Anglesey is about to enjoy its best ever cruise ship summer, with thousands of foreign visitors expected to pump more than £1m into the region’s economy.
On Wednesday, April 25th, the “Quest” will be the first of 18 cruise ships – six more than 2011 – to use the berthing facilities at Holyhead.
The star of the show, however, will undoubtedly be the enormous Caribbean Princess. Measuring a huge 290m in length, she’ll be the biggest ever cruise ship, in terms of sheer passenger numbers, to dock in Wales. She’ll be docking alongside the Anglesey Aluminium jetty in Holyhead.
The Caribbean Princess will be carrying an incredible 3,600 passengers and a 1,200 strong crew during both her visits to Anglesey this summer (May 16th and August 15th).
Anglesey Cruise Co-ordinator, Julia McCormack, is looking forward to the best cruise ship summer yet.
She said, “It promises to be a great summer with an increase in the number of cruise visitors who’ll be enjoying the fantastic tourist product we have to offer here on Anglesey. Passengers will be visiting a number of local attractions, including South Stack, Llynnon and Beaumaris Castle, as well as other sites across North West Wales.”
“There’s a real buzz around Holyhead when the big cruise liners are in and many of the passengers onboard enjoy going into the town as well as on planned excursions.”
She added, “We’ll once again be giving our visitors a warm Welsh welcome with local artists and plenty of activities in Holyhead town centre, including live music, street entertainers, face painting, craft stalls, historical displays and performances in St Cybi’s Church by Various Male Voice Choirs.”
It’s estimated that this year alone, cruise passenger spend will be worth £1.2m to the Anglesey and wider North Wales economy.
This reinforces the importance of the cruise industry to Anglesey, according to Councillor Trefor Lloyd Hughes, tourism portfolio holder on the County Council’s shadow Executive.
He added, “Our annual cruise ship programme is going from strength to strength. With 18 cruise ship visits to Anglesey between April and September, we hope to cement our position as Wales’ premier cruise port destination and make sure that as many passengers as possible take time out to explore this beautiful island of ours.”
The Holyhead jetty is owned and operated by Anglesey Aluminium. Working in partnership with Stena and Welsh Government Anglesey Aluminium have provided new facilities on the jetty, which include a gift shop, information centre, disabled toilets, an internet centre and a dedicated stage and entertainment area.
