On May 4 adventure ship Noble Caledonia’s Quest will be the first ship of the 2011 season in Lerwick. She will call twice more during May.
The port has 54 calls scheduled by early September, six more than the currrent record. The growing number of larger ships also means a new tonnage record at about 1.4m gt.
The largest vessels yet to enter the port, 113,651gt Crown Princess and 114,500gt Costa Pacifica, will both call in June.
There will be 15 calls in June and again in July, the peak months. The number of cruise passengers using Lerwick as the starting point for Shetland’s attractions is expected to top last year’s record of 31,000.
Victor Sandison, deputy chief executive Lerwick Port Authority, says: “This season will again demonstrate the all-important capacity of the harbour to handle the larger cruiseships now operating and the continuing increase in the popularity of both Lerwick as a port-of-call and Shetland’s numerous and varied visitor attractions”.
For passengers visiting on Crystal Serenity at the end of July a special attraction will be the Parade of Sail when vessels participating in the Tall Ships Races 2011 depart for Stavanger at the end of a four-day visit, 21-24 July.
