It was a busy weekend at Halifax Seaport.
More than 9,200 passengers arrived via cruise ship on Friday, September 21. Norwegian Escape was the 3rd ship to sail into the port Friday morning, bringing in a total of 4,266 travellers and making it the highest guest capacity vessel to ever visit the port city.
Five cruise vessels made port on Friday, two came in on Saturday and two more stopped in on Sunday.
It was good news for downtown business, seeing the tourist season extend beyond summer months. An economic study soon found cruise industry in Halifax is worth around US$123 million in annual economic benefit (the number is based on 250,000 cruise passengers per year).
Last year was a record for the port, with 175 vessels bringing in more than 292,000 passengers. But 2018 is also supposed to be record-setting with 200 cruise visits carrying more than 300,000 passengers, so that is expected to be the busiest cruise season ever in Halifax.
October 9 is scheduled to be this year's busiest day with 5 ships coming to port of Halifax bringing in more than 11,000 passengers.