'It's really nice to see people smile again': Fall cruise season kicks off in Sydney

Peak cruise ship season begins

Passengers aboard a cruise ship had plenty of reason to be dancing dockside at the port of Sydney on Monday morning.

For the second time on the Labour Day long weekend, a cruise ship with more than 3,000 passengers and crew paid a visit to Cape Breton Island.

“It has been a long three years,” said kiosk worker Paulette Morrison.

Morrison is among the portside vendors who have been tickled pink to welcome back the kinds of traffic they haven't seen since the fall of 2019.

"The boost has been astronomical,” she said. “Tumbleweeds had been going through here for the last couple of years."

Steve and Deborah Sutton were visiting all the way from Alabama to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

They were also happy for the ability to travel like normal again without restrictions or masks.

"We missed the facial expressions,” Deborah Sutton said. “It's really nice to see people smile again."

As tour groups traveled through the downtown, CBRM councillor Cyril MacDonald said the energy there has been unmistakable too.

Charlotte Street is in the middle of a major renovation.

Combined with construction of the new Nova Scotia Community College campus along the waterfront, MacDonald says it was important to bring big cruise crowds back to add to all of that momentum.

"All of these things in tandem, and then the return of our tourists and our tourist season,” he said. “We really haven't seen that huge impact in the last couple of years. Again, I can only imagine what this means to local businesses."

After the Norwegian Pearl pulled out of port Monday, Sydney welcomes the Caribbean Princess on Tuesday, totalling more than 4,000 passengers and crew combined.

Then on Wednesday, it's Holland America's Zaandam that comes to town -- the last of three cruise ships on three consecutive days.

"Everything is looking upwards and onward for sure,” Morrison said. “They're loving the products here. They're going back with plenty of bags on the cruise ships, I can tell you that much."

Along with plenty of weekday stops, ships are scheduled to visit every weekend but one, until the final call of the fall season on Nov. 4.