All Bermuda's regular cruise ship callers are being lobbied to take homegrown students onboard.

Tourism Minister David Allen revealed he had asked all the cruise lines on the Island route if they would take Bermuda College trainees for the summer holidays.

So far the new weekend vessel, the Crown Dynasty , is the only one to sign up.

It is due to take around ten intern students and it is anticipated up to 30 will eventually sign up on all ships.

Announcing the initiative, in conjunction with Bermuda College, Mr. Allen said the students would get between six and 12 weeks of experience in areas such as food and beverage, or front desk.

And Bermuda College Dean of the Faculty of Hotel and Business Administration Duranda Greene said it would give students the opportunity to gain on the job training that would count towards their course credits.

But Mr. Allen refuted suggestions that the scheme would take students away from local hotels -- which the Government has said it wants to lure Bermudians to work in.

"It is important to get international experience of international standards.

It is good to see how other entities operate,'' he said. "Some of those working on ships will come back and work in hotels.

"We said we wanted to end the adversarial relationship between cruise lines and hotels and create something where the two can prosper together.'' In addition to the Bermudian students, the vessel will also feature a local identity after a $1.5 million interior decoration.

Decks are named after Bermuda's parishes, there are lounges and bars with Island names, local art and literature has been installed on board and some meals will be Bermudian-inspired.

Also present at the launch were Paulo Benassi, manager of hotel operations for Crown Cruise Lines, Richard Dipple, senior vice-president of hotel operations for Commodore Cruises and Joe McGrath, vice president of on-board passenger services for Crown Cruise Lines.

The representatives have been at Bermuda College to initiate the scheme and expect the first applications to be made soon.

CRUISE SHIPS SHI BERMUDA COLLEGE EDC