Bali has increasingly become a stop on the itineraries of cruise ships, and a port official says 2012 promises to be the biggest year yet for the island.

Iwan Sabatini, the general manager of Pelabuhan Indonesia III, which manages Benoa Port in southern Bali, said on Monday that 35 cruise ships berthed at the port last year, compared to 27 in 2010 and 15 in 2009.

“That number exceeded our target. We were really happy,” Iwan said.

The target for this year, according to Iwan, is 28 visits. That should not be too difficult to achieve, with Iwan saying 38 cruise ships had already indicated tentative plans to stop at Bali in 2012.

The first of those 38, the Legend of the Sea, a luxury cruise ship operated by Miami-based Royal Caribbean, is scheduled to berth at Benoa this month.

The 264-meter-long ship was scheduled to stop at the port last year but was unable to stop because the water was not deep enough in front of the jetty.

Iwan said they had completed work to deepen the sea to at least nine and a half meters for a width of 150 meters all along the jetty.

Bali is constructing a deep port for cruise ships in Tanah Ampo, in Karangasem district. The project had been halted because of funding problems but the Karangasem district chief, I Wayan Geredeg, said a new agreement signed by the ministries of transportation, people’s welfare, tourism and the creative economy, and maritime affairs and fisheries would allow work to resume soon.

Bali Increasingly a Stop for the World’s Cruise Ships | The Jakarta Globe