The Bermuda Tourism Authority has welcomed news of a cruise deal that could see more liners call into Hamilton and St George’s.

Norwegian Cruise Lines is in the final stages of acquiring Prestige Cruises International, which owns upper-premium cruise operator Oceania Cruises and luxury cruise operator Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Norwegian’s boss, Kevin Sheehan, has told The Royal Gazette that the sale could pave the way for more Bermuda visits by the smaller, high-end vessels.

The news was hailed as “music to our ears’ by BTA CEO Bill Hanbury.

“We met with the Norwegian folks back in August and the idea of getting more ships into Hamilton and St George’s was one of the things we strongly expressed to them. It’s critical to the economic health of the retailers and restaurateurs in those communities.

“We did not know the deal between Norwegian and Prestige was being negotiated at that time, but we were already pursuing their new acquisitions — it’s a very positive development with an established Bermuda partner.

“We are very much on their radar and we are very excited about the prospect of more ships coming into Hamilton and St George’s.

Mr Hanbury said that he expected next year’s cruise numbers to be a significant increase on this year with the return of the Veendam to Hamilton.

Norwegian themselves have increased the number of calls from their two ships from 44 to 48.

And Carnival Cruises has also announced an increase in calls for 2015.

“Our numbers will increase on the cruise side in 2015 and most importantly they will increase with ships coming along-side in Hamilton and StGeorge’s where we need the economic impact the most.

“We are very happy to have the Veendam back in Hamilton and we are working on increasing capacity and attracting new lines to Hamilton and St George’s.”

But BTA Chairman David Dodwell insisted the focus of the authority remained on increasing air arrival numbers.

“We need to have the right balance,” he said. “We need to have a 60-40 split of air passengers to cruise passengers to turn this industry around.

“At present cruise passengers obviously out number air passengers and we need to flip that around.

“Our focus moving forward has to be on air arrivals and with that comes an increase in hotel occupancy and a boost to other sectors too.”