Sea ice can be a draw for tourists but it's keeping away cruise ships headed for Corner Brook

The scheduled arrival of the Regent Seven Seas Navigator cruise ship was supposed to mark an early start to tourism season in Corner Brook, but it turns out the timing is not so good, and the ship has cancelled each of its planned trips to the city trips so far this year.

The Navigator, which carries 490 passengers and 325 crew members, was scheduled to make five stops at the Port of Corner Brook between May and June, but four of those calls have been cancelled by the ship due to the drift ice limit — the amount of ice that's around the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Essentially, it means there's too much sea ice around the island for cruise ships to safely travel.

Jennifer Hartley, business development manager for the Port of Corner Brook, says the amount of ice is causing trouble for arriving ships. Ships usually like to stay between 30 and 60 nautical miles away from the area within the drift ice limit, she said, which in this case includes the Bay of Islands.

"This is the iceberg season, and typically it will always be an issue,"  Hartley said Tuesday.

"We don't normally get a lot of bookings during this time of year, so we have seen bookings in the past cancelled due to ice for the same reason. But normally we only have one or two bookings, but, you know, this year we have the five calls from the Navigator."

Container ships have been able to dock at the port because they can travel through much harsher terrain, but smaller vessels like expedition cruise ships can't take the risk, she said.

The Port of Corner Brook was on pace for a record year, with 32 bookings scheduled from May to November. Hartley still expects a record season with 29 calls to port, but knows cancellations can affect local businesses.

"We're always hopeful that the call will definitely go ahead, 'cause we know that it affects so many people, but [cancellation] is always a possibility," she said. "There's lots of things that come into play that is out of our control, but as of right now we have 29 calls and we have lots to look forward to."

Cancelled trips mean lost business

One of those local businesses is operated by Marilyn Matthews, who sells Indigenous crafts and clothing pieces on the Corner Brook dock when cruise ships arrive.

"It has been disappointing," Matthews said.

"The passengers, they expect to come here, and we would love for them to come here and experience our little neck of the woods here in Corner Brook.… It's disappointing that we didn't get a chance to meet these passengers and we didn't get a chance to sell any of our items."

Matthews doesn't expect the missed dockings to greatly affect her season, however.

"There's an impact, but we still have a lot more ships coming in. So overall, I think the impact is not going be as big as you would think. If it were the big cruise ships that cancelled, that would be a bigger impact."

The Navigator is still booked to make its first — and final — entry into the Port of Corner Brook on June 30.

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