'Phenomenal' cruise ship season brings thousands of tourists to Saint John

Cruise ship season is in full swing in Saint John, N.B., with three different ships making the call to the Port City on Tuesday.

The Arcadia, Enchanted Princess, and Norwegian Jade brought nearly 8,500 passengers with them, with many of them pouring into the uptown to explore Canada’s oldest incorporated city.

“The season has been phenomenal,” says Port Saint John cruise excellence director Natalie Allaby. “We started back in May and we're building all throughout the summer. Now we're definitely in the peak weeks.”

Allaby says there have been a few extra overnight stays so far this season, allowing tourists to explore the Port City during the evening and check out a show or enjoy dinner uptown. She also says overnight passengers get to experience the full effect of the world’s highest tides in the Bay of Fundy.

“We mostly came for the Bay of Fundy,” says couple Angela and Barry Dixon. “It seems like it's the only place in the world that it quite works that way so it was worth getting off the boat and taking a look around.”

A number of passengers said the Reversing Falls were their favourite attraction in the city.

When some people think of going on a cruise, a sunnier destination tends to come top of mind. For Mike and Carol Priest, who travelled from overseas, the history of Saint John is what drew them.

“It’s a bit more interesting than just going to a sunny place,” the couple says. “There is plenty of history (in Saint John) associated with the revolution and the War of Independence.”

For a quartet of sisters, they are doing the cruise in honour of their late sister who loved Saint John.

“It's been really fun to go and visit the places that she's always loved to visit and go to,” say the sisters. She did this cruise about four times and she just loved it.”

Alexa Bailey and Kyle Suttie live on the city’s east side and they say it’s been a different perspective when it comes to enjoying their hometown from a cruise ship.

“This morning I was ecstatic just seeing the port from the water,” says Bailey. “Seeing the other side of Partridge Island, like things that you just you don't see when you're standing on the ground in Saint John, so it's just it's so cool.”

“The city is doing a great job at representing the folks that are here,” Suttie says. “I'm really proud to call (Saint John) home today.”

The peak cruise season has become a crucial time of year for uptown businesses. Gaye Ann Walsh, owner of Walsh Luggage inside Market Square, admits some days can be exhausting with so many customers.

She says the ships have allowed her to grow her business in a way that wouldn’t be possible on local sales alone. She adds the newly finished public space outside Market Square has added more foot traffic to the area.

“It was a little tricky,” Walsh says. “But now that things seem to be calmed down, at least for them to walk through everything. It’s not totally finished, but they're getting there.”

The cruise ship season generates around $68 million a year in regional economic impact.

While Saint John’s uptown benefits the most from the cruise ships, Allaby says buses shuttle passengers across the Bay of Fundy shoreline to other towns and major attractions.

“It's really a southern New Brunswick success story where those dollars are being sprinkled throughout the Bay of Fundy region,” says Allaby. “We know passengers enjoy our uptown and Saint John, but they're also going to St. Martins, going up to Hopewell Rocks, they are going down to Saint Andrews to go whale watching, so it's really a positive southern New Brunswick success story.”

There are plenty of busy days left for the port, highlighted by back-to-back three-ship days on Oct. 2 and 3. The final ship slated to make the call to the Saint John port will arrive on Nov. 4.

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