Cruise ship passes Port of Palm Beach test; one step closer to offering trips to Bahamas.

The largest passenger ship to ever dock at the Port of Palm Beach cruised in easily this morning, passing a maneuverability test crucial to allowing Celebration Cruise Lines to start service to the Bahamas on March 1.

"It just came in so perfectly," said port Commissioner Ed Oppel. "The boat showed absolutely no problem."

The 500-cabin Bahama Celebration is expected to offer two-, four- and six-day cruises to Grand Bahama Island — the first vacation cruise to operate out of the port since 1996.

The deal with Celebration Cruise Line is expected to bring the port $2 to $2.5 million a year, Oppel said. The port has been trying to strike a deal with a vacation cruise line for more than a decade.

"It's a great addition to the port," Oppel said.

The port's governing board must still approve a contract with the cruise operator.

Celebration Cruise Lines is working through minor details to tie up the contract and must sort out a few small things with the Bahamian government, said Daniel Lambert, a principal with the company.

"Once that's worked out we're all set to go," Lambert said.

The Bahama Celebration isn't the first cruise ship to travel internationally from the port. At one time several ships went back and forth to the Bahamas, Oppel said.

Despite 20-knot winds, the ship slipped in cleanly at about 9:30 a.m. this morning. Workers checked loading ramps, among other things, before the vessel went back out around 11 a.m. The cruise line's president, Charles Kinnear, was on board.

The port's channel is much narrower than Port Everglades, where Bahama Celebration had been docking since March. If commissioners approve the contract with Celebration Cruise Lines, the Port of Palm Beach will become Bahama Celebration's new home.

Ship could find home in Port of Palm Beach

RIVIERA BEACH -- The Bahamas Celebration Cruise Line is one step closer to making its home here in Palm Beach. It would be the first cruise line in almost a decade to use the Port of Palm Beach. The cruise line company and the port conducted a docking test-run Sunday, and by all accounts, the ship proves to be the right "fit." Manny Almira, Executive Director of the Port of Palm Beach, was happy with Sunday's exercise. 

"I think things couldn't have gone smoother," Almira explains. "We were concerned about making the entrance to our port but because of the navigational enhancements that the ship has, it had absolutely no problem. Better off, we didn't need any tug assistance. So that's a celebration...no pun intended."

A long overdue celebration for many in Palm Beach County...who's only option for cruise-style travel has been the Palm Beach Princess Casino. Although the two may soon be docked only feet apart, Blair Ciklin, Chairman of the Port of Palm Beach, says this bahama-bound cruise ship will offer far more amenities.

"I think the people in Palm Beach County overwhelmingly have told the port commissioners that they want a ship that goes out and spends 2 or 3 nights," Ciklin says. "And this is what we've been dreaming of...so we're really close."

Port commissioners are hoping to finalize the details of the tenative 5 year deal, for a maiden voyage of March 1st. If all goes as planned, the cruise ship, that can accommodate up to 1200 passengers, will make trips every two days to Port Lucaya in the Bahamas. The travel deals will involve hotel stays at the Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort, a trip itinerary that is very appealing to Lynn Hansen, who brought her son to watch the ship come into port.

"I think its a good alternative for folks to have little vacation on the weekend and get over to the Bahamas," Hansen says.

If the deal works out, the Port hopes that the Bahamas Celebration Cruise Line will be the big money-maker. Almira says that the effects of this ship's arrival will be far-sweeping.

"This is not only good for the port but is also good for the community," Almira explains. "It's an economic engine. A ship like this can bring hundreds of jobs to the local community."

The ship's arrival will be a win-win for the Palm Beach area and for the cruise line as well. Dan Lambert of the Bahamas Celebration Cruise Line says that the Port of Palm Beach seems to be the right fit for the ship. 

"It's our desire to be here and offer our cruises here and to become a household name in the Palm Beach area and offer these cruises for quite some time to come," Lambert says.