Cruise ship drug convictions this season now total 46 after ten more passengers appeared at court on cannabis importation charges.

One Celebrity passenger told The Royal Gazette that there were more drugs to be found on board her ship - but sniffer dogs had failed to trace them. And other passengers have called for visitors to be warned of Bermuda's strict drug policies.

"There should be a big sign as soon as get on the ship, so passengers know they should leave their drugs at home," said a Massachusetts resident on the Celebrity ship.

Yesterday's court appearances added $10,000 in fines to Government coffers, bringing the total amount to more than $50,000.

Each tourist pleaded guilty to cannabis importation and was fined $1,000.

Senior Acting Magistrate, Carlisle Greaves showed the visitors no mercy when handing out their fines, saying "there's a price for everything. Just like you have to pay for steak and caviare, you have to pay to smoke cannabis. You are just going to have to have $1,000 in your pocket each time you want to smoke in Bermuda."

The ten passengers who ranged in age from 17 to 49, were arrested on Tuesday morning in St. George's. Ryan Keefe, 22, also pleading guilty to possessing illegal drug equipment. He was fined an additional $500 for the pipe which was found with his 1.9 grams of weed.

On Wednesday ten Celebrity passengers in almost identical circumstances.

A Massachusetts resident, whose family member appeared in court yesterday and refused to be named, claimed that there were many more passengers whose drugs hadn't been sniffed out.

"The dogs aren't too good at their job," said

Many of those fined demanded that passengers be warned of Bermuda's strict drug policies before coming here. They felt the responsibility to warn their passengers fell on the individual cruise line, not the Bermuda government.

A New Yorker, whose husband, Ronald Jenkins, was fined $1,000, claimed that the authorities had become more strict in the two years since her last cruise to Bermuda . "I brought in pot last time, and they didn't even search the ship. It was no problem at all."