Cruises From Liverpool: Where Can You Go?
Elsewhere on this site you can read about the history of cruising from Liverpool, with the city having been the most important dock in the world for a time. The majority of trans-Atlantic crossings took place from Liverpool, which remained the case up until the 1970s.
At that point, the advent of shipping containers saw ports like the one in Southampton become more important and Liverpool as a cruise city began to decline. In the mid-2000s, however, a new terminal for cruise ships opened in Liverpool and now the city is once again a destination for cruise ships that head to numerous different places all around the world.
The Decline of Liverpool as a Port
Having seen the first steamship to cross the Atlantic when the SS Savannah departed Liverpool in 1819, the city soon became the home of major cruise liners. The opening of the Cunard Line office on Water Street in the middle of the 1840s demonstrated how important Liverpool was to cruising, which was cemented when the company opened the Cunard Building in 1916 and setting it up as its global headquarters.
By the end of the 19th century, Liverpool was the second-most important port in the British Empire on account of the fact that it had been the starting point for trans-Atlantic cruises for more than 50 years, with only London seen as more important.
The decline of Liverpool as a port city was all but complete when the decision was taken to demolish the landing stage on Prince’s Dock in 1973. By the 1980s, the area was mostly derelict and seen as redundant, left to ruin by Margaret Thatcher’s government and its approach of the ‘managed decline’ of a city that she knew wouldn’t vote for her or her Conservative Party.
It looked for all the world as though Liverpool’s past as a cruise ship destination was a thing of the past, destined to be forgotten as the years rolled by. Instead, funding was sought to open a new cruise terminal that would allow ships to dock in the city once more.
The City’s Cruising Re-Birth
The regeneration of the docks began in the 1990s, which was when the area began to be adapted for commercial use, as well as for residents and leisure users. After the turn of the millennium, plans began to be put in place to open Liverpool Cruise Terminal and once again see the city welcome in cruise ships.
Around £19 million was spent opening the new Terminal, which was capable of accommodating vessels of up up 345 metres in length with a draft of ten metres. It was funded thanks to a £9.2 million grant from the British government and £8.6 million from the European Regional Development Fund, cementing the city’s ties to Europe.
Cunard Line Queen Victoria docked at the Liverpool Cruise Terminal this morning. #Liverpool #QueenVictoria pic.twitter.com/ZTkprBPbXl
— Paul Madden Photography (@PaulMadden75) June 3, 2023
One of the issues with the grant from the government was that it had a condition attached to it that said that the Terminal would only be allowed to be used for what were known as ‘port-of-calls’ in the city by cruise ships. This meant that they could arrive into Liverpool as a stop on their journey, but they could not start or end there.
Turnaround services, as it is known when a cruise begins or ends in a city, are more valuable, so Liverpool offered to pay back some of the grant. This idea initially fell on deaf ears, but in 2012 a deal was struck to allow the city to begin a repayment plan with full turnaround services beginning in the May of that year.
There is More to Come
In 2024, a deal was signed between Global Port Holding and Peel Ports Group that will ensure up to £25 million in investment in the city moving forward. The agreement is over 50 years and sees the world’s largest independent cruise port operator taker over Liverpool Cruise Terminal. The deal is likely to involve the construction of a new terminal building, which will be better-placed to cope with the demands of the world’s biggest cruise ships.
Liverpool is seen as a ‘key location for tourism’, not least because of the city’s rich maritime history. By adding a floating pontoon, it would allow two ships to dock simultaneously.
@lpoolcouncil
If that were to happen then as many as 7,000 per day could arrive in Liverpool, seeing huge amounts of money enter the city’s economy. Liverpool itself is likely to become a gateway for European and British cruises that will welcome both domestic and international passengers.
As a result, the cruises that are available from the city at the moment are likely to go up severalfold, with the one million passengers that the city has welcomed so far almost certain to increase exponentially. Since the Liverpool Cruise Terminal opened in 2007, more than 800 vessels have docked there and taken people onto the open seas.
Where You Can Go From Liverpool
If you think all of this sounds terribly exciting and that you would love the opportunity to cruise somewhere from Liverpool, the good news is that the world is, almost literally, your oyster. Perhaps you like the idea of leaving Liverpool in order to discover the wildlife and remote landscapes of the Arctic, with Fred Olsen offering a cruise that takes in Newfoundland, Labrador, Halifax, Greenland and more.
Maybe you’re the sort of person that likes to understand more about where you live, in which case the UK and Ireland five night getaway organised by Ambassador Cruise Line and going to Belfast, Cork and Falmouth might be for you.
They say that the Norwegian Fjords are not to be missed, not least because of the opportunity to see the Northern Lights whilst you’re sailing. For some, though, it is much more interesting to head to warmer climates, with one of the cruises from Liverpool taking in Spain and Portugal at a time when what is known as the ‘Spectacular Bird Migration’ is taking place.
In the winter, the Canary Islands are popular with people from Liverpool, so it makes sense to offer a cruise direct from the city’s Cruise Terminal. If you want to be particularly exotic then you head around the world, stopping in Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Bora Bora, to name but a few of the locations.
The #DisneyMagic sailing out of Liverpool. Such a pretty sunset! ✨#disneycruiseline pic.twitter.com/KVQczxzAxT
— Gem & Ant – Tangled Up In Fun (@tangledupinfun) September 13, 2019
It would be almost impossible to list every destination that you can sail to from Liverpool, given the sheer number of cruise operators that depart the city on a regular basis. You can sail to ports in Australia, France, the Faroe Islands, Ireland and Iceland. If you fancy then you can end up on a cruise to North America or Norway, Portugal or the Outer Hebrides.
Whether you want to practice your Spanish in Spain or enjoy the various rums of the Caribbean, you will be able to find a cruise that ticks your boxes thanks to the likes of Celebrity Cruises, the Cunard Line, Disney Cruise Line and P&O Cruises, all of whom and more leave Liverpool by sea.
