Old Town gets its own cruise ship, the Chamber of Commerce believes.

But Chamber vice president Ms Carolyn Mello felt the town could handle the expected influx of visitors. However, there was work to be done.

"We believe the infrastructure is there,'' Ms Mello said yesterday. "But there is no doubt there are some areas that are lacking.'' Those areas, Ms Mello said, included boat tours, shopping, transport and horse and carriage rides.

Monthly meetings that started in November between Chamber officials, the Corporation of St. George's and the Tourism Ministry, would continue in the New Year to further plan for the ship's arrival, she said.

Ms Mello said the group would probably meet every two weeks until May when the Royal Majesty sails into St. George's Harbour for the first time.

With the 1,050-passenger liner's Monday to Thursday schedule and the other regular callers that visit St. George's in the week, the town will be hosting up to 2,500 cruise passengers a day.

And based on Tourism statistics, a further 2,500 visitors could be expected from the hotels, Ms Mello said.

Tourism Minister the Hon. CV (Jim) Woolridge, pleased with progress in anticipation of the new ship said: "We are determined to make it work. The additional people will be accommodated.'' But he warned: "They (St. George's) are going to be busy.'' He did not think as many as 5,000 people would fill the town every weekday. Any request by St.

George's for additional funding would be looked at, he said, but he added, "we do not know what is required yet and what funds are available.'' And noting nearly every tourist surveyed at the Airport departure lounge in the last quarter had said they thought Bermuda offered value for money, he said: "We want to be sure St. George's offers value for money.'' Ms Mello said the Chamber would probably produce a list of suggested retail ideas for business folk to explore.

"There may be some retail opportunities,'' she said. "The town tends to cater a lot to tourist shopping. Maybe there could be more antiques and crafts on sale and speciality clothing stores.'' On transport, she said: "The regular bus service seems to be fine, but we may have to look at expanding or changing the mini bus service. And we will have to have discussions with taxi operators to make sure there is a sufficient number of taxis.'' Pre-arranged tours offered on board the cruise ships may have to be staggered so as not to jam to Old Town with traffic.

She believed that with the Chamber's Harbour Nights shopping programme slated to take off next season in St. George's, the Corporation's plans for nightly entertainment on the square, and cooperation from the pubs and nightclubs, there would be enough entertainment for the tourists at night.

She added that the Corporation had secured volunteers to dress in period costume and give walking tours.

"I think the town does have to a lot to offer but there needs to be a coordinated effort to pull everything together, market it and make sure it works,'' she said.