Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC) is seeing an encouraging increase in small cruise interest this Spring which the organisation hopes is an indication of further potential business from the sector.
Cruise operator, Noble Caledonia, has scheduled two ‘Gardens by the Sea’ cruises to set off from Poole, heading to the islands of Jersey and Guernsey before discovering the Isles of Scilly, the Cornish coastline and County Waterford in Ireland.
The MS Quest is a small ship accommodating a maximum of 50 passengers, allowing it to explore places otherwise inaccessible to larger ships. Paul Mildon at Noble Caledonia says; “We chose Poole as it is the perfect location for this scheduled cruise, being in close proximity to the smaller islands off the South Coast of England which our expedition ship can explore. The facilities lend themselves to ships of this size and we know we will be looked after whilst we are there.”
Jim Stewart, chief executive of Poole Harbour Commissioners is pleased to see cruise operators considering Poole as an ideal port for their ships. He says; “It is wonderful that Poole Harbour has attracted this kind of cruise business and we hope it bodes well for more to come. To sustain the Port of Poole we need to encourage more of this activity as well as accommodate other routes for alternative income. There is so much change in our traditional ways of raising revenue that we have to be open minded for the future of the Harbour.”