Saint John is preparing for what it anticipates will be a record-breaking cruise ship season in 2023.

While the first vessel will not arrive until May, Port Saint John has already released this year’s schedule.

A record 86 vessel calls are expected to bring just shy of 200,000 passengers to the Saint John region.

Natalie Allaby, cruise development manager at Port Saint John, said it is going to be a “long and robust” season.

“The season is going to start on May 7th and go right through November 7th,” Allaby said in an interview.

“Starting in September, we’ll have 14 double ship days and six triple ship days. We all know that those are very busy days in uptown Saint John and the Bay of Fundy region.”

Port Saint John said this year’s season also includes eight inaugural vessel calls and eight overnight calls.

We will also see the return of one of the largest cruise ships in the world. Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas is scheduled to make a port of call on May 30.

“If you remember, that ship almost took up the full length of Water Street along our berth. It’s going to be over 5,000 passengers plus crew roaming the uptown that day.

With about 198,000 visitors expected to cruise into Saint John this season, Allaby said we could also set a record for cruise ship passengers.

“We did have over 200,000 back in 2010, but we may pick up a few calls so we could very well hit the record-breaking passenger count as well if we pick up a few additional ships,” she said.

The cruise business brings over $68 million annually to the Saint John and southern New Brunswick economies.

Officials said that figure includes direct spending by cruise lines, passengers, and crew in the Bay of Fundy region and direct jobs for New Brunswickers.

You can view this year’s full schedule on Port Saint John’s website.