Bermuda’s loss is Alaska’s gain, according to Princess Cruise Line.The Canadian news outlet The Star yesterday quoted Princess Cruises media relations manager Karen Candy as saying that the reduction in trips from New York to Bermuda in 2012 can be attributed to an increase in cruises to Alaska, and the retirement of one ship.Speaking on the drop from ten visits this year to two scheduled next year, she said: “We just didn’t have the capacity to have the New York run for the 2012 season.”She said the cruise line was also reducing calls to San Juan, St Thomas and Grand Turk by six visits each.However, she said that the line intends to launch a new ship, the Royal Princess, in 2013 which could allow them to book more visits to the Island.Both Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Lines have cut back on visits to Bermuda.In a press release issued on Tuesday, Government said that the reduction of visits by Carnival could be attributed to the lack of available berths at requested times.“Due to contractual obligations with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Celebrity and Norwegian Cruise Lines, prime berths are not usually available for occasional callers wishing to arrive in Bermuda Mondays through Friday, May through Labour Day,” a spokeswoman said.“These are the times when cruise lines introduce higher ticket prices because it aligns with school breaks in the US, Canada and Europe.”The Holland America Line Veendam is also scheduled to cut back on the number of visits to the Island in 2012, with 19 scheduled trips instead of 24. It will not visit the Island at all in 2013.St George’s, which has been particularly hard hit by a falling number of cruise ship visits, will be visited by the Regatta in June and both the Quest for Adventure and Silver Whisper in October.While the total number of cruise ship passengers to the Island is expected to fall by around ten percent from an estimated 393,000 this year to around 360,000 next year, Government said the number of passengers would still be the second highest in history.