Season of celebration at Liverpool Cruise Terminal
Liverpool Cruise Terminal will celebrate its 10th birthday with a series of special celebrations from June to September.
The festivities will include inaugural visits to the terminal by new vessels, the appearance of Disney characters and a rendition of ‘happy birthday’ played on a ship’s horn.
Things will kick-off on Tuesday 6 June with the visit of Magellan, the largest turnaround ship to ever visit Liverpool, and a quayside concert in association with the Sgt Pepper 50th anniversary celebrations.
Assistant mayor, councillor Wendy Simon, said: “Liverpool Cruise Terminal has transformed the tourism appeal of Liverpool and given the Mersey a new lease of life.
“It is one of the city’s great success stories and I’m delighted plans are in place to mark the 10th anniversary of such an important landmark.
“As we move towards introducing a new permanent facility which could accommodate larger turnaround cruises, it’s important we acknowledge all that has been achieved over the past ten years and I hope that residents and visitors show their support and take part in some of the milestone celebrations planned for this summer.”
There will be a variety of events linked with the anniversary which will run until Saturday 9 September when the terminal sees the inaugural visit of Pacific Princess, along with a special sail-away show.
Angie Redhead, Liverpool’s cruise and operations manager, said: “I have lived and breathed Liverpool’s cruise development since 2005, and it has been an honour to see how it has grown over the past decade.
“Establishing a new city centre terminal in the city was always going to be a challenge, but we knew that within the industry, and within the wider region, there was a huge appetite to have Liverpool as a cruise destination.
“Ten years on – we couldn’t have wished to be in a better position. Year on year, our cruise season attracts more and more ships and cruise lines, and our reputation as an award winning must-visit port, means we are a city in demand.
“But we never rest on our laurels. We will continue to grow our business – we want more ships, larger ships, to call here and experience Liverpool because we know, once they’ve been here once, it’s not enough, and they call back time and time again.”
The terminal was officially opened on 21 September 2007, by HRH The Duke of Kent, and since then has welcomed 355 cruise ships from around 30 cruise lines, carrying more than 700,000 passengers and crew and generating an estimated £50m for the local economy.
The River Mersey has also experienced additional shipping traffic of 20 million gross tonnage.
A special show reel looking back at the first ten years of the terminal has also been created.
Highlights include the visit of the Three Cunard Queens in 2015 and the royal christening of the Atlantic Sea vessel.
