MSC Cruises will be adding Cork to four new itineraries next summer giving passengers the opportunity to embark and disembark MSC Lirica in Cork for the first time.

Lorenzo Diamantini, director of sales for Ireland and Northern Ireland MSC Cruises, said: “The company is featuring the two ports [Cork and Dublin] due to the incredible growth it has experienced in the Irish market over the last three years. By positioning one of our ships in Cork, we can give many more local passengers the opportunity to experience the superb itineraries on offer.” 

Guernsey (St Peter Port) has witnessed an increase in around-British-Isles cruising. About 45% of calls and 51% of passengers are on such an itinerary.

This year 63,134 passengers on 69 calls visited the Channel Islands’ port while, in 2012, the forecast is for 80,000 passengers on 57 calls. The increase is due to MSC Cruises calling six times with about 2,000 passengers each time.

Inaugural calls this year included Queen Elizabeth and Mein Schiff 2.

Dover is expecting 156 calls in 2012 bringing more than 250,000 to the port. This represents a 14.7% increase on 2011.

Of the 136 calls in Dover this year, 84 were full turnarounds, 14 partial, one embarkation only and 37 transit calls. Turnaround passengers will reach 138,656 and transit 84,095. 

Oslo is expecting six calls this October and Christmas calls in December are quite possible due to the port having no problems with ice. Next year there will be only four months without cruise calls.

By the year end, Oslo will have welcomed an estimated 310,000 passengers on 174 calls. The nationality split is different this year compared to former years. About 100,000 passengers are from Germany with AIDA Cruises making 39 calls, of which 29 have been overnight stays.

Windstar Cruises’ Wind Spirit became the fist cruise ship to stay overnight at IJmuiden’s Felison Terminal on July 12. Passengers and crew visited both Amsterdam and Haarlem.

The two last turnarounds of the MSC Opera from MSC Cruises are planned in this year in Cherbourg on the 7 and 15 of September 2011.

It will be the occasion for more than 4000 pax to discover the magnificence of Cherbourg Cruise terminal and to experience once again those glorious years of transatlantic sea voyages crossing the hold Customs Hall of the terminal.

On July 11 MSC Cruises began its first turnaround calls at A Coruna. MSC Opera will be calling a further six times this year.

Amsterdam is expecting 84 turnaround calls in 2012 compared to 58 this year, a 45% increase.

 “European port facilities are amongst the best in the world,” Nigel Lingard, marketing director Fred Olsen Cruise Lines (pictured), told the Cruise Europe conference participants in May.

Among his remarks on what makes Europe ‘hot’, he pointed out that there are 500 UNESCO world heritage sites in Europe, that “the infrastructure works” and that “there are plenty of places for us to explore even on our own doorstep”.

If the growth trend continues Europe will overtake the Caribbean as the most popular cruise destination in the world, Peter Wild of GP Wild (International) told Cruise Europe members in May.