Royalty will descend on Dockyard next year when the newest Princess Cruises ship, , makes Bermuda a port of call.

With the new cruise ship adding some of the prescribed "pop and sizzle" to Dockyard, Tourism Minister Ewart Brown called on anyone with an idea or service to offer cruise ship passengers to consider setting up shop in the West End.

"We have to give these passengers a good glimpse of Bermuda, so they'll want to come back," he said.

Taking advantage of the newly restructured passenger tax, changed from a flat $60 fee based on a three-day stay to the more flexible $20 per day, the ship will stay in Dockyard for just one day ? arriving in the morning and leaving that same evening.

The ship, which can carry up to 3,100 passengers, will make a total of ten visits to the Island. It will arrive on either Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, or Mondays, from June 25, 2006 until October 16, 2006.

The cruise line is also in discussions with the Department of Tourism to set up a cruise conversion policy, allowing travellers who visit the Island on the cruise ship to be converted into stay-over guests in the future.

"This is particularly good news for our merchants in the Dockyard area, because Princess Cruise Lines tends to attract a more upscale and diverse cruise guest," Dr. Brown said.

"We expect that this will definitely add to the weekend business at the West End in terms of shore excursions and purchases of goods."

Vice president of Princess Cruises Caribbean and Atlantic Shore Operations, Steve Nielsen, attended a Press conference with Dr. Brown announcing the venture.

"This is a monumental occasion for us," he said.

Up until four years ago, Princess Cruises was a regular caller to the Island with the old However that ship has since been retired, Mr. Nielsen said. Dockyard did not have the cruise ship capabilities it does today, he added, while other ships in the Princess Cruises fleet were too large to berth at Hamilton or St. George's.

The , currently under construction and expected for completion in May, 2006, will fit the bill perfectly, however.

"We think we have a unique product that fits in very well with Bermuda," Mr. Nielsen said.

The venture represents Princess Cruises' first round-trip cruise from New York to the Caribbean via Bermuda, he said. All stops on the nine-day tour will be one-day stops, and the ship will also visit San Juan, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos.

West End Development Corporation chairman David Burch was also at the Press conference yesterday. "We're delighted to be getting a weekend ship," he said.

The ship will help replace the which, though calling to Bermuda throughout 2005, will cease service to the Island in 2006, Dr. Brown said, adding: "Our search [for a replacement ship is over."