Three cruises in a week arrive at Portland Port
The cruise industry is firing up again as COVID restrictions ease
Portland Port today welcomes its third cruise ship in the space of five days.
It was the first port to have a cruise ship call in the UK on Saturday, after 14 months of halted business.
The Viking Venus sails into the port today, preceded by the MSC Virtuosa on Wednesday and Saturday.
They could be the first of as many as 40 visits booked in to the port this year, if restrictions and customer demand allow for it.
Ian McQuade is one of the port's managers.
He told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:
"May, June are going to be an exciting couple of months as the industry starts to pick up again.
"The ships are all operated with a restricted capacity at the moment. We'll get to a point hopefully where the UK Government guidelines ease off and then they'll be able to sell more capacity.
"It's moving in a very positive direction now. I think the whole industry is just feeling a lot more encouraged after what's been a very long 14 months."
Restrictions still in place
Currently, visitors arriving on cruise ships are restricted to exploring Dorset's beautiful vistas in small bubbles and they aren't permitted to mix with locals.
That means the business won't bring as much money into the area as could normally be hoped for during the average season.
So how long until we're back to normal?
Ian added:
"Realistically, back to normal will be next year
"We still have cruises in the program which we expect will probably get cancelled because they were part of the original plan and those ships will now be deployed elsewhere.
"There's a lot of uncertainty still for the rest of this year and none of us have got a crystal ball which can predict which direction of travel COVID's going to go.
"It's all looking very positive at the moment, and hopefully that's the direction of travel we continue to follow."