Britain's spring/summer cruising season got off to a good start with the opening of Associated British Ports' (ABP) first purpose-built cruise terminal in over 40 years: Ocean Terminal at the Port of Southampton. The £19 million Ocean Terminal was built by ABP for its customer Carnival UK on the back of a 20-year contract. During the same month, the Port of Barrow welcomed its first cruise call since 2006 with the arrival of the mv Tahitian Princess during her only visit to an English port.

The Port of Barrow gave Princess Cruises' Tahitian Princess' 670 passengers and 370 crew a warm welcome when she sailed into the port and berthed in Ramsden Dock on 22 May. The Port of Barrow is ideally placed for passengers visiting the Lake District National Park. The port welcomed a second visit by the cruise liner on her return journey on 26 May with new passengers and crew onboard.

Patrick Walters, ABP's Commercial Director, says that ABP ports enjoyed a welcome cruising boost to the start of the spring/summer 2009 Cruise Season.

"I am delighted that Carnival UK, the operators of P&O Cruises, Cunard Line and Princess Cruises, are bringing their cruise liners and their passengers and crew to our ports. The Port of Southampton is the cruise capital of Northern Europe and is expecting nearly a million cruise passengers to visit this year via its four cruise terminals. This is double the number of cruise passengers who visited the port in 2005. To date there have been nearly 90 cruise calls to Southampton this year."

He added: "Barrow is the gateway to the Lake District and some of Britain's most spectacular scenery. Barrow is well placed to attract further cruise calls."

The feedback from visitors to both the Port of Barrow and Southampton's Ocean Terminal was also highly encouraging. Liz and Keith Frost who were passengers onboard the Tahitian Princess praised their cruise call to Barrow:

"The reception, the facilities and effort put in by your staff made us proud to be English. It was the talk of the ship at dinner that evening and many people around us (all Americans) said that they would be coming back as the area could not be covered in one day. It also seemed that quite a few people spent considerable sums of money while ashore, which can't be bad for the local economy."

Donald Ljams of Arizona, USA said: "The cruisers who come to Barrow would be hard pressed to find a better introduction to the Lake District than the one you provided."

Maurice and Evelyn Heuss of Florida, USA were also impressed, saying: "We have taken around 15 cruises and never received such a fantastic reception! We will recommend Barrow to all of our friends and hope to visit there again someday."

At Southampton the first passengers to check into the Ocean Terminal were Mr and Mrs Reynolds of Milton Keynes who were presented with a bottle of champagne by the Master of P&O Cruises Oceana, Captain Julian Burgess, before they embarked on a seven-day cruise in May.

Captain Julian Burgess, said:

"I am very impressed with Ocean Terminal and in particular the embarkation area which is light, modern and airy."

Ocean Terminal was officially opened on 29 May and was commemorated by an Open Day where 120 residents joined in the celebration and waved off P&O Cruises Ventura.