Giant cruise ship cancels visit to Bristol
Bristol has been snubbed as a port of call for a giant
cruise ship.
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Giant cruise ship cancels visit to Bristol
City leaders were ready to welcome the Regent Seven Seas
Voyager into Royal Portbury Dock on Sunday.
More than 700 passengers, mostly from America, were due to
visit the city as the first cruise liner for 10 years sailed up
the Bristol Channel.
The visit was hailed as the dawn of a new era for tourism in
the area, bringing the promise of a welcome injection of cash
to the economy.
But an 11th hour change of heart has seen the company
re-route the voyage to the south Devon town of Dartmouth.
A VIP reception on the ss Great Britain has been cancelled,
as has a ceremony to present the captain of the 41,000-tonne
liner with the keys to the city.
Bristol-born skipper John McNeill was due to receive the
honour as he captained his "homecoming cruise".
A Filton-based choir invited to sing aboard the Regent Seven
Seas Voyager has also been let down at the last minute.
The secretary of the New Harmony Ladies' Choir was notified
just yesterday morning that the ship would not be visiting the
city and their performance was cancelled.
Margaret Pearson, chairwoman of the choir, said the 34
members who were due to perform were dismayed.
She said: "We had been invited by the Lord Mayor to sing on
board the ship on behalf of Bristol.
"Everyone is absolutely gutted, and we all feel deflated. We
were all really looking forward to it, and the prestige of it
would have been wonderful.
"Lots of arrangements have been put in place so that we
could sing on the ship. We drafted in a standby conductor
because our regular conductor couldn't make it, and we have all
been through lots of security checks to make it possible.
"It is a bit off really. Bristol is an up-and-coming city,
and having a cruise liner coming here would have been great for
the region."
Regent Seven Seas Cruises said visiting Dartmouth instead of
Bristol would provide a better experience for its passengers
because of its "charm and character".
In a statement, the company said: "The primary objective for
the captain of a Regent ship is the guest 'experience'. This is
why Regent Seven Seas Cruises have chosen one alternative port
call during Captain John McNeill's Home Coming Cruise.
"Seven Seas Voyager will sail into historic Dartmouth, home
of the Britannia Royal Naval College on September 7, instead of
her originally planned call into Bristol.
"Although Bristol is a city of culture and famous for the ss
Great Britain, on this cruise Regent felt that the picturesque
fishing town of Dartmouth has the intimate charm and character
guests of the Home Coming Cruise would appreciate.
"This choice has been made to ensure all the guests onboard
Seven Seas Voyager are able to appreciate the best out of each
port.
"Regent thanks the ports of Bristol and Dartmouth for their
help and understanding with this decision and look forward to
visiting them again in the future."
Having started in the Danish city of Copenhagen last week,
the Seven Seas Voyager will now dock at Cork in Ireland on
Saturday, before heading to Dartmouth on Sunday, doubling back
to Falmouth on Monday before sailing east again to end its
10-day voyage in Southampton.
The news is a further blow to tourism in Bristol, following
last year's collapse of the Arena proposal, the announced loss
of the Empire and Commonwealth Museum to London and the closure
of the Imax and Wildwalk centres.
John Hallett, director of tourism office Destination
Bristol, said: "This was meant to be a watershed for us and the
fact the first (liner) coming in for a decade has been subject
to an itinerary change is very, very disappointing indeed.
"I suspect there were a range of factors, including the time
and, I suspect, some economic ones, which were impacting on its
ability to dock at Bristol.
"But there are a number of inquiries with cruise companies
in the pipeline and we will continue to carry on and try and
attract more cruise liners to Bristol."
A spokesman for Bristol Port Company, which runs Royal
Portbury Dock, said: "We have been preparing for them and we
are very disappointed it's not happening.
"We know the tourism team at Destination Bristol have put an
enormous amount of work into this so we are disappointed for
them as well. We hope other cruise liners will come in the
future but we will have to wait and see."
12 Comments
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by Cruiser, North Carolina, USA
Sunday, September 07 2008, 9:35PM
“How sad for everyone. This was to be a special port for Capt. O'Neill, showing off "his" city.
I've been on 17 Regent cruises over the past 16 years, and only once have I experienced a change in itinerary. That was due to high winds near Mykonos.”
by Robert S, bristol
Wednesday, September 03 2008, 10:16PM
“1. This visit was planned over a year ago so someone at the cruise company has a lot to answer for.
2.The approaches to Portbury are extremely picturesque (especially scraping past Portishead Point) and what can beat the fantastic display of road cones on the M5?
3. It probably had more to do with the cost of fuel (these ships guzzle in the region of £30000 worth of oil per day!)”
by MendipMan, Wurzel Country
Wednesday, September 03 2008, 6:13PM
“The trip along the North Devon and Somerset coast towards Bristol is extremely scenic., but once in port the passengers don't stay on the ship do they? It seems they were due to visit the city and the ride along the Portway through the Avon Gorge is as good as anything Dartmouth has to offer - the last time I was at Dartmouth it was heaving with tourists and the crowds made the visit quite uncomfortable. It seems a strange way for the cruise company to act, suddenly 'realising' that Dartmouth is a better bet. Don't they do any research or pre-planning or do they just make up the route on the hoof?”
by Jeremy Gardner, BS5
Wednesday, September 03 2008, 4:03PM
“This is a blow for Bristol, Bath and Weston. Maybe if the councils worked together a bit more on tourism and lobbied for rail improvements from portbury through the temple meads we would have a better offer to make. Now is the time to lay infrastructure for this new area which will have economic benefits for the west of England and Somerset. Although this particular ship's passengers are only interested in the quaint and the twee, other may want to sample some serious culture and venture into areas such as the mendips. We have a great offer but the current mindset of our councils means we will continue to fail of they can't work together on tourism and major infrastructure investment. I will resist the temptation to be rude about the SWRDA but again, they are nowhere to be seen, camped out in their Devon bunker and no doubt celebrating another blow to the west of england's economy! (sorry - it seems I couldn't resist).”
by Will, Bristol
Wednesday, September 03 2008, 3:22PM
“I can see it now... "Jeez, here we are, Royal Portbury Dock - ain't it quaint? It looks a lot like that Port Talbot place we passed near Swaaaansea... hey, Jim-Bob - ain't that a swell car park over there?"
Sorry - it's hideous”