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Forget the hassles of flying off for the
start of your cruise holiday and join the
growing numbers of passengers setting
sail from Britain. The choice of departure
ports and cruise itineraries is
surprisingly large, as Sara
Macefield explains
H
ow do you fancy starting
your next holiday from
Southampton, Dover,
Harwich or even Tower
Bridge? Not only will you
miss out on the stress and
hassles of flying and battling through airport
security queues, but you’ll be joining the
growing band of British holidaymakers who
have discovered the benefits of taking a cruise
from the UK.
After all, what could be easier than load-
ing up the car, driving to, say, Southampton
and simply stepping aboard?
It really is as simple as that. All you need
to do is drive up to the port terminal, hand
over the car keys to a parking attendant and
check in.
Don’t worry about struggling on with suit-
cases as they get sent to the cabin separately,
leaving passengers free to go aboard, settle in
and explore.
The holiday starts immediately, and there’s
July/August 2009
Page 23
CRUISING FROM THE UK
no escaping the buzz and anticipation as the
departure time nears and the ship’s band strikes
up for the traditional “sailaway” party on deck.
The excitement grows as the funnel blasts
and the ship starts to move away from the
quayside. Passengers waving flags and drink-
ing brightly-coloured cocktails add to the
party atmosphere as they celebrate the start of
a journey which, in some cases, will take
them from UK shores around the world.
Where can you go?
There’s never been a bigger choice of cruises
from the UK.
Holidaymakers who don’t want to fly can
now choose from a huge variety of different
cruise lines and sailings that start at various
points around the country.
These can range from a two-night mini-
cruise to Bruges or Amsterdam right up to a
three-month world cruise or a transatlantic
crossing to New York.
But the most popular sailings are to the
■ Queen Victoria at Southampton
Cruise tips
● You can take as much luggage as
you want on ex-UK sailings
because there’s no baggage limit,
but remember that it’s got to fit in
your cabin.
● Beware the Bay of Biscay. Cruises
from the UK to the Mediterranean
have to pass through this, so if
you’re at all prone to sea-sickness,
take precautions.
● On Med cruises, pick a ship which
has plenty of onboard facilities so
you won’t get bored on the sea
days spent sailing to and from the
UK.
● If you’re sailing south to the sun,
remember to take some warm
clothes as it can still be chilly in
the English Channel.
Cunard
The Travel & Leisure Magazine 23
cruiseTLjul09/v123-26:T&L 20/7/09 11:34 Page 24

Ex-UK cruise facts

■ Deck quoits
is a fun way
Sample ex-UK cruises: to pass the
Fred Olsen Cruise Lines (01473 746175, www.fredolsencruises.com) is time
offering a one-week Norwegian Vistas sailing from Newcastle on September
12 from £647 on its ship Boudicca. It calls at several ports in Norway
including Alesund, Olden, Flam and Bergen.
Specialist website Sail From UK (0808 202 6104, www.sailfromuk.com)
which only sells cruises that sail from UK shores, features a 12-night sailing
to Europe with P&O Cruises on October 5.The voyage, on Oceana,

Fred Olsen
departs Southampton and sails to the Canary Islands with calls including
Madeira, Gran Canaria, Lisbon and Vigo. Prices start at £1,099 and include a
£50 onboard credit.
Other useful cruise contacts:
Celebrity Cruises (0845 456 1520, www.celebritycruises.co.uk)
Cunard Line (0845 678 0013, www.cunard.co.uk)
Crystal Cruises (020 7287 9040, www.crystalcruises.co.uk)
Holland America Line (0845 351 0557, www.hollandamerica.co.uk)

P&O Cruises
Hebridean Island Cruises (01756 704700, www.hebridean.co.uk)
Hurtigruten (0845 225 6640, www.hurtigruten.co.uk)
MSC Cruises (0844 561 7412, www.msccruises.co.uk)
Norwegian Cruise Line (0845 658 8010, www.ncl.co.uk)
Oceania Cruises (01344 772344, www.oceaniacruises.co.uk)
P&O Cruises (0845 678 0014, www.pocruises.com)
■ Artemis in the fjords
Princess Cruises (0845 3555 800, www.princess.com)
Royal Caribbean International (0844 493 4005,
www.royalcaribbean.co.uk)
Swan Hellenic (0845 246 9700, www.swanhellenic.com)
Silversea Cruises (0844 770 9030, www.silversea.com)

Hebridean Island Cruises

St Helena Line (020 7575 6480, www.rms-st-helena.com)
Thomson Cruises (0871 231 4691, www.thomson.co.uk/cruise)
Transocean Tours (0845 430 0274, www.transoceancruises.co.uk)
Voyages of Discovery (0845 018 1808, www.voyagesofdiscovery.co.uk)
■ Hebridean Princess in London
Make sure you check out the website of the Passenger Shipping Association,
which represents all the main cruise lines, at www.discover-cruises.co.uk

