Where have all the Brits gone?

//Where have all the Brits gone?

Cruises around the UK will be the next big thing, the Passenger Shipping Association’s Bill Gibbons told me last week. With the price of fuel continuing to be an issue, and the economic situation still putting a squeeze on consumer spending, holidays closer to home are what everyone – from cruise lines to passengers – is looking for, according to his reasoning.
I sometimes take Bill’s pronouncements with a pinch of salt; after all, last year he was forecasting that Libya was about to become the next cruising hot-spot.
Even without the Gaddafi effect, the evidence contradicts his latest prediction.
A voyage around the British Isles on Crown Princess was discounted to almost give-away levels to make sure it sailed full, because not enough Brits had shown interest, and Americans were being put off by the cost of Transatlantic flights.
The cost of getting here has not deterred the 1,238 Americans on board Eurodam this week as we cruise Scandinavia before crossing the North Sea to visit Invergordon, Edinburgh and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
But there are precious few Brits among the 2,144 passengers; with a total of 235 we are even outnumbered by the 278 Canadians.
Perhaps it’s because we know what weather to expect, and would prefer to fly to the Med – or even risk the Bay of Biscay – to go in search of the sun. Or perhaps we just don’t appreciate the jewels on our own doorstep.
Mind you, you have to wonder whether some people on the ship – which left Dover on Friday – know where we are at all. TV chef Valentine Warner, of BBC’s What To Eat Now, was introduced as having come “all the way from England” when he got on stage on Saturday morning for the first of his cookery demonstrations.
One member of our group knew exactly where he was yesterday. In response to the Danish ban on Marmite, he took a jar with him as he walked around Copenhagen. The Little Mermaid’s response remains unreported.
marmite.jpg
My thanks to Paul Corney for coming up with the idea and for providing me with a picture. And, by the way, he’s not even British; he’s one of the 11 New Zealanders on board.

By | 2017-06-15T16:00:05+00:00 6 June 2011|Cruise Destinations|0 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

Leave A Comment