Liverpool anticipates ‘record’ year for cruiser liners

LIVERPOOL Cruise Terminal is predicting a record year in 2015 with 54 ships carrying 80,000 passengers.

This would be an increase from 50 vessels this year which brought in 57,844 passengers adding an estimated £4.5m to the economy.

Among the large cruise liners making a Mersey debut will be the new P&O Britannia, Royal Princess, Mein Schiff 4, Celebrity Silhouette and the Spanish Pullmantur Horizon.

There will also be two events to celebrate Cunard Cruise Line’s 175th anniversary. On May 25 the Cunard fleet, Queen Mary 2 and her sister ships Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, will arrive on the Mersey.

And on July 4, flagship Queen Mary 2 will return to Liverpool to celebrate Britannia’s transatlantic departure exactly 175 years earlier.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “To have the three Cunard Queens back in their spiritual home on our beautiful waterfront will be nothing short of majestic. The growth of cruise calls is driven by a combination of factors, predominantly our city centre location and the sheer choice of quality experiences on the doorstep and in the surrounding region. This has again been underlined with Liverpool being named by the industry as the UK Port of Call for the second year in succession.”