Blow to economy as Carnival slashes port calls

Bermuda's ailing economy has received a major blow with confirmation from Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) that it has scheduled just one trip to Bermuda next year.

Carnival has made 14 voyages to the island so far this year - a 15th is due next month - and had been expected to confirm a further 12 trips in 2012.

But it has said an April voyage will be its only trip of next year.

Carnival has given no reason for the drastic cutback which will mean the loss of millions of dollars to Bermuda's economy still struggling to get out of recession.

Government called an emergency meeting to discuss why Carnival had pulled the plug and to deal with the fall-out but made no comment afterwards.

Four different CCL ships - the Carnival Pride, Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Glory and Carnival Miracle - have visited the island this year. A 16th trip in August was cancelled because of bad weather.

The Carnival Pride is still due to arrive in Bermuda on November 8 for a two-day stay at Dockyard. Carnival ships have brought in more than 2,000 tourists to the island on each trip.

Only one ship, the Carnival Pride, will be visiting the island on April 22, 2012. There are no further trips scheduled.

Officials in Bermuda were only told of the decision this week.

A CCL spokesman said, "although quite some time ago we had requested berths for several Bermuda calls in 2012, we ultimately only scheduled one voyage.

"Therefore, we did not cancel any cruises that were actually scheduled and open for sale. However, we did just recently notify the relevant people in Bermuda that we would not be needing those slots.

"We are researching internally to determine why the notification was not made earlier," the spokesman said.