Lerwick Harbour in Shetland, Scotland, welcomed the biggest cruise ship in its historical past on Could 20, 2024, because the Maltese-flagged MSC Virtuosa by MSC Cruises made its maiden go to, breaking a virtually six-year report.
The 332-meter-long vessel, inbuilt France in 2020, boasts 18 decks and may accommodate as much as 6,334 passengers and 1,704 crew members.
MSC Virtuosa, weighing 181,541 gross tons, arrived from Southampton, U.Okay., on a 7-day Norwegian Fjords voyage. Anchored within the deep-water harbor, passengers have been transferred by tender to Victoria Pier within the city heart.
Mentioned Melanie Henderson, Lerwick Port Authority cruise and advertising supervisor, “The vast majority of cruise ships visiting Lerwick are small- to medium-sized vessels. Virtuosa’s maiden name is one other instance of Shetland’s recognition as a vacationer vacation spot, and the port’s capability to welcome the bigger vessels can be working.”
The earlier report for the largest cruise ship to go to Lerwick was held by MSC Virtuosa’s sister ship, MSC Meraviglia, which weighs 171,598 gross tons and visited in July 2018.
The present go to is a part of a record-setting yr for the port when it comes to tonnage and the variety of vessels and passengers. English cruise line Noble Caledonia’s 120-passenger Hebridean Sky additionally arrived with MSC Virtuosa, berthed at Victoria Pier East.
Lerwick Port Braces for Report Cruise Visitors in 2024
Lerwick Port’s 2024 is anticipated to be the busiest but, with 148 vessels and roughly 130,000 passengers anticipated by mid-November. In 2023, the port noticed a rise in cruise site visitors by 37%.
Nevertheless, this yr’s 11 maiden calls don’t match final yr’s record-breaking 19 maiden calls that included ships from Explora Journeys and Swan Hellenic.
A gateway for greater than 100 cruise ships every season, Shetland is ideally positioned between Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, the Scottish mainland, and Europe. The port can accommodate ships as much as 230 meters in size at Mair’s Pier on Holmsgarth 5, whereas bigger vessels transport passengers by tender.
“The port considerably contributes to the native financial system,” stated Henderson, “offering employment, maintaining the points of interest and venues busy, and offering necessary footfall for native companies.”
The Scottish port welcomed its first cruise ship of the 2024 season with a March 30 name by British cruise operator Ambassador Cruise’s Ambition, arriving throughout an Easter British Isles Discovery cruise from London Tilbury.
Learn Additionally: Scottish Port Kicks Off Busiest Cruise Season In Historical past
The port may also welcome journeys from worldwide cruise strains Viking Cruises’ Viking Neptune and Viking Saturn, Movie star Cruises’ Movie star Silhouette, AIDA Cruises’ AIDAsol, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Star, Silverseas’ Silver Endeavour, Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statendam, and Seabourn Cruises’ Enterprise in Could.
Lerwick may also see ships from smaller cruise strains this month, together with Germany’s Phoenix Reisen’s Amadea and Deutschland-World Odyssey, Portugal’s Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Navigator, British-owned Fred Olsen Cruises’ Balmoral, and Norway’s Huritgruten’s ms Spitsbergen.
Though MSC Virtuosa is not going to name once more throughout the 2024 season, many cruise strains have ships returning all through the spring by way of fall tourism interval, together with AIDAsol, which concludes the season on October 1.
Lerwick Port provides a walkable city heart lined with retailers and points of interest just like the Shetland Museum and Archives. As a part of its welcome to cruise ships, the port authority supplies a meet-and-greet service that features shuttles to and from the city heart and particular welcomes for maiden calls.
