The second-highest number of cruise ship visitors in the Island’s history is expected to arrive next year, according to Transport Minister Derrick Burgess.Out of the Island’s regular weekly visitors, the West End will take in thousands more next year, with the number of ships calling at Dockyard to increase from this year’s 108 to 121 in 2012.Government projects a total of 363,000 cruise visitors to Bermuda for 2012.Out of these, 309,105 will arrive on the regular weekly cruise services, Mr Burgess said, adding that “weekly callers remain bullish on the Bermuda cruise product”.The Minister acknowledged that visits from less frequent ships, or occasional callers, will drop nearly half next year, from 40 to 22.Most of that decline has been attributed to the drop in Carnival Cruise Lines services to the Island, but Mr Burgess also blamed a downturn in the European market.“On average, we are successful in attracting more occasional cruise calls when there is a high number of ships repositioning to and from Europe in the spring and fall,” he said.“This number varies depending on the strength of the cruise market in Europe, which has been a high growth market for the past several years. Consequently, we have been able to negotiate with cruise lines to make one-off stays in Bermuda.”However, with “weakness expected in Europe in 2012”, he said, less ships crossing the Atlantic will mean less one-off stops for the Island.Mr Burgess added that the Cunard Line cruise ship Queen Victoria arrived on December 3, now bearing the ‘Hamilton’ on its stern.In October, the UK-based company decided to switch to a Bermuda registry, cashing in on the Island’s regulations permitting couples to wed at sea.