Pictou residents excited over rare cruise ship visit

There was excitement in the town of Pictou, N.S. on Friday, thanks to a brief visit by a cruise ship.

Close to 200 passengers and crew sailed in to Pictou on the Pearl Mist. Some then boarded tour buses, while others decided to tour the town on foot.

“My husband and I like to talk to people and find out what’s going on, so this is much nicer to me than a big city,” says passenger Judy Davis.

“We find that the greeting you get at these small towns is very sincere, and it’s fun,” says Jon Davis.

Some even stopped to take pictures with local RCMP officers.

“Well his uniform, we don’t have that in the United States, that sharp-looking uniform,” says passenger Judy Drez.

It is only the second time that such a vessel has visited the small community, but there is hope it could lead to more stops in the future. The last cruise ship to visit Pictou made port in 2012.

“We knew when we started working on it back in 2006 that we had to be port ready,” says Geralyn MacDonald of the Pictou County Cruise Line Committee. “We knew it could take three to five years to get a ship and we stuck with it.”

Local business owners say they appreciate the chance to increase sales and boost tourism numbers.

“We’ve had a lot of negativism lately with the mill, and I think if, once the tourism trade if you will, is aware that if cruise ships are coming in, it’s got to be a good place to visit,” says restaurant owner Brent Minshull.

The ship was scheduled to leave port late Friday afternoon. It will be making a return trip later this month.

MacDonald says efforts are being made to continue to attract more cruise business to Pictou, and two ships are already confirmed for May 2015.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh