Queen Elizabeth

The St Peter Port Pilot is shortly to board the Queen Elizabeth as she comes around the south east corner of Guernsey on a grey Saturday morning. There's a stiff westerly wind blowing judging by the flag on Castle Cornet which many of the liners guests will visit today.

The waters outside of St Peter Port harbour are surprisingly empty on this July day as the Queen Elizabeth makes her way up to the anchorage. She is on a cruise out of Southampton visiting Guernsey and Bruges. Sunday will be spent at sea before she heads for Zeebruge, the port for Bruges.

Shortly before dropping anchor, tenders are already being swung out ready to get the shore party ashore promptly. The liner also used two local ferries as tenders to ease congestion for the transfers to the landing pontoon in the heart of St Peter Port. Not many early risers amongst the Cunard guests to enjoy their arrival.

Crystal Symphony

First port of call for the Crystal Symphony on her Round Britain cruise from Tilbury is St Peter Port where guests came ashore on a cool summer's day. The liner entered service in 1995 and has undergone three "upgrades" over the last fourteen years culminating in every room on the ship being redesigned.
No company for the Crystal Symphony mid morning as she rests at anchor.

In the depths of the Guernsey countryside out west is the 'Henry garden', Henry being well known hoover first made in 1981 in Dorset. This cleaner favored by professionals is an iconic British product, but not too many uses like this come too mind.

After a full day at St Peter Port, Crystal Symphony left for Waterford in Southern Ireland to continue her Round Britain cruise before returning to Tilbury, London in 11 days time. The liner will see the world over the next year. October will see her sailing to the Pacific through the Panama Canal, before sailing to Australia and New Zealand. March 2017 she will be in Japan, before heading east again across the Pacific, through the Canal to New York, Iceland and then back to Europe. In the image a Dutch sailing ship  comes on to the Havelet anchorage, whilst the Guernsey Pilot boat waits for the liner's departure.

Aurora

Not a blue sky day for the guests on board the Aurora for their short two night cruise from Southampton to Guernsey, but if you stayed on board you had some free sporting entertainment. The Aurora provided a luxurious grandstand this Sunday morning for a six lap powerboat race, whilst on shore a traffic free seafront gave guests the opportunity to walk and enjoy the bustle of the town.

As the last tender heads back to the Aurora there is no late afternoon sunshine to enjoy today but guests can look forward to a evening on board the liner before her early morning arrival into Southampton. The blue funnel sill doesn't look right!

Europa 2

A short morning visit for the Europa 2 before heading to Sark for the afternoon. On entering service in 2013 she was named the Number 1 Cruise Liner in the world by the Berlitz Cruising Guide. The liner, built in St Nazaire, is an all-suite and all-balcony ship carrying just over 500 guests. It's the variation in the different types of liners that anchor off St Peter Port that make it so interesting, unlike ports that have the "weekly" turnaround.

Shortly after arriving tenders were running the short distance to the harbour with its landing area almost in the heart of St Peter Port. Jersey, in the background, is the largest of the Channel Islands.

The summer season is now well underway in Guernsey and with the recent good weather the beaches are busy and beach kiosks and cafes in St Peter Port are bustling. This one above the old harbour is visible from the liner landing area, and when seated here you have clear views of your liner, the harbour and other Channel Islands.

With the Guernsey Pilot just taken off the Europa 2 after her afternoon in Sark she sails down the south coast of Guernsey in glorious evening sunlight bound for Falmouth.

Minerva & Celebrity Silhouette

Two more visitors today with the Minerva arriving early this morning and the Celebrity Silhouette joining her at midday. Seeing the Minerva at anchor in calm seas off St Peter Port it's hard to think of her being built as a "spy" ship for the Soviet Navy in the late 1980s. St Peter Port has had a few old sailing ships visit in recent days and this early morning arrival heads for a welcome berth.

After some morning cloud the skies cleared and the temperature rose in time for the Harbour Carnival and the KPMG Castle Nights of music at Castle Cornet. The evening departure of the Celebrity Silhouette gave the guests on board time to sample the entertainment before taking the tenders to head back to the ship. Sark Shipping had one of their ferries as a extra tender to cope with many of the guests who went ashore.

With most of the guests on board basking in the last of the sun from either the decks or their balconies they must have enjoyed their visit to Guernsey with good weather, calm seas for the tenders and the delights of Island life.

More old sailing ships at anchor as Celebrity Silhouette heads to sea and her next destination of Le Havre. Monday will see her back in Amsterdam having cruised around the British Isles. Minerva left mid afternoon heading for Lisbon and then south as far as Cadiz before returning to Portsmouth in early August.

