Royal Caribbean Cruises will begin offering cruises from Norfolk, Virginia to Bermuda beginning in April 2007, according to company and city officials.

The Virginian-Pilot reported this week that Royal Caribbean, the world?s second-largest cruise line, will offer seven-day voyages between Norfolk and Bermuda between April 20 and July 27.

Its ship, the 2,000-passenger , will be the first sailing from Norfolk?s $36 million downtown cruise terminal that is scheduled to open in March.

It joins industry titan Carnival Corp. in sailing from Norfolk. Carnival has four cruises scheduled from Norfolk next year, two in the spring and two in the fall.

Stephen Kirkland, the city?s cruise operations and marketing manager, told the Virginian-Pilot that he hopes the presence of those two lines will attract others.

?Having the world?s largest cruise line and the second largest cruise line homeporting with our brand new 80,000-square-foot cruise terminal is certainly going to get the attention of the industry,? he said. ?We?re very excited about this.?

Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean?s chairman and chief executive officer, announced his company?s new departure port on Monday at a cruise industry conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

He said Royal Caribbean will split its Bermuda cruises between Norfolk and Philadelphia.

Royal Caribbean?s sister company, Celebrity Cruises, sailed from Norfolk until the end of 2005, when it sold the ship ? the Horizon ? used for the Norfolk trips.

Together, Kirkland estimated that the Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruises will draw 80,000 passengers in 2007.