Cruise business heading in the right direction bringing economic benefits to the English Riviera.

2023 has seen a revival in the English Riviera’s cruise liner business and the English Riviera has welcomed three individual cruise ships this year.

Holland America Line’s huge Zuiderdam arrived on the 25^th May for a very busy visit with over 2000 guests arriving ashore at Torquay harbour, in addition to its crew.

As many local people will remember, there were multiple cruise ships from the Holland America Line anchored in Torbay during the pandemic and the ships skeleton crews were made to feel very welcome, so it was extra special to have Zuiderdam visit with guests onboard back in the Spring. The captain arranged for several local organisations to come aboard while visiting, as a thank you for the warmth and hospitality shown during the pandemic stay.

In June we had a visit from the Ocean Majesty cruise ship, a much smaller vessel.

Earlier this month the new luxury cruise ship Vista, one of the Oceania Cruises visited the English Riviera, which was given the warmest of welcomes and enjoyed the first of the enhanced welcome experiences being provided by the English Riviera BID Company for the 1142 mainly US guests, and many of the 772 crew.

The Torbay Sea Cadets were on hand to provide a flag waving welcome to the cruise visitors, along with the Civic Mayor of Torbay Councillor Mark Spacagna, and the English Riviera Visitor Information Centre team including: Maria Kerr, Alison Baylis, Rachel Nutall and Carolyn Custerson. 

The ‘pop-up’ cruise welcome centre was open from 7am and decked out with bunting, flags, and lots of information about what to do and see and do locally while the cruise visitors were ashore for the day. 

Passenger and crew feedback was superb. Thankfully the weather was onside with stunning sunshine, plus the visitors enjoyed a colourful Torbay Pride event and the Great Big Paddle Parade taking place on the same day.

While around 150 of the guests boarded coaches to enjoy Devon, including Exeter, Agatha Christie's Greenway, and Dartmoor, most the ship’s organised shore excursions stayed local with tours to Babbacombe Model Village, Bygones, Dartmouth Steam Railway, as well as enjoying local wildlife boat trips and more.

Feedback from the guests was superb!  The Visitor Information Team (ERBID) were quayside all day and were on hand to gather information from returning guests. It was great to hear just how many local restaurants, shops and cafes had been visited, right across Torquay, Paignton and Brixham.  There were also many who visited local attractions including the English Riviera Wheel, Kents Cavern, Torquay Museum, Torre Abbey, Cockington, many guests took a local guided walking tour and local bus and taxi companies all had a good day boosted by the cruise ship visit.

Local ferry companies assisted tender boats with the transfer from the Vista, providing additional income to these local companies.

‘Working in partnership is what the English Riviera BID is all about said Carolyn Custerson, Chief Executive of the ERBID Company and it was wonderful to see such a strong team all working together to greet the Oceania Vista. Providing a world class welcome will help us attract more cruise liners in the future. We are potentially an exceptional port of call with many USP’s that will attract global cruise companies including being the birth place of the worlds most famous crime writer, Agatha Christie and an UNESCO Global Geopark.’

‘We are pleased to have recently appointed Cruise Business Development Adviser Glen Gardner said Rob Parsons, Tor Bay Harbour Authority, who lives in Brixham and has been helping us review our local cruise strategy, working particularly on an improved welcome for cruise guests and enhancing the local excursion programme. Glen attended SeaTrade Cruise Europe recently to represent and promote the new Cruise English Riviera brand and as a result we hope to see more cruise ships including Torquay on their itineraries in the future.’   

In 2024 currently five cruise ship visits are scheduled to visit and you can find out more by keeping an eye on www.englishriviera.co.uk/cruise where regular updates will be posted.

If anyone is interested in working with the ERBID Company as English Riviera Cruise Ambassadors which is a voluntary role please contact:  carolyn@englishrivierabid.co.uk