The current cruise schedule will attract upwards of 170,000 visitors over 151 ship visits -- 26 more than last year.

The biggest reason for the jump, and the newest twist in the business, will be the arrival at the end of May of the Royal Majesty , the St.

George's-dedicated ship out of Boston.

St. George's town planners have been busy all winter preparing for the onslaught that Mayor the Wor. Henry Hayward says "might be bordering on the point of overcongestion''.

Among the questions raised by Royal Majesty are whether its Boston-area bookings will draw market support from the New York-based vessels, whether the Old Town can handle the visitors and whether the Boston-Bermuda ship is viable.

Another question is whether the Island's "comfortable carrying capacity'' and residents will be able to tolerate the influx.

Bermuda adopted a more restrictive cruise policy in 1990 after local complaints of overcrowding in 1988, when the year's 158,000 cruise visitors was the highest ever.

The new 1994 schedule reflects a cruise policy anchored in four regular calling ships: Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Song of America , Kloster Cruises' Dreamward , and Celebrity's Meridian and Horizon .

Beyond the addition of Royal Majesty , the cruise schedule will be bolstered by 18 visits by irregular calling ships.

The irregular callers represent an array of cruise companies, stopping in Bermuda as part of a re-positioning cruise.

Among the notable ships calling this year are P&O's Canberra , which will call once enroute from England to Florida; Cunard's Queen Elizabeth II which will call twice out of New York, and the Sagafjord which will stop once passing from Charleston to Freeport, Bahamas.