Saint John prepares for influx of cruise ship activity

Saint John will be welcoming roughly 35,000 cruiseship passengers into the city this week as 11 ships will arrive at the port.

The boost in activity will be a major boon asPort Saint John headsinto its final month of the cruise season.

The 11 cruise ships, carrying an estimated 35,000 guests and crew, will arrive in a 120-hour period starting on Monday.

During those five days, the port will welcomefour double cruise ship daysand one triple ship day.

The Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas is making an additional call on Monday to avoid marine-related weather effects being created by Hurricane Joaquin.

That is adding to an already busy week in the city.

Gilliane Nadeau, theowner of Uncorked Tours, said sheis bracing for a busy and exciting week.

"It's great to have so many ships coming through. It's great to get so much pedestrian traffic," said Nadeau.

"It's a good time to see people out and enjoying Saint John because they're on vacationand I think sometimes we forget how much fun it can be to live hereand how lucky we are."

17 more ship visits after this week

Nadeau isrunning her tour business fromBarbour's General Store, a staple in the uptown, and frequent stop of tourists.

She says she is ready for the influx of tourist activity this week.

"I'm bringing on everyone who isgiving me a hand so we have a couple extra people who will be on during the peak busy times," Nadeau said.

"People around Saint John already take into consideration, for example, their driving routes on busy cruise days but in terms of beinghere uptown and being staffed, people want to make sure they have an extra person on our triple day.

"But other than that, it's just going to be a good time for people that visit."

This week's ship calls include:

• Oct.5: Liberty of the Seas andGrandeur of the Seas(estimated total 7,980 guests and crew)
• Oct.6: Regal Princess, Norwegian Gem andRegatta(estimated total 9,070 guests and crew)
• Oct.7: Brilliance of the Seas andNorwegian Dawn(estimated total 6,020 guests and crew)
• Oct.8: Caribbean Princess andSilver Whisper (estimated total 4,870 guests and crew)
• Oct.9: Carnival SplendorandCrystal Symphony (estimated total 6,160 guests and crew)

Nadeau says the heightened traffic announced by the port doesn't account for all the visitors to the city.

"There are a lot of people coming through on bus tours as well, so we've really seen great support from everyone coming through the city," she said.

After this week, the cruise season continues with 17 more ship visits, including another tripleship day on Oct. 13, and three additional double ship days on Oct. 12, Oct. 14 and Oct. 29.

The last visit of the year will be Regent Cruises Seven Seas Navigator on Nov. 3.

The 2016 cruise season will start in May and continue to the end of October.