, Sydney saw new ships added.
The port expects 11 double ship days and 3 days when 3 ships will call. The first vessel of the year will be the frequent visitor ms Veendam on May 1, 2018. The season ends on November 5 with Silver Wind.