Isle of Portland (Dorset, England)

Isle of Portland is located in the English Channel and on Dorset's southern coast (southern England). Portland Island is connected to mainland Dorset (at Abbotsbury) via a narrow piece of land (named Chesil Beach, aka Chesil Bank) with length approx 29 km (18 mi). Enclosed between Chesil Beach and Abbotsbury is the freshwater lake Fleet.

The island is most famous for the white limestone quarried here. After WW2 (1939-1945) a British naval base was built at peninsula's southernmost tip - Portland Bill (now closed). Pennsylvania Castle (currently a hotel) was built during the 18th century for John Penn - grandson of the founder of the USA's Pennsylvania state Admiral William Penn. Here are also the remains of the 11th-century Rufus Castle.

On island's southern tip is located Portland Bill (lighthouse). From here, cruise passengers can visit Abbotsbury Swannery (nesting Mute Swans colony), Bovington Camp's Tank Museum and the seaside resort Weymouth (Dorset).

Portland UK cruise port

Portland Port's cruising season runs April through late-October / early-November.

Mein Schiff 5 (one of TUI Cruises newest ships / launched January 2016) made an inaugural visit on September 12, 2016. During the port call, a large number of passengers went on shore excursions, with over 75% of them visiting the popular Dorset attractions Jurassic Coast, Portland Bill, Corfe Castle, Minterne House, Abbotsbury Swannery. On September 20, 2016, another new (2016-built) cruise liner - ms Koningsdam (Holland America) visited Portland England for the first time.

In April 2017 was announced the near-completion of the new GBP 3 million cruise berth extension project allowing docking of bigger-sized ships (more info in the "terminal" section below). The total number of scheduled ship calls for 2017 was 24 (of which 10 first-time visiting ships) bringing over 36,000 passengers. In 2017, Portland UK reported a record-breaking year with handled nearly 36,000 passengers in 24 cruise ship calls. Also in 2017, an inaugural call made the ship Disney Magic (on May 23).

Port's most regular customer is Phoenix Reisen. Port's largest passenger liners so far are the NCL-owned sisterships Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Escape (LOA length 326 m, GT 145600 tons, max passengers 4820). Port's record-breaking day was July 15 (2018) with two simultaneous dockings (RSSC Regent-owned ships Seven Seas Explorer and Seven Seas Navigator).

During season 2018, the cruise port had scheduled 44 ship calls (38% increase over 2017), including maiden visits from Pullmantur and Princess Cruises. The number of passengers (based on berth bookings for 2019) was 62,000. For 2020, Portland Port reported a record-breaking season with scheduled 46 ship calls (berth bookings) and estimated 80,000+ cruise tourists (passengers and crew).

New / first-time calling ships (cruise companies) in 2020 included Silver Whisper (Silversea), Celebrity Reflection (Celebrity Cruises), Amera (Phoenix Reisen), Columbus (CMV), Island Princess and Regal Princess (Princess),  Monarch (Pullmantur), Seven Seas Splendor (RSSC-Regent).

Isle of Portland cruise terminal