Mr. Bascome says that when he talks about St. George he is "like a child on Christmas morning".

He admits he has a tendency to get emotional when discussing the old town. He says he's been overwhelmed by the support he has received since he was elected mayor last December. At one point, as he discussed his team of alderman and the backing he received from former mayor Mariea Caisey, he became visibly upset.

His success will depend on their continued support, Mr. Bascome said. With the corporation's aldermen and common councillors, he has come up with a list of initiatives in hopes of securing the town's future. Government has hired a group of overseas consultants at a cost of $800,000 to reform the corporations of St. George and Hamilton. Mayors Kenneth Bascome of St. George and Charles Gosling of Hamilton have both claimed that Government actually wants to abolish the long-standing organisations. Government has repeatedly stated there is no such plan in place.

"Myself, two aldermen, as well as corporation secretary Nancy Hooper met with the Premier [Ewart Brown] to have some in-depth discussions on how we believe the municipality can go forward," he said. "Specifically we spoke of economics and the possibilities of things being done to enhance the municipality's ability to raise funds. The Premier also made a statement that he didn't want us to believe that he was actively attempting to undermine the economy of St. George.

"My response to the Premier was that if I believed that he trying to undermine us I would be out there banging the horn and actually challenging that particular aspect."

Even with that implied security, the town has to overcome several hurdles, Mr. Bascome admitted. At the top of the list is the need to generate more revenue.

The town has relied heavily on tourism in the past. A great part of that trade came from cruise ships which docked at the town's two ports. Cruise ships have expanded in size in recent years however, and St. George's has struggled to find ones that can fit into the town's main port at Penno's Wharf or fit through Town Cut, the narrow opening of St. George's Harbour.

"We realise that there are going to be issues with the Town Cut channel and at this stage no firm decisions have been made in that regard," said Mr. Bascome. "We have said to the Government that we would like for them to look at what would be the options for St. George's to have a cruise ship, but again nothing concrete has been decided at this point."

Only one ship has been contracted to make regular stops to the town in 2010 albeit via an offshore anchorage.

Holland America Line's Veendam will make 24 scheduled visits to St. George's during this cruise season. The 720-foot ship, which has the capacity to carry 1360 passengers including 561 crew members, will anchor offshore at Murray's Anchorage, an area off Fort St. Catherine.

Arriving weekly from New York on Tuesday mornings, the Veendam will spend the whole day at Murray's Anchorage before moving to port in Hamilton for Wednesday morning. The ship will depart the Island on Friday afternoons having spent two-and-a-half days in the city and only one at the East end.

While Mr. Bascome agrees the cruise schedule is "not ideal", he conceded, "we think that summer will basically sort itself out".

Passengers on the Veendam will be tendered from the ship into St. George by the Bermudian, a large ferry with a capacity of 700. It's the only solution so far and it hasn't been well received by everyone. The commute from the ship could take upwards of 40 minutes and visitors are limited as to when they are able to leave or return to the ship by the ferry's schedule.

Added to that is the fact that Murray's Anchorage is completely exposed to the elements. This means that the ship's visits to the town will be completely dependent on the weather. If the wind is too strong or the seas too rough, the Veendam will be forced to bypass St, George's completely and spend the duration of the visit in Hamilton.

Residents and potential visitors have expressed their dissatisfaction. Passengers have been particularly irritated by the inflexibility of the tender process, the time involved and its limited capacity.

Deborah Brunning of New York told this paper she would be cancelling her trip as a result.

"Holland America caters to an older crowd," she said. "We don't want to stand around in lines for a ferry. I would much rather see the Veendam dock in Hamilton for the duration of the cruise. We can take a cab or a bus to St. George's and not have to worry about a ferry with 698 other sardines. It seems like Bermuda would want to welcome cruise ship tourists, not make it more difficult for us. That is what is being accomplished by this ferry idea. My husband and I are going to cancel our Bermuda vacation because of this. We will go spend it on a different cruise to another destination."

Ms Brunning's sentiment towards the tendering process was echoed by Adam Levine, another New York resident.

"In addition to the actual travel time, how long do you think it will take to load and unload 700 passengers?" he asked. "What if the weather is bad? Then we will be stuck on board for the whole day. This option is totally unacceptable, especially for the older passengers that Holland America caters to. My family and I will be cancelling our reservation soon unless Holland America and the Government of Bermuda come up with a reasonable alternative to tendering."

Mr. Bascome said he and his team are working to come up with an answer to the problem, but conceded that "one ship is better than no ship".

"We have asked the Government to look at the possibility of securing a dedicated cruise ship for the Town of St. George and that is something that we are actively pursuing. We are optimistic that we will find a suitable solution."

However there are other irons in the fire. In an attempt to break into yacht tourism and better accommodate large luxury yachts, the town has opened a yacht visitor centre on Ordnance Island. The building has basic amenities such as showers and rest rooms. Staff greet new arrivals and offer assistance with anything that they may need while in Bermuda.

Mr. Bascome said that attracting luxury yachts to the Island could be profitable for the town. He said it was a topic Dr. Brown was optimistic about during their meeting.

"Alderman Beau Evans also explained to the Premier the stage we are at with building up the marina. We believe that if we develop the marina it could be a great source of revenue for the town."

Other initiatives planned for rejuvenating St. George's include the formation of an activities committee. Its role would be to develop attractions and things to do in and around the town.

There are also plans to put more focus on the rich history of the Town by possibly incorporating it into school curriculums and holding educational and walking tours.

A renovation of Penno's Wharf is underway to accommodate weddings and other functions and community clean-ups aimed at keeping the town aesthetically appealing are also in the works, said Mr. Bascome.

While passionate about his town and enthusiastic about its future, the mayor makes no claims that the road ahead will be easy. He said that the majority of Bermudians don't realise that the town's current economic situation "was a long time coming".

"People don't realise that we first lost the Coast Guard, who were stationed here, then the cable ship moved to Dockyard," he said. "After that we had the closing of the Club Med, then the American base pulled out and then the Marriott closed down. It was a series of blows that got us to this point and it is going to take a community effort to get us back on top again. We make the promise that we will be successful at the end of the day. I am just asking people to hold on."