This year marks the first time the UK port has been on the cruise line's itineraries
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Portland Port hosted an inaugural call from Sea Princess on 10 July, marking the second time a Princess Cruises ship has made a maiden visit in 2019.
The UK port is a new destination on Princess Cruises’ itineraries for 2019, hence Crown Princess making her inaugural visit on 30 April and Pacific Princess being scheduled for her debut visit on 11 September.
Eight other ships will make maiden calls by the end of 2019, including Costa Cruises’ Costa Mediterranea, Pullmantur’s Zenith, AIDA Cruises’ AIDAaura and AIDAcara, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Hanseatic Nature, and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Getaway.
Meanwhile, returning visitors in 2019 will include Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Phoenix Reisen, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Seabourn. This means that a record 44 cruise vessels and more than 60,000 passengers will pass through the port in 2019, continuing a 10-year trend of cruise traffic increases.
“It has been an amazing cruise season so far and to be seeing so many ships on their inaugural visits is a testament to the hard work that everyone has put in to making Portland Port a desired location,” said Ian McQuade, general manager of commercial operations at the port. “To be able to welcome three inaugural cruise ship visits from Princess Cruises in a matter of just a couple of months’ is very satisfying. Securing one call from such a globally renowned brand really is great recognition of the port establishing itself as a destination of choice, but to receive three in the same year is simply fantastic for the port and the local area.”