cruise ship -- promised for next season.

During a town meeting to discuss the long-awaited liner, some, including beach house owner Mr. Kenny Bascome and cycle livery owner Mrs. Eloise Dowling, said they did not care whether it was big or small, up-market or mass-market, as long as it was dedicated to George's.

But Mr. Colin Curtis of the Bermuda Perfumery and Mr. David Rowntree of the Chamber of Commerce felt a more selective approach should be taken, because a liner that was not suitable for the Old Town -- in both size and image -- could prove detrimental in the long run.

Too large a ship would have trouble manoeuvring the Town Cut channel, they noted. It would offload too many passengers for the Old Town to handle.

And there was also a danger a 1,000-plus-passenger ship, with a mass-market, heavy-discount approach like Carnival cruise line, would take away business from the liners already serving Bermuda and end up driving them away.

But one thing they all agreed on was that the East End was desperately in need of its own cruise ship to generate sorely needed business.

As East End businessman and PLP candidate Mr. Leon (Jimmy) Williams put it: "St. George's has been in a recession for five years now due to the twin-port concept, which we begged Government not to put in place. If we don't get the business soon, we will be a town that is just going to fold up.'' The meeting was held amid growing uncertainty over whether Government's promise of securing a St. George's-only ship would ever materialise.

Mr. Williams, who organised it, pointed out it had been more than five months since Chandris cruise line turned down its contractual option to provide a ship for St. George's, thus opening up bidding to other cruise lines.

"We still have not had any decision, and I fear if it ends up taking two to three more months for the Tourism Minister (the Hon. C.V. Woolridge) to decide, we may not get one at all,'' he said.

Guest speaker at the meeting was shipping agent Mr. Donald MacPherson, whose company John S. Darrell Ltd. represents Carnival. The "fun ship'' cruise line with a fleet of 13 wants to send its 1,000-passenger-ship Tropicale to St.

George's, but has complained its application has received scant attention.

Mr. MacPherson, stressing he had not come as a spokesman for Carnival, said a dilemma of any line wanting to send a ship to St. George's was being able to fill it up.

"It's got to offer something that the other two ships, which go to both Hamilton and St. George's, can't offer,'' he said.

Carnival, he said, was among Fortune magazine's 1,000 most valuable companies.

It had the largest number of repeat passengers in the industry, thus having its own client base to fill the Tropicale .

He pointed out that a ship that was small enough to manoeuvre its way through Town Cut, might not be safe enough to cross the Atlantic, especially in the early part of the cruise season.

"Carnival has one of the best reputations in the industry and can only help to promote awareness of Bermuda as an exciting destination,'' he said.

MR. DON MACPHERSON -- `Carnival has the largest number of repeat visitors in the industry'.