By Daryl Major

Smaller ship hits Nanaimo Friday, 2017 cruise season still up in the air

Aug 4, 2016 | 5:40 PM

NANAIMO — The third of six cruise ships scheduled to stop in Nanaimo this year docks Friday morning, on it’s way back from Alaska.

The “Crystal Serenity”and its 1,000 passengers will be here for the day.

It’s slightly smaller than the usual ships that stop in the harbour city, but Port Authority president Bernie Dumas says it is well suited for Nanaimo.

“She’s extremely high end. The passengers on board this particular vessel are going to be repeat cruisers. They’re going to be people who are a little higher in the revenue side of things and they’ll hopefully spend a little bit more money here in Nanaimo,” said Dumas.

That could end translate into a significant economic impact, he says.

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“It’s between $70 and $100 that they spend here on each individual call. This ship is smaller . It’s just a little bit over 1,000 people. So you do the math and you’re looking at between $75,000 and $100,000.”

Dumas says next year’s cruise ship schedule is still up in the air.

“We’re not quite sure what we have for 2017. It could be around six again, which is a little disappointing because we’re trying to get a little bit more every year. So it’s a battle trying to get them in, but we’re all working together here to make a good experience so this is another important call.”

For the sake of comparison, over 200 cruise ships are scheduled to stop in Victoria this year.