HALIFAX – Monday marked the busiest cruise ship day of 2013 to-date for the port of Halifax, with about 7,500 people arriving on four ships — The Eurodam, the Norwegian Gem, the Maasdam and the Aurora.
Tour guides held signs for passengers destinations as bus loads of people headed out to interesting places to visit.
With passengers contributing an estimated $90.8 million to the economy of the region last year, cruise ship visits are warmly welcome.
“It is a four-ship day and that does mean it’s busy here,” Lane Farguson of the Halifax Port Authority said. “From this point on, up until the end of October, it’s when we experience our busiest time here in the Halifax cruise industry.”
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He said there’s a good reason for that.
“A lot of people like to come and see the fall colours.”
With so many people in Halifax looking for things to do, it wasn’t hard for tourist businesses to pack a bus.
Three women from Colorado, who have been to Halifax many times before, had other things in mind.
“We’re going to go through some of the shops and things,” said Marilyn Short, a passenger aboard the Eurodam, “There’s 60 of us — we’re sort of all friends because we take trips together.”
Their trip started aboard the Eurodam in New York last Thursday and will continue through to Quebec City. It won’t be their last trip, either.
“This are over a hundred cruises with Holland America for me,” said Dorothy Kissinger.
Nancy Wee, Kissinger’s daughter, said she’s done 164 cruises, and they love Halifax and Peggys Cove.
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