service to Bermuda, the visiting president of Holland America Line said yesterday.

Mr. Kirk Lanterman contradicted Carnival Cruise Lines president Mr. Bob Dickinson, who earlier said Boston was "too shallow'' a market to offer weekly service to Bermuda.

"A city the size of Boston and with the infrastructure they have there for tourism, I think that it would just increase the size of the market to Bermuda and the size of the cruise market in general,'' Mr. Lanterman told The Royal Gazette .

Still, Mr. Lanterman, 61, said he favoured Carnival's bid to provide a St.

George's ship over the Boston-Bermuda Cruising Ltd. application favoured by Government.

"There isn't anybody better than Carnival,'' he said.

Mr. Lanterman was speaking aboard the Holland America liner Statendam , which left Dockyard bound for Florida last night.

Carnival, which owns Seattle-based Holland America, wants to provide the fifth ship, but only out of New York. Mr. Dickinson said he would refuse the contract if offered it out of Boston.

Government would be smarter to go with a proven cruise industry leader in Carnival -- the world's biggest cruise line -- than "a guy that might have a ship,'' Mr. Lanterman said in reference to Boston-Bermuda.

Continuity and fleet quality were important, and Carnival had "one of the youngest fleets in the world,'' Mr. Lanterman said.

Government is set to sign a ten-year contract with Boston-Bermuda, which plans a contract with Majesty Cruise Lines to send the Royal Majesty to the Island starting next May.

But Carnival says the service out of Boston is doomed to fail.

In a recent interview, Mr. Dickinson of Carnival said he had no confidence in the Boston market because it was "not deep enough to supply the numbers of passengers you need.'' Boston's Logan Airport had only a fifth of the air access of New York, he said.

In response, Tourism Minister Mr. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge said Mr. Dickinson's comments showed "a lack of understanding...of what the real world is all about.'' Mr. Woolridge said Mr. Dickinson's "scurrilous'' comments showed he wanted to "come to Bermuda at all costs,'' and "denigrate any decision that Government might make.'' Yesterday, Mr. Lanterman said he disagreed with Mr. Woolridge's description of Mr. Dickinson.

"I think I would characterise Bob Dickinson as the long-term leader in the industry who has had more than anyone else to do with making cruising a well-accepted vacation alternative,'' he said.

"It seems kind of strange to me to enter into a ten-year contract with someone who is trying to find a ship to lease,'' he said. "If the choice was between a guy that might have a ship and a guy that has a ship and is a known, experienced operator, it seems like most of the decision would go toward the known operator.'' Mr. Woolridge has suggested Carnival's client base was more down market than what Bermuda was looking for.

But Mr. Lanterman said many Carnival passengers also booked Holland America ships. "I'd have to see the statistical information that supported the contention that the Carnival passenger wasn't as affluent,'' he said. "I have no reason to believe that's true.'' Cruise chiefs differ over market "I'm not sure you can take any particular cruise line and decide one has poor people and one has rich people, or one has any kind of people.'' In seeking the St. George's ship, Government said "preference will be given to the ship that can offer an itinerary from a port other than New York,'' where Carnival wants to sail from.

Government sources said that requirement was intended to protect Bermuda's current fleet of ships, which sailed from New York.

But Mr. Lanterman said it made no difference where the fifth ship sailed from, and Boston was close enough to New York that the effect on competitors would be about the same.

"I don't know whether coming out of New York, or coming out of some place else is the important thing, as long as you've got a stable operator,'' he said.