The official cruise ship season got off to a bumpy start yesterday after the owners of Meridian decided to axe free evening Dockyard-Hamilton tender service for passengers and crew due to its high cost.

The decision leaves the ship's roughly 1,400 passengers and 600 crew with limited transportation into the city and other parishes at night.

They can either walk a distance to catch the hourly bus into Hamilton or fork out for a taxi which takes at least a half hour to get into the city.

Chandris Celebrity Cruises, which last season provided a free tender service from morning to midnight, was faced with more than $500,000 in fees this season to rent a Government tender, local agents confirmed yesterday.

As a result it decided to provide free tender service only in the day this season.

The lack of convenient evening transportation in the West End concerned Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge yesterday. He believed it could seriously impact on business and sales -- especially from the crew -- in Hamilton.

Government and the cruise line were meeting urgently to come up with a solution, he said. However, it was too late to solve the problem for the 1995 season.

He added he was sympathetic to the cruise line because it had "borne the full brunt of the expensive cost of maintaining a free service for passengers.'' Meyer Agencies president the Wor. Henry Hayward said the issue was increasing public transportation -- not the jump in the fee.

The idea had always been for the Dockyard cruise ship Meridian , in its fifth year, to eventually be "served 100-percent by public transportation,'' he said. This would require additional nighttime public ferry and bus service.

"The tender fee has been put up each year to the point the cost is now in excess of $500,000 a year and this is over and above the $60 passenger head tax the cruise line has to pay,'' Mr. Hayward pointed out.

Mr. Woolridge noted that in 1993 the line had paid as much as $875,000 for day and night tender service, forcing it to cut back on the service last year and again this year.

However, he said, the tender service was important as a convenience for the passengers and crew.

For many of the crew, Bermuda is the only chance of getting in some recreational activity since the ship picks up passengers in New York City and heads to Bermuda the same day.

"If the number of tenders is reduced significantly it will manifest itself in a lack of business in Hamilton,'' Mr. Woolridge said. "While the West End provides a good shopping atmosphere it is only fair to expect guests will want to explore other areas.

"We are working on a solution so Celebrity does not have to pay as much money for tender service.'' The solution could mean a transition from a subsidised service to a public transportation service and further reducing the number of free tenders and using smaller, less costly Government ferries as tenders.

He said the ship's brochure advertised free tender service for this year, although it did not say between what hours. However, next year, it may axe the free tender service altogether.