PEIBusiness was booming at Lobster on the Wharf in Charlottetown as two cruise ships, carrying around 5,000 passengers total, docked in Charlottetown on Sunday.Lines were out the door at Lobster on the WharfRyan McKellop · CBC News · Posted: Aug 31, 2025 3:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoRaj Gharti. manager at Lobster on the Wharf, says he has to add staff when the cruise ships are in port. (Delaney Kelly/CBC)Business was booming at Lobster on the Wharf in Charlottetown as two cruise ships, carrying around 5,000 passengers total docked, at the Port of Charlottetown on Sunday.The Celebrity Silhouette and the Norwegian Gem docked around noon, meaning the many stores and restaurants in the area got some extra customers. This is the first time this year the city has had two cruise ships docked at once.Raj Gharti, manager of Lobster on the Wharf, said he needed extra staff on Sunday.”Whenever we don’t have cruise ships we have around … 25 staff or so, but whenever we have cruise ships it’s like almost double that, sometimes even more.”Customers lined up early and the restaurant was nearly full before passengers from the second ship began to arrive, he said.”We’ve been blessed with a lot of tourists,” he said. “People are nice here. The tourists have been really nice to us.”Cruise industry means more than just tourismThe tourist business won’t stop anytime soon. Mike Cochrane, the Port of Charlottetown’s CEO, said the fall season will be busy, too.Mike Cochrane, CEO of the Port of Charlottetown, says the cruise ship industry is good for tourism and exports. (Delaney Kelly/CBC)”About 60 per cent of our business arrives between September and October, the other 40 per cent arrives between April to August,” he said.”This is the beginning of the fall season, so we’re happy to see it arrive and it looks like [it’s] going to be a great season again.”Cochrane said the cruise business is good for the Island economy in many ways. He said Island businesses gain from the tourist trade but also because the cruise lines buy Island products.He said that the ships are in town for around 10 hours.”The impact spreads far and wide in P.E.I.,” he said. “I think everybody has a cruise schedule on their bulletin boards in their businesses.”ABOUT THE AUTHORRyan McKellop is a graduate of the Holland College Journalism program and a web writer at CBC P.E.I.With files from Delaney Kelly
Business booming in Charlottetown with 2 cruise ships in port
