revealed yesterday.

The Norwegian Crown replaces the Dreamward this year as one of Bermuda's five regular callers.

It will skip visits to the Island during the peak season in order to add visits on the end of its schedule which will see it cruise to Bermuda into December.

Tourism Director Gary Phillips said yesterday: "Norwegian Cruise Lines, which run the Norwegian Crown , will be experimenting this year with a different type of itinerary.

"They will basically have the same number of calls and nights spent in port but they will operate on an interrupted schedule.

"Part of their new strategy is to see how far beyond the end of the traditional cruise season, which ends on October 30, they can extend their season.'' The Norwegian Crown will visit the Island on November 24 and December 1 -- when Hamilton Harbour is traditionally empty.

The cruise line will still pay the full passenger tax of $8 per cabin per night in port during these end of the year trips.

"The tax has been extended and the line has agreed to pay it even though they have gone outside the period it covers. They will honour the tax.'' Under legislation passed in the House of Assembly on Monday night, cruise ships would normally not have to pay the per cabin tax when they visited the Island in November and December. Provision was made in the Miscellaneous Taxes Amendment 1998 to allow for the Norwegian Crown to be charged the full rate.