Missing the ship!!!

[wowzz]

The real issue is not about people getting on and off ships,  but replenishment of  supplies. P&O/Carnival have a major base in  Southampton, allowing for significant re-supply within a short time period. To try and replicate this supply  arrangement elsewhere is not easy. I appreciate that other cruise lines do use other ports, but they tend to use smaller  ships that are easier to replenish.

[brian1]

17 hours ago, mercury7289 said:

Look after your car sir!

In defence of Liverpool,a HOHO tour of Homs would be more favourable than Tilbury.

[ollienbertsmum]

13 hours ago, wowzz said:

The real issue is not about people getting on and off ships,  but replenishment of  supplies. P&O/Carnival have a major base in  Southampton, allowing for significant re-supply within a short time period. To try and replicate this supply  arrangement elsewhere is not easy. I appreciate that other cruise lines do use other ports, but they tend to use smaller  ships that are easier to replenish.

 

I knew there must be a business reason.  That makes perfect sense. 

[FangedRose]

Surely if the big ships used Liverpool, or Hull or anywhere else the associated trades and services will follow? 

 

Chicken and egg situation. 

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

Surely if the big ships used Liverpool, or Hull or anywhere else the associated trades and services will follow? 

 

Chicken and egg situation. 

Yes, but unless you are getting ships docking constantly, rather than just the odd one now and again,  no company is going to invest time and money for  sporadic returns.

[FangedRose]

Just now, wowzz said:

Yes, but unless you are getting ships docking constantly, rather than just the odd one now and again,  no company is going to invest time and money for  sporadic returns.

And if the facilities aren't there the ships can't turnaround there. So which comes first? 

[wowzz]

Just now, FangedRose said:

And if the facilities aren't there the ships can't turnaround there. So which comes first? 

The shipping company would need to commit to basing a certain number of ships with a guaranteed number of turnaround days,  and than ask for businesses to tender. No business is going to speculatively invest in the hope that P&O,  Princess etc are suddenly going to upsticks and move from Southampton. 

[FangedRose]

And the ship companies ain't gonna commit unless the services are guaranteed. 

[Harry Peterson]

The City of Hull has some pretty advanced plans for a full Cruise Terminal for the obvious economic benefits to the area. 

 

Right place for Northern Europe cruises too.

 

https://cityplanhull.co.uk/index.php/cruise-terminal/

 

[terrierjohn]

16 hours ago, wowzz said:

The real issue is not about people getting on and off ships,  but replenishment of  supplies. P&O/Carnival have a major base in  Southampton, allowing for significant re-supply within a short time period. To try and replicate this supply  arrangement elsewhere is not easy. I appreciate that other cruise lines do use other ports, but they tend to use smaller  ships that are easier to replenish.

 

2 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

I knew there must be a business reason.  That makes perfect sense. 

Not really, the supplies come in from warehousing in container loads, I assume handled by a professional logistics organisation.  I doubt they would have a problem shipping them to any port in the UK that had decent motorway access.

[AndyMichelle]

8 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

The City of Hull has some pretty advanced plans for a full Cruise Terminal for the obvious economic benefits to the area. 

 

Right place for Northern Europe cruises too.

 

https://cityplanhull.co.uk/index.php/cruise-terminal/

 

'Build it and they will come'...

Andy 

[Harry Peterson]

27 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

'Build it and they will come'...

Andy 

That’s the plan, and I think they will. The financiers will need a little more certainty though I’m sure.

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

Many of the ships that use regional ports (perhaps not Dover and Tower Bridge) would not be competitive out of Southampton. That might be a factor for them.  It keeps them away from comparison against the new big ships of P&O, Cunard, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[ann141]

On a recent Princess cruise that we sailed on, we embarked in Southampton(as did the majority of passengers) but one port of call was Dublin where 300 people embarked and another 300 embarked in Le Havre.It would be great to think that if sailing to the states or Iceland for example ,one could embark in Liverpool or Southampton and if cruising to the Fjords or Baltic join the ship at Newcastle or Hull as well as Southampton

[Les_ldh]

26 minutes ago, ann141 said:

On a recent Princess cruise that we sailed on, we embarked in Southampton(as did the majority of passengers) but one port of call was Dublin where 300 people embarked and another 300 embarked in Le Havre.It would be great to think that if sailing to the states or Iceland for example ,one could embark in Liverpool or Southampton and if cruising to the Fjords or Baltic join the ship at Newcastle or Hull as well as Southampton

Now there’s a very sensible idea 🤔

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

On a recent Princess cruise that we sailed on, we embarked in Southampton(as did the majority of passengers) but one port of call was Dublin where 300 people embarked and another 300 embarked in Le Havre.It would be great to think that if sailing to the states or Iceland for example ,one could embark in Liverpool or Southampton and if cruising to the Fjords or Baltic join the ship at Newcastle or Hull as well as Southampton

 

MSC, Costa and Royal Caribbean do that in the Med. A rolling cruise. It offers three, four and seven day cruise options. Some British passengers don’t like it. They want a shared cruise experience and they feel people coming and going at different ports destroys that. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

