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Deepwater for Cruise Ships


Manx Bean

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1 hour ago, Two-lane said:

Well, no-one else wants to answer the question so I will have to do it myself.

Less than 15 mpg per passenger for a cruise ship, compared to about 100 mpg per passenger for a jet aircraft.

If Extinction Rebellion are willing to blockade airports in England, no doubt XR (Douglas branch) will be doing the same when the gas-guzzling cruise ships pull in.

[I wonder if the cruise passengers are going to get hit with a fuel surcharge too]

 

all this programme is dependent on one thing ,the weather , some of the cruise ships are over 20 years old  if you add the capacity of the vessels against the numbers quoted  as coming ashore by DR Allinson   it does not add up ,  the shortfall is almost 50%

If we are serious about tourism then  we would be better trying to re establish our traditional markets , motorsport , mountain bikes walking and heritage ,any cruise  ship business should be a bonus ,and they don't supplement the Steam packet or airlines  which are  vital for the Island to maintain its  regular   travel services ,particularly after being devastated by Covid ,

the whole place needs a tidy up ,scruffy dirty  and uncared for , 

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Dream on Douglas.  For the cruise ship plan to work we would need to shed vat and see Strand Street lined with Duty Free shops, proper ones, selling high end gold and jewellery.

Have they ever been to Charlotte Amalie in the USVI?  Or further south to St Martens?  There is a long way to go yet...

 

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2 minutes ago, war baby said:

Dream on Douglas.  For the cruise ship plan to work we would need to shed vat and see Strand Street lined with Duty Free shops, proper ones, selling high end gold and jewellery.

Have they ever been to Charlotte Amalie in the USVI?  Or further south to St Martens?  There is a long way to go yet...

 

Douglas has Dealz

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3 hours ago, Kopek said:

The PR says 40 visits. The same ships often visit more than once.

Better than nothing I suppose but cruise people are the equivalent of the Coach tour brigade, Tight wads! Pig out on the boat and save their appetite to do so again when back on board!!!

There's a repeat in the list I gave.  I found another three in September but two of those don't arrive till 1300 so they won't have much time here.  And I notice there's no list on the DfE's own site, like there's been in previous years.  I suspect they've logged every enquiry and treated like a certainty.

Cruise ships are far worse than coach tours because at least the accommodation money with coaches gets spent on the Island and they pay the Steam Packet for travel and so on.  They also have more free time to spend here, but even when cruise passengers go ashore, they are tightly controlled.  A few of the savvier ones may make their own arrangements, but the purpose of the cruise company is to make sure that as much spending as possible is done on board.

The main purpose of the DfE isn't actually to help the Island's economy, it's to make it look like they are doing something.  That's why they love cruise ships, because nothing's more obvious that a big boat in the bay.  But a lot of places have discovered how little cruise ships bring into the local economy and that's  before you examine  just how big the discounts and freebies are (port fees, vintage travel, bus travel, site entrances) that have been given to attract the ships in the first place.

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3 hours ago, Banker said:

The cruise ships listed include some of the top luxury lines eg Oceania, Seven seas , Azamara & the people on these ships are definitely not the coach tour brigade & will be very well off !

You're quite right. Some of the better cruise customers, the Swedish and American passengers are indeed better spenders. The same goes for the specialised cruises, the architectural, nature and history people, they have specific sites they wish to see and not just tourist trail.

However, these are just a few of the overall number who are, boat mounted coach trippers in their attitude, they don't even spend an hour in the Museum, a quick flit and they're on their way with  their 'packed lunch'!!!

The only way to get anything out of the Coach tripper types would be to put on an 'Palaise du Danse' at 5oc, make them late for their 'free' dinner, so they have to go to a Cafe! Most of them are Cardigan wearing, white (I'm on holiday) pants northern retirees who, while deserving of their holiday, should be grateful to us for providing that destination rather than thinking (as DfE do), that WE should be grateful for their patronage? To what? 5% of our  economy?

Rant over.

 

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25 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

The main purpose of the DfE isn't actually to help the Island's economy, it's to make it look like they are doing something.

11 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Cruise ships are far worse than coach tours because at least the accommodation money with coaches gets spent on the Island and they pay the Steam Packet for travel and so on

....but this is paid upfront to an English tour agent, the local hotels cut their price  to a bare minimum to get the business, provide a subsidised breakfast/dinner just to keep their numbers up to justify opening and staff costs! That does not come  back to us in turnover to the treasury, other than in not employing staff. How are Hotels to know this in the off season???

Re point 1. but surely if we are to expect the stance taken by Allinson that he will be an 'honest' politician, then we should not be hearing these typical utterances from him as in so many other tourist board statements from the last 50 yrs that all is fine ????

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I've asked this before but, inview of the environmental effect of cuises and their future in the holiday market, are Liverpool STILL pursuing the Cruise ship berth that has forced us out of that area?

Have we abandoned a site for cruise liners that are not now going to come and that Liverpool are not going to pursue???

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While I'm not surprised that the DfE have latched on to these numbers, I am surprised thatr Allinson has been so easily drawn into the web of deceit that the Dept wish to promulgate  as their pessimistic view of of the situation and that an independant MHK, like Alinson has so quickly been drawn into the Comin collective response.

It really, really surprises  me that Alilnson has allowed hisself to be compromised by his promotion to the top team???

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52 minutes ago, Kopek said:

I've asked this before but, inview of the environmental effect of cuises and their future in the holiday market, are Liverpool STILL pursuing the Cruise ship berth that has forced us out of that area?

Have we abandoned a site for cruise liners that are not now going to come and that Liverpool are not going to pursue???

Very possibly.  There was a delay of at least two years on the project announced last August and opposition in the Council is growing on both green and financial grounds.  This rather panicky press coverage last month from among others 'Mersey Maritime' suggests it's quite likely not to happen.

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6 hours ago, Kopek said:

Roger M. do we have some comeback on the reason to kick us off  our original  site to allow the now dubious cruse terminal? if that doesn't come about, can we argue that we were 'misled' ?

We have been misled alright, misled by the idiots who agreed to the scheme in the first place and the politicos who have supported it !

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10 hours ago, Manx17 said:

Passengers on the cruise ships don’t spend a penny when here. You might get the odd couple that will go to a bar for a drink, but not of every ship.. a couple of crew might come ashore to go to Tesco or chippy  for some food but that’s it. The cruise ships actually charge the passengers double the price for trips, so understandably the reluctance to spend more. I think the island is used on cruises for just an extra stop. They mostly want to go to big cities. They want the big name brands . A trip to the laxey wheel and down south don’t cut it. 

That’s bollocks, have you actually been on a cruise?

The passengers on these high end cruises want heritage sites, steam trains etc & have most probably been to the big cities.

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11 hours ago, Kopek said:

Roger M. do we have some comeback on the reason to kick us off  our original  site to allow the now dubious cruse terminal? if that doesn't come about, can we argue that we were 'misled' ?

I can't see it.  The question would be if we were misled at the time and there was never an intention to build the new Cruise Terminal.  It's just two sets of incompetent public officials and politicians playing at being business experts. 

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