Fewer cruise liners to visit island this year
CRUISE ship numbers are set to fall again this season, with 93 vessels scheduled to call at Guernsey in 2020.
Last year, 95 were scheduled to call at the island, but some of those were cancelled due to weather.
In 2017, there were 117 vessels set to call here.
Despite the fall in numbers, around 145,000 people are due to visit the islands aboard cruise ships.
The first ship to arrive this year will be the MS Fridtjof Nansen on 20 March. It will be one of the ship’s first commercial journeys, and will be on a showcase voyage, before its first season starts in April.
The 530-capacity vessel will be sailing around the English Channel for a week and will arrive from the Scilly Isles before going on to Ostend in Belgium.
The largest vessel set to visit will be the MV Britannia, with a capacity of 4,324, which is set to be here on 18 April.
However, the busiest days come when two large cruise ships visit on the same day. More than 6,000 people could come ashore on 31 May and 21 June.
The Celebrity Silhouette – with 3,463 capacity – and the MV Ventura – which is able to carry nearly 3,200 people – are set to arrive in local waters at 8am on 31 May.
Then the MV Ventura will be back on 21 June, along with MS Regal Princess, which can carry 3,600 passengers.
However, there are no vessels visiting Guernsey on Liberation Day.
The MV Ventura will be a frequent sight off the Guernsey coast, with 15 visits planned this season between 19 April and 20 September. It has a capacity of nearly 3,200 people.
The smallest visitor is set to be Sea Cloud II, which can carry just 90 passengers.
The last cruise ship will be the Crown Princess on 31 October.
There will also be two calling at Herm, three will be calling at Sark and two calling at Alderney.