On a recent Princess cruise that we sailed on, we embarked in Southampton(as did the majority of passengers) but one port of call was Dublin where 300 people embarked and another 300 embarked in Le Havre.It would be great to think that if sailing to the states or Iceland for example ,one could embark in Liverpool or Southampton and if cruising to the Fjords or Baltic join the ship at Newcastle or Hull as well as Southampton

Sounds good in theory, but not sure I want my first port of call on my 'exotic' holiday to be Tilbury or Hull...😀

Andy

[ann141]

10 minutes ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

 

MSC, Costa and Royal Caribbean do that in the Med. A rolling cruise. It offers three, four and seven day cruise options. Some British passengers don’t like it. They want a shared cruise experience and they feel people coming and going at different ports destroys that. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

I like the shared experience too and wouldnt want to do a cruise where everyone is embarking at each port but if it was more a case of 'picking an extra 200 or 300 people on the way before the cruise started proper I would be happy.(I thought I wouldnt like the Princess cruise because of the change of passengers but we hardly noticed as there were only 300

.P and O already have some people joining their Caribbean cruises at st Lucia as well as Barbados (We did this a few years ago on a translantic cruise)

[ann141]

Just now, AndyMichelle said:

Sounds good in theory, but not sure I want my first port of call on my 'exotic' holiday to be Tilbury or Hull...😀

Andy

Liverpool, particularly round the port area is really nice with plenty of attractions.It is increasingly becoming a port of call for British Isles cruise.There may be 'hidden' delights to explore round Hull and Tilbury too!

[AndyMichelle]

1 minute ago, ann141 said:

Liverpool, particularly round the port area is really nice with plenty of attractions.It is increasingly becoming a port of call for British Isles cruise.There may be 'hidden' delights to explore round Hull and Tilbury too!

The 'delights' in Hull & Tilbury are 'hidden' for a reason...😀

I would love to visit Liverpool on a cruise, have only been there to work and for football and keep meaning to go back but have never got round to it.

Andy

[Harry Peterson]

25 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

The 'delights' in Hull & Tilbury are 'hidden' for a reason...😀

I would love to visit Liverpool on a cruise, have only been there to work and for football and keep meaning to go back but have never got round to it.

Andy

You might be pleasantly surprised - certainly in the case of Hull, City of Culture 2017:

 

https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/hull-city-culture-tour/city-of-culture

 

And as for people not wanting to visit Hull or Tilbury, I doubt that Ijmuiden's on many hotlists either.  Or Civitavecchia.  The point is, though, that even if you don't want to visit that particular place there are plenty of places within easy reach.  York and Lincoln, for example, in the case of Hull, and London in the case of Tilbury.

[AndyMichelle]

2 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

You might be pleasantly surprised - certainly in the case of Hull, City of Culture 2017:

 

https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/hull-city-culture-tour/city-of-culture

 

And as for people not wanting to visit Hull or Tilbury, I doubt that Ijmuiden's on many hotlists either.  Or Civitavecchia.  The point is, though, that even if you don't want to visit that particular place there are plenty of places within easy reach.  York and Lincoln, for example, in the case of Hull, and London in the case of Tilbury.

Of course you are right Harry.

I was only kidding.

Andy

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

I like the shared experience too and wouldnt want to do a cruise where everyone is embarking at each port but if it was more a case of 'picking an extra 200 or 300 people on the way before the cruise started proper I would be happy.(I thought I wouldnt like the Princess cruise because of the change of passengers but we hardly noticed as there were only 300

.P and O already have some people joining their Caribbean cruises at st Lucia as well as Barbados (We did this a few years ago on a translantic cruise)

 

Thank you.  I dId not know that. Cunard do a similar thing with transatlantic crossings via Hamburg. Passengers join and l ave at Hamburg to and from the the crossing. Gives a few options for mini cruises also. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Edited August 26, 2019 by stephen@stoneyard.co.uk

[Goosebear Mum]

Hull would be perfect for us, being in the East Riding now!  

 

We make our drive down to Hampshire, and the stay over, part of the holiday. But if more cruises went from the NE, we’d probably do a lot more mini breaks too. 

 

Hull does have some good tourist attractions. (The Deep being one) but I can certainly see many options for Day tours, to York, N York Moors, East Coast, e.g. Whitby, Scarborough, Flamborough, Bempton Cliffs for the gannets, Flamingo Land Theme Park, Beverley, etc, etc... 

 

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, ann141 said:

I like the shared experience too and wouldnt want to do a cruise where everyone is embarking at each port but if it was more a case of 'picking an extra 200 or 300 people on the way before the cruise started proper I would be happy.(I thought I wouldnt like the Princess cruise because of the change of passengers but we hardly noticed as there were only 300

.P and O already have some people joining their Caribbean cruises at st Lucia as well as Barbados (We did this a few years ago on a translantic cruise)

I doubt that P&O or indeed any cruise line would consider having Hull or Newcastle as a first port in a Norway or Baltic cruise, all that does is add 2 days onto each cruise or reduce the number of fjords or Baltic ports .  However using them as a turnaround port and basing a ship there for the summer could be a viable option, but whether this would be viable for the port is a different matter.