Scotland’s Port of Cromarty Firth is looking forward to the 2024 cruise season with an abundance of optimism, particularly because it loved a strong 2023 and is keen to host Cunard’s latest ship, Queen Anne, after her spring 2024 debut. Often called the gateway to the Highlands, the port is in Scotlands’ far northeast nook.
Port Gears Up for Queen Anne’s Maiden Name
The Port of Cromarty Firth, a Scottish Belief Port with its fundamental harbor at Invergordon, closed out its 2023 cruise season with nice outcomes, together with a document 130 ship calls and 221,000 cruise arrivals. The trade contributed £29 million ($36 million USD) to the native economic system.
The cruise figures from 2023 had been enhancements over 2022, when 109 ships referred to as and cruise arrivals topped out at 142,000, since most ships weren’t crusing full. The port’s pre-pandemic document, set in 2019, was 166,000 arrivals, port information reveals.
Port officers are actually planning for the upcoming season, which guarantees to be an thrilling one, with the inaugural name by the extremely anticipated Queen Anne, Cunard’s first new-build since Queen Elizabeth launched in 2010.
The three,000-guest Queen Anne, beneath development at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Marghera, Italy, is scheduled to name at Invergordon on Could 29, 2024, throughout her 14-night British Isles Pageant Voyage roundtrip from Southampton.
“Inaugural calls are all the time a special day and we’re delighted to be internet hosting the Queen Anne in addition to 5 different ships that shall be visiting Invergordon for the primary time in 2024,” stated Allison McGuire, Port of Cromarty Firth Cruise Supervisor.
Along with Invergordon, different ports on Queen Anne’s itinerary are Kirkwall, Isle of Could, Edinburgh, Isle of Skye, and Glasgow, Scotland; Cork, Eire; and Liverpool, England.
Queen Anne will sail her maiden cruise on Could 3, 2024, a 7-night saying from Southampton to Lisbon, Portugal. Along with British Isles cruises, the ship in 2024 will supply voyages to the Canary Islands in Spain, the Norwegian fjords, Iceland, and different Northern Europe locations.
Queen Anne shall be amongst 118 cruise ships slated to name on the Port of Cromarty throughout Scotland’s brief cruise season, which runs from April by October.
Different ships scheduled to make inaugural calls on the port in 2024 embrace Viking’s Viking Saturn, Compagnie du Ponant’s Le Lyrial, Albatross Expeditions’ Ocean Albatros, TUI Cruises’ MeinShiff 7, and Azamara Cruises’ Azamara Onward.
Following the record-breaking 2023 season, officers on the Port of Cromarty Firth predict greater than 230,000 cruise arrivals.
“Whereas the variety of calls scheduled for subsequent yr is barely decrease than in 2023, there shall be extra of the bigger vessels calling and capacities are up on current years, with the ships 90 to 95% full,” stated Cruise Supervisor McGuire.
The Port of Cromarty was not the one Scottish port to interrupt data in 2023. Stornoway, a rising port on the Isle of Lewis, thought of the gateway to the distant Outer Hebrides island chain, welcomed 8,000-plus cruise company throughout the first week of July 2023 — essentially the most ever recorded in a one-week interval. One-hundred ships visited throughout the full season.
Port Made Headlines With Horn Blast Grievance
Invergordon was within the information in June 2023 when a controversy erupted over cruise ship horn blasts, that are a maritime custom as vessels depart a port. The customized prompted a noise grievance from one native resident, and port officers requested ships to silence their horns whereas the grievance was investigated and regarded.
Learn Additionally: Cunard Line Names Captain of Queen Anne, Reveals New Ship Particulars
The resident confronted backlash from different locals, and greater than 1,200 folks signed a petition in help of the horn blasts. There isn’t any UK or worldwide maritime legislation that regulates horn blasts, however native authorities might ban the follow. It’s unclear whether or not the ban will stay in impact throughout the 2024 season.