Mediterranean or around northern Europe.
Voyages that go south to the Mediterranean
generally last for at least 12 days – they have
to as they need to include the two days it takes
to sail between Britain and the Med at both
ends of the cruise.
Most cruises tend to be for 14 nights and
concentrate on the western Mediterranean as
time simply doesn’t allow for the
ships to sail any farther east.
Thus ships will generally get
as far as Italy, calling at ports
Fred Olsen
such as Civitavecchia (for Rome) or Naples
before having to turn back. Cruises of 16
nights have time to go a little farther east, and
will sail as far as Greece.
Other popular ports of call that pop up on
itineraries include Malaga, Alicante, Cannes,
Marseilles and Barcelona.
Some ships stay in northern Europe and
sail northwards to the Baltic States of
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, sometimes con-
tinuing on to St Petersburg.
Alternative destinations include Iceland,
Norway and its spectacular fjords and
Spitsbergen in the Arctic Circle, famous for
spotting polar bears.
These more northerly ports are particularly
popular around midsummer when the long
such as La Coruna or Bilbao, or French towns
including St Malo, the pretty town of Honfleur
and the port town of Le Havre.
In Germany, stops include Hamburg or
Bremerhaven, while the Dutch ports of
Rotterdam and Amsterdam are popular ports.
Scandinavian cities such as Copenhagen or
Bergen also feature in cruise itineraries, as do
the Shetland Isles, and the Channel Islands in
the south. In the west, Irish ports such as Cork
and Dublin add plenty of craic.
Then there’s good old Blighty itself, where
ships may call at Tilbury, Greenwich or (if the
ship is small enough to get right up the Thames)
Tower Bridge for London. Liverpool and
Newcastle also feature on cruise ship itineraries.
Cruise passengers wanting to go farther

daylight hours lend themselves to Land of the
Midnight Sun cruises.
Some ships stay closer to home, offering
sailings around northern Europe that stop
along the northern coast at Spanish ports
afield can take their pick from the regular
six-day transatlantic crossings by Cunard
Line’s Queen Mary 2 or, if they want to
escape for longer, round-the-world voy-
ages offered by P&O Cruises and Cunard.

