The St George’s cruise ship season is to start a day late.The Veendam was to have berthed at Murray’s Anchorage today, with passengers ferried into the Old Town for the day.The Pilot Station announced yesterday that the ship will instead arrive tomorrow morning, and proceed into Hamilton in the evening.Vendors at the East End had been anticipating the cruise ship’s arrival Vera P Card owner Jan Card described his mood as “desperate”.He said: “Unfortunately, one day of the Veendam offshore at anchor and the tender bringing people in to us, is a little bit like someone who’s been stuck in the desert getting a couple of tablespoons of water. It tastes sweet, but it won’t keep you from dying.“We’re just keeping our noses above water.”The businessman wants to see the Town Cut modified to bring cruise ships into port, rather than having to wait for the tender Bermudian to ferry passengers ashore.“Right now we aren’t seeing a third of the people we need to see. We need the boats alongside. All they need for Town Cut is to deepen it a little to allow the Veendam in.“Places like the shoe store, the barber shop and the drugstore, can get a lot of their business from the ship’s crew when we have a ship tied up alongside St George’s. We don’t get that business when the Veendam is out at anchor for the day.”Mayor of St George Kenneth Bascome agreed.“I believe it would be more of an advantage to dock the Veendam in Hamilton and issue one-day passes for buses and taxis,” he said. “In the grand scheme of things, agents prefer to promote a two-port destination. I hope that before this year is out, decisions will be made regarding modifications to the Town Cut channel.”Mr Bascome said businesses throughout the Old Town were eager for the start of the cruise season.“The business people are all in anticipation. We’ll have the Native Percent band playing down in the Square. They have been very successful with visitors.”The mayor said he expected St George would “miss just as many ships as we receive” in the coming months.Sharon Minors, who operates the Olde Towne Railway tour company, said: “All the shops are waiting for the visitors to arrive. Our prices are very competitive and there’s a lot on offer here. We have lovely beaches, a lot of old forts and of course the history of the town itself.”However, she said: “I was doing a lot better when we had the ship coming in at Ordnance Island. It’s a little unfair, I think, to have cruise ships coming through to Dockyard. I don’t think the ferry schedule from there leaves people with enough time to see St George’s. It would be better if people didn’t have to worry about missing their ferry back.”She said businesses in St George were “really trying hard, but without the people it’s an exercise in futility”.The delay of the Veendam has proven an inadvertent stroke of luck.With blustery weather predicted for today, and winds of 20 to 25 knots, Mr Bascome said the vessel may have had to give St George a miss altogether.The ship leaves Bermuda on Friday.Useful web link: www.marops.bm.