Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
14 September 2009
07:1928905Another very large COSTA ship today. WE are certainly having an Indian Summer with the cruise liners, as all have been mighty ships. Very impressive. The yellow stacked ship today is the Costa Mediterranea. The Balmoral lies there beside her looking a little sad by comparison.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
14 September 2009
08:4328915Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
14 September 2009
21:2628939The feedback that I have heard on the grapevine is that Fred Olsen are sticking with Dover, its just that they haven't announced their 2011 schedule as of yet. So fingers crossed it may not be 'all doom and gloom'
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
15 September 2009
06:4928944Why are you so negative Brian ? have you heard something definite about Dover losing cruise ships next year and after ?
I heard yesterday that Chatham is going to start and try to woo cruise ships there; we'll (DHB) need to work harder to keep them here and give the passengers a bit more support in what to see and do here.
I have also heard that the tour bus that picks up passengers from the cruise terminal(s) and brings them to the Market Square and Dover Castle, is now selling tickets to Dover Castle, so the majority of his passengers go up there and as there is so much to see, they can spend all day there and not come in to Dover - at all.
This may be good for the bus owner (I know who it is and it shows great enterprise) but it doesn't help the town's businesses or attractions; in fact I would say it is detrimental to the Town - great for the Castle though.
Roger
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
15 September 2009
16:1728955roger,im trying not to be negative on this subject,but living at an avantage point that i do there seems less ships every year.when the cruise ships started there seemed that cruisers where in every day.it now seems that the terminal now seems empty during the sumer months,4 or 5 over the week,when they first started there seemed like 6/7 a week.
chatham can only take smaller cruise ships like the black watch size.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
15 September 2009
17:2028956i cannot see chatham really getting much business for the reason that brian has just mentioned.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
16 September 2009
07:0928980A lot of people said that about Tilbury, but it has it's fair share of "smaller" cruise ships; the same with Harich, there's nothing at Harwich, but it has quite a few cruise ships, among them I think, were/are Holland America Line and they aren't all that small.
Dover needs these cruise ships and we need the passengers too, coming into town, not just spending all day at the Castle.
We need that (proper) tour bus here again, visiting all the historic sites and attractions in and around Dover, including Crabble Corn Mill and the Transport Museum. I don't believe the "hour tour" is more important than visiting these sites; if it takes an hour, hour and a quarter or even hour and a half, it will be on a time-table that that is the schedule.
Roger
email: dover7@msn.com