more ship visits by Princess Cruises vessels.

The 551-foot Pacific Princess with a capacity for 644 passengers has been included for an April 22 one-day visit, the same day her sister ship Royal Princess is scheduled.

In November, the Royal Princess has been added, making her the second last caller for the year.

The two Princess vessels bring the total visits by irregular ships to 18 and the total calls by all ships to 127.

The additions should take Tourism's cruise visitor target slightly beyond the 150,000 target that was the norm in the late 1980s when complaints of overcrowding led to a restrictive policy established in 1990.

That policy was anchored in four long-term contracts with Kloster Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Chandris Cruises, whose Horizon and Meridian visit regularly.

The restrictive policy, which aimed for a minimum 120,000 visitors annually, was loosened this year when Kloster and RCCL exercised their contract options to introduce bigger ships.

RCCL's Song of America and Kloster's Dreamward will add the potential for another 28,000 visitors.

The four will visit a total of 109 times.

The season runs from April 12 when the Meridian visits, to November 5 when the Royal Viking Sun arrives.

New changes removing the visitor head tax in the winter months starting this November may lead to further cruise ship schedule changes. The removal of the head tax is being instituted to increase ship visits during the winter.

As Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul said in his Budget speech: "Few cruise ships visit Bermuda during the fall and winter months despite the fact that there are no restrictions on such visits and that the Island can have some very reasonable weather during this period, especially in November and March.

"In order to provide a fiscal incentive to boost the off-season cruise business, it is proposed to remove the passenger arrival tax altogether between the beginning of November and the end of March with effect from November, 1993.'' The Tourism Ministry is nearing a decision to select a ship dedicated to St.

George's.

The three cruise lines bidding for the east end slot include Costa Cruises, Crown Cruises and Carnival Cruises.

Carnival Cruises is the largest cruise company in the business with a eight-ship fleet.

If the company is selected, ships most likely to serve the old town are Carnival , with capacity for 950, and Mardis Gras , with a capacity for 906.

But Carnival's two ships may be too big for St. George's. Industry sources have said a small ship with a capacity for 500 to 700 passengers would have the best chance at surviving the increasingly competitive Bermuda route.

The three-ship Crown Cruises fits well into that niche with the 530-passenger Crown Monarch .

Costa Cruises best candidate is the 984-passenger Costa Rivera . Carnival, which is the heaviest television advertisers in the industry, has two new vessels. They are the Sensation and the Fascination with 2,600 passenger capacity.

Costa has the Costa Romantica (1.350 passengers, ready for launch this November. Crown's Crown Dynasty , with a capacity for 820, is coming on-stream this July.