24 The Travel & Leisure Magazine July/August 2009

cruiseTLjul09/v123-26:T&L 20/7/09 11:35
■ Boudicca at
Valletta, Malta
As several ships are based in the UK for
the summer, there’s always the chance to jump
aboard when they reposition themselves to the
Caribbean or elsewhere across the Atlantic for
the winter – as long as you don’t mind having
to fly back.
Cruisers looking for a different experience
altogether can cruise on the RMS St Helena,
the last working Royal Mail Ship that offers
trips from Portland in Dorset to the Atlantic
island of St Helena, Namibia and South Africa.
Some cruise lines offer British-focused
itineraries. The small, upmarket company,
Hebridean Island Cruises, operates a South
Coast cruise with calls including Cowes on
the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Dover,
while Cunard’s QM2 is sailing a special
Round Britain voyage this autumn, calling at
ports such as Greenock and Liverpool.
During winter, the number of cruises sail-
ing from the UK drops rapidly, leaving Cunard
and P&O Cruises offering round-the-world
July/August 2009
Page 25
■ Norwegian Gem at Dover
Peter Ellegard
Fred Olsen
sailings or long voyages; and Fred Olsen,
which offers Christmas markets sailings and
northern Europe and Canary Island sailings.
Where can you cruise from?
Southampton is the granddaddy of them all
when it comes to cruising from the UK. The
South Coast port is easily the most estab-
lished and the biggest and this is where most
cruise ships are based during the year; some
are here year-round.
This is where most Mediterranean cruises
depart from, along with transatlantic voyages.
Dover is the second-most popular, having
grown rapidly over the last few years, and it’s
from here that lines tend to depart for northern
Europe, Baltic and Arctic sailings.
Harwich is probably the third-busiest, with
a mix of cruises offered from here.
Some ports are served by just one cruise
line which may only depart on a handful of
occasions during the year. One of the new
UK cruise departure
ports and cruise lines
(2009)
Southampton – Cunard Line,
Celebrity Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruise
Lines, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises,
Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean
International,Thomson Cruises
Dover – Crystal Cruises, Fred Olsen
Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, MSC
Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania
Cruises, Princess Cruises, Swan Hellenic.
Harwich – Royal Caribbean
International, Celebrity Cruises,
Thomson Cruises,Voyages of Discovery
London (Tower Bridge) – Silversea
Cruises, Hurtigruten
London (Tilbury) – Transocean Tours
London (Greenwich) – Holland
America Line
Portland – St Helena Line, Hebridean
Island Cruises
Portsmouth – Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
Port of Tyne (Newcastle) – Fred Olsen
Cruise Lines,Thomson Cruises
Liverpool – Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
Greenock – Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
Rosyth – Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
Oban – Hebridean Island Cruises
Scrabster – Hebridean Island Cruises
ports to appear this year is Portsmouth, which
is being offered by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines.
Who are the main cruise lines?
Riding the waves of the ex-UK cruise market
is P&O Cruises, which has six ships that are
all based at Southampton, while Cunard
Lines has two ships – the Queen Mary 2 and
the Queen Victoria – based there.
Several American cruise lines, such as
Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruises,
also have ships in Southampton during the
summer.
The biggest ship in the world,
Independence of the Seas, owned by
American line Royal Caribbean International,
is based at Southampton.
Other major players offering several voy-
ages from UK ports include Fred Olsen
Cruise Lines, Thomson Cruises, MSC
Discovery and Hebridean Island Cruises. TL
Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Voyages of
The Travel & Leisure Magazine 25
 CRUISE news
cruiseTLjul09/v123-26:T&L 20/7/09
CRUISE CLIPS
Have you ever fancied going
behind the scenes to see how
cruise ships function? Princess
Cruises and Norwegian
Cruise Lines are now offering
special ship tours that
NCL
promise to take passengers
to areas normally off-limits,
such as back-stage in the
theatre, the galley (kitchen),
engine control room, the
bridge, medical centre and
even the funnel. Prices start
at $55 for a two-hour tour
with NCL and $150 for a
three-hour tour with
Princess.
Crystal Cruises has come
up with the perfect solution
for people who are
bamboozled by the latest hi-
tech gadgets. It is introducing
“technology
concierges” on
its ships to
train and
educate guests
on everything
from Apple
iPods and
BlackBerry
smart
Research in Motion
phones to
wireless
devices and
navigational
aides.
Bargain-hunters looking for
a last-minute deal should go
to MSC Cruises’ website at
www.msccruises.co.uk
where it has launched a Deal
of the Day offering special
offers on specific voyages.
26 The Travel & Leisure Magazine
11:36 Page 26
UK cruises make a splash
C
ruises from the UK have never been so
popular. The latest market figures show
that more British cruisers than ever before
are taking voyages which sail from local ports.
According to industry body, the Passenger
Shipping Association, the number of passengers
opting for a cruise that starts from the UK
increased by 23% last year compared with 2007.
This means that four out of every 10 cruises
now booked by Brits sails from a UK port.
A record number of cruise lines, ships and pas-
sengers also visited UK ports last year, calling at
points such as Dover, Tower Bridge and Newcastle
as part of longer sailings around northern Europe.
The popularity of cruising holidays generally
seems unstoppable with nearly 1.5 million trav-
Peter Ellegard
ellers opting to spend their holidays on a cruise ■ CL’s Norwegian
ship last year. Gem at Dover
Overall, one in every 12 foreign package holi-
days booked in the UK is now a cruise – 10 years
ago this figure was just one in every 26. prices have also fallen.
The Mediterranean remains the favourite cruise More than one-third of all cruises cost less than
destination, but voyages to northern Europe and £1,000 in 2008 and this year there were expected
the western edge of Europe have become more to be more cheap deals.
popular and risen to second place, overtaking the “The inclusive nature of cruises with meals,
Caribbean. accommodation, entertainment and, of course,
The good news is that the credit crunch and multiple destinations, means they are great value,”
fierce competition between cruise lines means said PSA director Bill Gibbons.
Scottish launch for Cosmos
H
oliday company Cos-
mos Tourama is dip-
ping its toe into unfa-
miliar waters with the launch of
its first-ever UK cruise to meet
demand from customers want-
ing to stay closer to home this
summer.
It is offering four-night
Autumn in the Scottish
Highlands sailings this October
Cosmos Tourama
on the MV Lord of the Glens, a
vessel built in the style of a clas-
■ MV Lord of the Glens
sic, luxury yacht.
It will sail between Fort
Augustus and Oban in the heart Ness, Loch Linhe, Tobermory and and from Glasgow Central
of Argyllshire, travelling past the Neptune’s Staircase, an eight- Station.
dramatic loch landscapes of the stage ship lock. For more information contact
Great Glen and the picturesque The cruise costs from £609 Cosmos Tourama on 0871 423
coast of the Isle of Mull. and includes full board and 8695 or visit the website:
Cruise highlights include Loch refreshments plus transfers to www.cosmostourama.co.uk
July/August 2009
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July/August 2009 The Travel & Leisure Magazine 27