One of the largest cruise ships in the world visits Charlottetown

The MSC Meraviglia carries 4,500 passengers and about 1,500 crew members

Image | Cruise ship

Caption: The MSC Meraviglia is the largest cruise ship to visit P.E.I. (Travis Kingdon/CBC)

Greeted by some dreary Maritime weather, the largest cruise ship that's ever visited Charlottetown arrived Saturday morning.
The MSC Meraviglia has carried about 4,500 passengers and around 1,500 crew to the Island.
It's one of the largest cruise ships in the world. It docked at Port Charlottetown at about 9 a.m. and was scheduled to leave later in the day.
The city's charm and people made up for the rain, said Denise Mirdel, a passenger from Sydney, Australia.
"I think it's absolutely beautiful," Mirdel said.
Rob Cutrie, another passenger from Sydney, Australia, noted the friendliness of the people.
"They wanted to chat, wanted to talk. Where you from? It was just such a great atmosphere to be in a friendly place and that's really important to come to a place where people accept you and you feel happy."
While the trip to Charlottetown was brief, Cutrie said: "I'll be back.

Image | Denise and Rob Cutrae

Caption: It was a short, sweet, and rainy stop in Charlottetown for Rob Cutrie and Denise Mirdel. (Travis Kingdon/CBC)

Port Charlottetown has been working for a decade to get the cruise line to come back to Charlottetown.
This is the first visit to the Island by the MSC cruise line in a decade.
The ship is on a repositioning cruise from Europe to the Caribbean, where it will sail this fall and winter.
Port Charlottetown said it is on track to hit a record number of passengers this year.

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