Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - 09:35 by ce-press
Portland Port is expecting to handle 32 calls bringing nearly 39,000 passengers to the UK port this year, compared to four and 2,000 respectively in 2009.
The season starts on the April 3 with the arrival of Phoenix Reisen’s Albatros, marking the 21st call made by the company. Ian McQuade, general manager commercial Portland Port, commented: “Whilst it is always exciting to see new cruiselines and new ships calling at Portland the return of such important customers as Phoenix Reisen, Norwegian Cruise Line and TUI is testament to the great experience their guests had when they previously called. This is essential for the long-term success of the business.”
On April 25 Norwegian Breakaway makes her inaugural visit, marking an exciting point in the development of the port’s cruise business. She will be the largest vessel to have docked and will bring the greatest number of passengers on one ship that the port has dealt with to date. McQuade commented: “This inaugural call would not have been possible without the berth extension that was opened in April last year. We hope that she will be the first of many similar-sized cruiseships to visit Portland Port.”
The port has seven inaugural calls this year including Regent Seven Seas’ Seven Seas Explorer and Seven Seas Navigator, TUI’s Mein Schiff 3 and Seabourn Ovation.
Part of the port’s success story over the last decade can be attributed to being members of cruise destination marketing groups, such as Destination South West and Atlantic Alliance (both no longer), and more recently Cruise Europe.
Portland Port is now looking to add to its pool of foreign-language speaking volunteers to welcome passengers. All foreign language speakers are invited to contact the port although German, Spanish, Italian and French are the most commonly spoken languages of visiting passengers. Volunteer expenses are covered.
