This evening, Grand Princess will glide down Southampton Water.
When she emerges from the Solent, her captain will set a course south-south-west. Her 2,500-plus passengers are not bound for Rio and beyond; they will get no closer to the equator than Guernsey. They spend tomorrow exploring St Peter Port and the rest of the island. Then the ship weighs anchor for another unchallenging overnight voyage – to Le Havre, close to the mouth of the Seine, but with the promise of Paris for ambitious day-trippers.
The industry likes weekend cruises (and the occasional midweek short cruise). They provide profitable opportunities to fill days between longer voyages, and moreover expand the market. “A great example of ‘try before you buy’,” is how Jacqui Ridler of The Luxury Cruise Company describes them.
“We encourage people to invest two or three days and three or four hundred pounds to see if they like cruising,” says Stephen Bath, joint managing director of Bath Travel. “A short voyage gives them a flavour of what cruising is all about,” echoes Peter Shanks, president of Cunard.
His company offers a three-day “Taste of France” trip to Cherbourg from Southampton on 14 October, destination aboard Queen Mary 2, for around