Guernsey is set to welcome over 100 ships with potentially 150,000 visitors and crew coming ashore during this cruise season.
The first ships are scheduled this Easter weekend, Saga Sapphire on Good Friday and Marco Polo on Easter Monday.
The schedule includes eleven inaugural visits including Royal Caribbbean’s Brilliance of the Seas and Costa Mediterranea, both with over 2,500 passengers on each call. The AIDAaura and AIDAcara will both bring colour to the Little Russell with their distinctive branding.
Princess Cruises’ Sapphire Princess will make two visits for the first time and her sister, the flagship, Royal Princess comes back to Guernsey for an amazing 11 visits, accounting for over 40,000 passengers between them.
The prestigious Cunard line are also calling with the ‘three Queens’ to Guernsey this season, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, and Queen Mary 2.
Wendy Pedder, Marketing Manager for VisitGuernsey said, “Figures recently released by CruiseBritain show that the number of cruise passengers visiting Britain continues to rise for the 10th year consecutively including a 17% rise over 2016. VisitGuernsey recently attended the Seatrade Global event in Fort Lauderdale where business meetings took place with both established cruise line executive contacts and new lines looking to bring potential new business to the Island. It is vital that Guernsey continues to ‘fly the flag globally’ in this market.”
Exciting new excursions and tours are also on offer this year to capitalise on the release of the film with the branding ‘Go see the island that inspired the story’, we are expecting these to be very popular as there is a staggered release in France, Germany, Holland and the USA.
Harbour master Chad Murray said, “The cruise sector is still a growth business, both as an industry and, for the island. The feedback from operators last year was very positive and we are looking forward to welcoming both returning and new ships to Guernsey.”
The cruise sector provides a significant contribution to the Guernsey economy. According to an independent study by local firm Island Global Research, last year it was worth around £4 million in direct visitor spending. The research also concluded that there was a notable increase in time passengers spent ashore, compared to previous years, which was reflected in an increase in average spend.
As in previous years VisitGuernsey’s contracted cruise welcome team will be on hand to greet visitors coming ashore and will be able to provide the latest information on events and activities of interest throughout the season.
Parking arrangements will be the same as last season with the red light arm on the Albert Pier closed on ship days with the aim to open as quickly as possible on smaller ship days.
Full details of parking arrangements can be found on www.gov.gg/cruiseseason2018