Caribbean Princess & Azamara Quest

Today and yesterday have seen two liners visit on cruises around the British Isles. The Caribbean Princess arrived yesterday at the start of her cruise and left mid afternoon bound for Cobh, passing the Azamara Quest at the end of her cruise having arrived from the same port. With the heat haze still coming off the land after the previous day's record temperatures the Caribbean Princess provides a contrast with the cliffs of the south coast of Guernsey and the Island of Sark.

The Azamara Quest is a very different liner from the Caribbean Princess catering for the destinations that the larger liner cannot visit. With only a quarter of the number of guests the line attracts the boutique liner afficianado who appreciate the more intimate ship. She left early evening bound for Southampton where her next cruise will head to St Petersburg.

Summer in Guernsey attracts many different type of boat, and on the anchorage tonight, as the Azamara Quest left,  was the Regina Maris, a sailing ship built in 1970.  According to her website she accommodates over 30 students, and spends a lot of time off the coast of Africa as a sailing training ship, home porting in Amsterdam.

Prinsendam

The hot summer days continue in Guernsey with the sun shining all day long. With high temperatures long into the evening inviting the Prinsendam's guests out on deck to enjoy the views, the liner made an unusual sight lit up at anchor off St Peter Port.

For a Monday night St Peter Port was busy with everybody enjoying the summer weather. No fisherman on the Castle Breakwater, but a visiting yachtsman enters St Peter Port harbour at the end of his journey.

The Holland American liner Prinsendam is a regular visitor to St Peter Port and, like last year, she stayed overnight before departing early on Tuesday for Ijmuiden in the Netherlands. She has been on a Round Britain cruise calling, unusually, at Ilfracombe and Portland, as well as the more common northerly ports. The liner entered service in 1988 as the Royal Viking Sun and was acquired by the Holland American Line in 2002.  Carrying under a 1,000 guests she is one of the smallest ships that the line has in service.

Britannia

Guernsey puts on its Sunday Best for the Britannia today when she arrived on one of the best days of the year so far. With a Motor Sport event along St Peter Port's seafront, inviting beaches and the glorious coastline guests on board would have been spoiled for choice. The sea was calm for tender operations and many locals took the opportunity to take their boats to sea this Sunday.

The Britannia left Southampton last night and Guernsey is her first port of call as she heads down to the north coast of Spain. Guests on board will have the opportunity to get ashore in France when the liner stops at La Rochelle, but the close proximity of the French coast to the Channel Islands was made obvious by the site of Cap de la Hague nuclear processing plant, clearly visible on the horizon.

 Just after tea time a few locals fishing off St Martins Point may have had a shock as the Britannia came past heading south leaving for La Coruna.  For a minute she caught the sun and shone and sparkled, a perfect end to her visit to Guernsey. The Island of Sark is in the background, and some of the guests may have visited the finals of the Sheep Racing  on the island this weekend!

Astor

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Astor was the Cruise Liner visiting today, not leaving until well into the evening after a long day in Guernsey. She left Tilbury last Wednesday on a British Isles cruise. She visited Scottish Islands before heading south to Dublin and the Scilly Isles, before arriving at St Peter Port. Astor, extensively refurbished 6 six years ago, is one of the smaller liners to visit the Island, catering for just under 600 guests. Tomorrow one of her sister ships in Cruise & Martime Voyages will visit, the Magellan.

Leaving the anchorage in the last sunlight of the evening the rocks and islands to the north of Herm show clearly. The sea does not look very summery yet, even for the 12th July. Astor's next destination is Honfleur in Normandy, before she heads back to Tilbury.

Caribbean Princess

Back home to see the Caribbean Princess visit St Peter Port on one of her regular sailings this year. She had company at the anchorage with Guernsey's adopted ship HMS Daring. This combination of Warship and Cruise Liner is not seen very often as the Caribbean Princess left mid afternoon bound for the Irish Sea and Cobh.

HMS Daring was launched in 2006, entered service in 2009 with a home port of Portsmouth. In 2008 she became Guernsey's adopted ship and has  visited the island many times during her career. This time was a short visit leaving overnight on Friday. Although accommodation has improved on naval ships in recent years I'm sure the crew on the Daring had comments about the Caribbean Princess facilities.

River Cruises on the Seine

Some time in France, away from the sea and Cruise Liners, though in the last few days we stayed at Caudebec. This is one of the pilot stations on the Seine for shipping bound for Rouen. Seeing large ships sailing in close proximity to land and villages on the calm evening waters is something special.

Caudebec is a favoured destinations for River Cruises from Paris where the guests are then coached to destinations such as the D Day Beaches or Giverny. The most we saw at Caudebec at any one time was four.  It's an early start at 8am for the guests on some of the many coaches.

No problem with tenders at the end of the day as the guests walk back to the "liner" but the weather was not too kind that day.

Not many guests on deck as the Amalegro heads back from Caudebec passing the bac crossing at Heurteauville on her way to Rouen. Somebody seemed to be braving the hot tub on the top deck.