Jan 21

Jan 21 CLIA report on Top 10 Cruise Ports 2020

Cruise Destination, Cruise News, Cruise Port, New to Cruising

Interesting new research from CLIA UK & Ireland has resulted in the publication of its top ten cruise destinations for 2020.

If we absolutely have to go ashore it had better be somewhere good!

The recent UK research also found that almost two thirds of the 409 UK cruisers surveyed return to a destination they first visited on cruise holiday. I’m sure this is true, we definitely use a cruise to identify ports that we want to return to as well as those we can probably live without ever visiting again - Mumbai is a recent example that springs to mind! In addition 60% of those surveyed said that they would add a pre or post cruise stay - pretty essential when travelling long distance to meet a cruise as it helps with both fly delays and jet lag.

CLIA's top ten list of ‘must visit’ destinations for 2020, includes both cities and more remote regions all of which can be visited on a cruise holiday. Not quite convinced about some of them, see what you think.....

#1. Canadian Rockies, Canada - usually combined with an Alaska cruise and often a shore trip. Whilst its hard to fault Vancouver as the gateway to the Rockies and to Alaska this seems a bit odd!

#2. Singapore - an easy city to get around and acts as a hub for both air and cruise travel in Asia and Australasia.

#3. Kimberley, Western Australia - an expedition cruise destination described by CLIA as “ simply breathtaking”

Mitchell Falls in the Kimberley region of Western Australia photo; ISTOCK VIA GETTY IMAGE

#4. Porto, Portugal - a popular southern European city with a warm winter climate - personally I think I'd prefer Cadiz...

#5. The Svalbard - a Norwegian archipelago is between mainland Norway and the North Pole - an expedition destination as well as a cost effective way to visit the country.

£6. Panama Canal, Panama - the iconic link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans features in the list although I would argue strongly for the inclusion of the more picturesque Suez Canal in its place!

#7. Castro, Chile - a picturesque lake city built above the waters on stilts

#8. Tokyo, Japan - another good destination to visit on a cruise as local accommodation and food costs are so high.

#9. Cape Town, South Africa - all I can say is that if this is at nine then the others must be awesome!

#10. Bozcaada, Turkey - East meets West in this historic town, important in the Trojan wars as mentioned by Homer in the Iliad and by Virgil in the Aeneid - I've not been yet so can't comment but I would definitely suggest Split, Dubrovnik or Trogir in Croatia for a similarly historic and lovely location

Oddly we’ve visited the top two destinations in the past six months and totally agree with both - presumably we should now start to work our way down the list! Or maybe its time to discover new destinations for the 2021 survey!