Bermuda Begins the Year with Steep Drop in Cruise ...

The cruise trade continues to see a rush of pleasure and record-breaking bookings – however cruise visitors haven’t been dashing to Bermuda.

The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) is reporting a staggering 68.7% lower within the variety of cruise passengers that made it to the Atlantic Island within the first quarter of 2025.

Particularly, 13,368 cruise guests sailed to Bermuda between January and March throughout what was purported to be ten ship calls.

Whereas this may increasingly sound like lots, it’s truly an enormous decline from the 42,715 cruisers who visited throughout the identical time interval in 2024 and the 22,784 passengers who referred to as in 2023.

Though the Bermuda cruise season is most active from April to November, cruise traces sail to the vacation spot year-round – with ten cruise ships initially scheduled to go to the port within the first quarter.

Nevertheless, essentially the most updated port schedule exhibits that 4 of the ships – P&O Cruises’ Ventura and Aurora, Cunard Line’s Queen Victoria, and Regent Seven Seas’ Grandeur – cancelled their deliberate calls.

It’s not clear why the cancellations occurred, however it’s almost definitely associated to the gale force winds which are widespread throughout this time of yr and make docking within the Royal Naval Dockyard unsafe.

However these scrapped calls meant that no cruise ships visited Bermuda in January, solely ship one got here in February, and the remaining 5 visited in March. 

It’s additionally not unusual for the anticipated variety of ship calls to fluctuate from yr to yr because the cruise traces are always attempting to regulate itineraries to satisfy the demand from cruisers, whereas additionally accounting for components like port availability. 

The best way the numbers labored out is that 179 ship calls are projected for 2025 as a complete – which is down from the 190 anticipated calls in 2024 and the 224 anticipated ship calls in 2023. 

The precise numbers of visits often varies, with the port actually receiving 174 calls final yr and 183 in 2023 – which suggests the full quantity for this yr can be decrease than projected as effectively. 

Hope for Stronger Numbers 

Regardless of a dismal first quarter, The Hon. Wayne L. Furbert, JP, MP, Bermuda’s Minister of Transport, expressed optimism for the upcoming cruise season originally of the yr.

“We’re excited to welcome guests from all over the world to expertise the sweetness and hospitality of Bermuda. The cruise ship trade is an important a part of our tourism sector, and we’re dedicated to making sure a easy and pleasing expertise for all passengers,” Minister Fubert stated in a January press release.

He seemingly is correct to be optimistic – because the remaining 169 ship requires the yr are primarily scheduled between April 2025 and November 2025 – with simply two calls anticipated to shut out the yr in December.

Bermuda additionally has contracts in place with ships that routinely name on the cruise port. Some ships are solely anticipated to go to just a few instances, reminiscent of NCL’s Norwegian Prima.

Nevertheless, different common contract ships – reminiscent of Royal Caribbean’s Imaginative and prescient of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas – are anticipated to name 20 and 21 instances, respectively.

Learn Additionally: Bermuda Cruise Port: Docks, Getting Around and What’s Nearby

In the meantime, the cruise trade as a complete has been persevering with to strengthen yr over yr. A current report from the Cruise Traces Worldwide Affiliation (CLIA) estimates {that a} record-breaking 37.7 million people are anticipated to take a cruise trip this yr.

That quantity is predicted to proceed to extend in coming years – with early predictions estimating that 39.6 folks will cruise in 2026, 40.9 million will cruise in 2027, and 41.9 million will cruise in 2028.

Because the trade continues to develop, it solely is sensible that ports all over the world – together with Bermuda – will reap the advantages.