Lerwick Welcomes its Largest Ever Cruise Vessel
June 30 was a big day for GAC UK’s Shetlands office, as Offshore Manager Adrian Henry welcomed the P&O Cruises ship Azura to the port of Lerwick, the islands’ capital and home to GAC’s local office. The 115,055t Azura is the largest ever cruise vessel to have called at the port, and Henry and his team were responsible for ensuring every second of her time there went without a hitch for her 3,033 passengers and 1,159 crew, GAC said. “The Azura is even bigger than the 114,288t Costa Pacifica which called here in June 2011,” said Fergus Poole, GAC UK’s Cruise Manager.
Largest Cruise Vessel Calls at Lerwick Port
Yesterday (30 June) was a big day for GAC UK’s Shetlands office, as Offshore Manager Adrian Henry welcomed the P&O Cruises ship ‘Azura’ to the port of Lerwick, the islands’ capital and home to GAC’s local office. The 115,055t beauty is the largest ever cruise vessel to have called at the port, and Adrian and his team were responsible for ensuring every second of her time there went without a hitch for her 3033 passengers and 1159 crew. “The ‘Azura’ is even bigger than the 114,288t ‘Costa Pacifica’ which called here in June 2011,” says Fergus Poole, GAC UK’s Cruise Manager.
French Cruise Company PONANT Signs GAC UK
PONANT Yacht Cruises & Expeditions has appointed GAC UK as its agent for all United Kingdom and Ireland port calls in 2016. PONANT’s 142m and 132 cabin megayachts Le Boréal and L’Austral will cruise around the British Isles and Ireland, including the Scilly Isles, Shetlands, Dublin, Liverpool and Scottish Highlands in May and June next year. Fergus Poole, GAC UK’s newly appointed Cruise Manager, said the high prestige business is a boost to GAC’s growing cruise operations in and around the UK and Ireland.
GAC Sets its Sights on UK Cruise Business
GAC UK is boosting its services for the cruise industry with the appointment of Fergus Poole as Cruise Manager. For nearly two decades, Poole has specialized in the sector and has held a number of managerial and operations posts dedicated to serving cruise and passenger vessels, most recently for services at U.K. and Irish ports. He joined GAC on May 1 and is based in Sunderland, from where he will coordinate cruise calls at ports nationwide. Ports in the U.K. have always been popular as cruise destinations.
