After six cancellations, 2018’s first cruise ship calls
AFTER six cancellations due to bad weather, the first cruise ship of the 2018 season, Cunard’s Queen Victoria, spent almost 12 hours moored off St Peter Port on Saturday.
The 90,000 tonne vessel, the smallest in the company’s fleet, arrived from the French port of Honfleur at 7.10am and left for Southampton at 6.15pm.
A spokesman for Marketing and Tourism said the cancellations had been unavoidable and were beyond anyone’s control.
‘This is, of course, disappointing. However, we are looking forward to a positive season, with more than 90 ships scheduled to call into St Peter Port in 2018,’ he said.
‘The schedule includes 11 inaugural visits, including Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas and Costa Mediterranea, both with over 2,500 passengers on each call.
‘We will also be welcoming Princess Cruises’ Sapphire Princess on two visits for the first time and her sister, the flagship, Royal Princess, back to Guernsey for an amazing 11 visits, accounting for more than 40,000 passengers between them.’
The cancellations have so far cost the island potentially 4,000 visitors.
While the average cruise liner passenger spend in 2017 rose by 16% to £36.46 per head, passenger numbers fell from 133,000 in 2016 to 110,288. This was largely due to the cancellation of 15 ships due to bad weather.
