Sixteen cruiseships called Stornoway in 1991. In 2011 28 calls and over 8,000 passengers have been recorded by the port in the Outer Hebrides, UK. The last call of the season was from Hurtigruten’s Fram on September 24. Last year was the port’s busiest with a 30% growth on 2009 to 9,500 passengers.
The relationship between the Stornoway Port Authority and visiting cruisehips is “very different now to how it was in 1991”, says Amanda Matheson marketing assistant at the port. “Back then the cruiseships were largely dealt with by the shipping agents but now there is much more communication between the Port Authority and local tourism organisations to make the cruise passengers’ visit as enjoyable as possible.”
Stornoway can accommodate two cruiseships at one time and has done so on many occasions throughout the years. In July 2005, there were three calls during the same week: Deutschland and Black Prince both called with over 800 passengers taking shore excursions in Lewis. Two days later, Prinsendam called taking the overall acount of cruise passengers to 1,500 in just one week. “This is significantly higher than the cruise passenger numbers we would have had for the entire year of 1991.” (The photograph is from circa 1991).
In 2002 The World visited on her inaugural voyage and in 2007 Fram visited on her maiden voyage, en route from the Arctic to Antarctica.
The port is actively pursuing more cruise business and, through its partnership with Cruise Europe, it hopes to “become one fo the most popular cruise destinations in Britain”.
