Three more cruise ships cancel visits to island this summer
A FURTHER three cruise ships have cancelled their visit to the island this summer bringing the total amount of cancellations to 61, resulting in a potential loss of over £4m. in revenue.
Cruise ships World Explorer, Columbus and Magellan were due to make a stop in Guernsey on various dates in June [6, 25 and 27 respectively] but have now been cancelled due to the current coronavirus crisis as Guernsey Harbours cancels all cruise ship calls until 2 July and some cruise operators suspending operations past this time.
There are now cancellations throughout every month up to the end of October.
Last year, the industry brought nearly £4m. into the economy and with estimates that each cruise ship passenger spends about £34 each on-island – usually on excursions or gifts – during their visit the 61 cancellations equal to 129,038 passengers this year so far, this means a potential loss of £4,387,292 and this month would have been the busiest time for cruises.
There were 22 cruise ships scheduled to visit this month and 14 in June, including some twice.
Operator of Columbus and Magellan, Cruise and Maritime Voyages, said the ongoing coronavirus crisis had meant further suspensions.
‘Due to the continued escalation of the global pandemic outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus, government advisories still in force and the lockdown of many countries and ports around the world, Cruise & Maritime Voyages has taken the decision to further extend the suspension of all our worldwide cruises from 25 May to 30 June 2020,’ read an update from them on their site last week.
Columbus arrived in the port of Tilbury, London on 14 April, at the end of a month-long repatriation voyage to the UK which sailed from Phuket, Thailand on 18 March. It had been sailing on a 120-night grand round the world cruise which sailed from London Tilbury on 6 January.
The Magellan is also holed up in the port of Tilbury, London.
Five-year-old Britannia is the largest cruise ship to cancel – it can carry more than 4,300 people and is the largest ship that has been built for the British market. It had been due to visit 18 April.
The States of Guernsey requires all persons arriving in the Bailiwick from anywhere else in the world to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival, these regulations remain in place for the foreseeable future, therefore it is unlikely at this stage for many cruise ships to visit as they only usually stop in the Bailiwick for a few hours.
There are still several ships due to sail to Guernsey up into October with the next, the Hamburg, currently set for a visit to the island’s shores on 2 July, however this may yet change.
The first cruise ship visit of the season that was cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak was the Fridtjof Nansen on 20 March.
