Monday, May 11 marks the start of the 27th cruise season in Saint John, with passengers getting collector-style lapel pins as opposed to roses.

For 26 years, many cruise passengers who have visitedhave been greeted with roses.

Beginning this year, Port Saint John will give cruise guests an exclusive welcome gift that has a longer shelf life and greater local meaning.

“The tradition of providing female guests with a rose to welcome them served us well for many years but in 2013, when we celebrated our 25th cruise season, we started to look for a new item that would also provide linkages to meaningful landmarks from our destination,” noted Andrew Dixon, Senior Vice President of Planning & Development for Port Saint John.

The new signature item is a collectors’ lapel pin featuring a different landmark each season.  The first season’s pin features the “Three Sisters Lamp” located at the end of Prince William Street. Each pin is individually packaged with a card telling the story of the Lamp.  

“In seeking a new and meaningful welcome ‘gift’ we balanced the challenge of replacing the rose, which had a sentimental attachment within both the organization and the volunteer Meet & Greet team, with a new item which speaks to experiencing Saint John and the greater Bay of Fundy destination region,” commented Paula Copeland, Manager of Corporate Communications & Governance at Port Saint John.

Port Saint John introduced the pins to the Meet and Greet volunteers earlier this week and the first passengers will be given the pin during the inaugural call of Oceania Cruises’ Marina on Monday, May 11th.