Various rumors and odd “news” as heard by the Cruise Industry News editorial team on the second day of the 2013 Cruise Canada New England Symposium in Boston.

•  Shore power is suddenly the craze with end-of-September deadline for Canadian government money. Problem? They aren’t paying for the entire install at ports. Cruise lines have not committed more calls to ports with shore power. Moreover, ports should figure out where said power is coming from….

•  Crowding. Canada/New England’s peak season still happens in the fall, leading to congestion in some ports and more importantly, a lack of available busses.

•  Saguenay. Growing from zero calls less than 10 years ago, Saguenay will have more than 30 calls next year and is being rated on cruise line surveys as just as good as Quebec City.

•  ECA. Major cruise lines have either been granted or are in the process of being granted ECA exemptions through 2018 provided they figure out scrubber technology – which, according to various executives, seems to be a few years off.

•  2 Million. Saint John will welcome its 2,000,000th passenger this coming October in the Canadian city, home to the iconic Bay of Fundy.

•  Berths. A number of Canadian ports are in the early stages of looking at further expansion projects, including Charlottetown.