It’s our last day onboard and Island Princess has docked in Portland, Dorset. One glance out the cabin stateroom confirms our decision yesterday – we will not be going ashore. I’ll explain why in a moment, but first the essentials:
Tenders: No
Transfer buses: Yes
Distance to town: ~15 minutes (unverified)
Why did we stay onboard?
So why did we choose to spend the day enjoying the amenities of Island Princess rather than going ashore?
It was raining
As you would expect of Britain in the summer, it rains and rains and rains. The clouds are so low and the rain so persistent that we can’t see the castle at the top of the hill for most of the day.
We’ve been here before (many times)
We have been to Weymouth and Portland on family holidays many times in the past. Admittedly, it is 20-odd years since our last visit, but this is a part of Britain that prides itself on avoiding drastic changes.
Aside from the infamous Bibby Stockholm of course…
That said, we see a lot of tour buses departing. This provides Princess cruisers unfamiliar with Portland an opportunity to see all the sights we have already seen.
It’s a filler port
Look at the map below and the relative distance between Portland and Southampton.
Portland has been added to a lot of itineraries recently as a way of extending cruises by a day. Portland, like Zeebrugge and Rotterdam now seems to be a fixture of the mini-cruise circuit. I can only assume the port fees are quite low to encourage more ships to stop in.
To me, it is like booking a hotel one street away from my house. We would happily have sacrificed Portland (and Falmouth) for a stop in the Faroe Islands for instance. Or even a quick hop over the channel to Brittany perhaps.
Definitely not complaining
While many of our fellow passengers did disembark, we were quite happy to watch them get wet and miserable from the comfort of the Horizon Court buffet. And good for them.
As you might expect, the rain stopped and the weather cleared as we were leaving port. Thanks Portland.
Home tomorrow 🙁
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