Heritage Transport is the most popular attraction for cruise passengers, according to Peter Bashforth, head of Cruise Operations for Visit Isle of Man.
Speaking to Manx Radio’s Emma Draper, Mr Bashforth said: “Every year, the most popular tour involves the steam train. The second most popular tour is the Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway.”
He added: “By far, the two biggest tours we get are for those on the Heritage Transport.”
The Island's history including Tynwald Hill, Peel, and Castle Rushen are also popular destinations for tours organised in conjunction with cruise operators.
ABOVE: Friday, 7th August, Station Master Davy Callister looks on as a first full tram load of cruise ship passengers destined for Laxey, Snaefell Summit returning for onward travel to The Bunglow. They had disembarked from the 82,000-ton, 2,000-guest vessel Zuiderdam, operated by Holland America Line. Passengers on the liner also had the option of travelling on the steam railway to Castletown.
ABOVE: Friday, 7th August., Zuiderdam passengers queuing to join the 10:30 car to Laxey, as the Horse Tram celebrations begin alongside.
Overall, there were thirty-seven cruises which called at the Island during 2026, boosting visitor totals by almost 17,000.
The Isle of Man cruise season concluded on September 15 with the sixth and final visit of the season from Grand Circle Travel's 'boutique' 90-100 passenger capacity vessel, CORINTIAN.
Last month, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Douglas Horse Tramway, a very much larger vessel, ZUIDERDAM with a capacity of 2,272 passengers, was the largest cruise ship to visit the Island this year.
One world-famous heritage rail attraction notably absent from the Manx Radio story was the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway. Whilst the venerable tramway undoubtedly benefitted from the cruise ship arrivals, anecdotal reports suggest many cruise passengers disembarking on Victoria Pier during 2026, expressed frustration and incredulity that the Horse Tramway no longer serves the harbour, and instead requires a lengthy and, for cruise passengers, time-consuming walk to its current Broadway terminus.
The good news is that in July, Tynwald approved funding for the line’s reinstatement, though even if all goes to plan, it will be some time before we see trams back at the Sea Terminal, too late for 2026, the line’s 150th anniversary, and probably not until at least the summer of 2028.
The full report by Manx Radio’s Emma Draper, which also includes interviews with passengers in Douglas, can be heard HERE.
PETER BASHFORTH: It’s been another great year for us. We're up into the high thirties of ships arriving. This little baby one today, the CORINTHIAN, she's making a sixth visit of the year. And yesterday, we had the Oceania's MARINA with one thousand one hundred and forty one [passengers]. So it can be quite varied. Some days we have more welcomers involved than others. But, yeah, I mean, those guys are brilliant. They give up their time freely for us as well.
EMMA DRAPER: And so, I mean, oftentimes, like you say, so ship the yesterday was big, it was out in the bay, wasn't it? And we saw the tenders going back and forth, and then, you know, sometimes the dock on the pier. So what goes into all the logistics of working out where they're gonna be? How they're doing it around Steam Packet boats and all sorts? Like, how do you sort out the logistics of bringing in that many passengers?
PETER BASHFORTH: It can get very complicated. Working around the Steam Packet timetables, as we all know, the Steam Packet ships run to a timetable, not always guaranteed to come in on time, as is the same with everything really like that. So we just basically have to keep on our toes, keep an eye on what the Steam Packet ships are doing, and we work around them. As part of the job I do, I also act as the ship's agent, so before the ship gets here, a lot of these logistics are spoken to the ship. We tell them what the planned ferry timetables are, and we try and arrange tours to work around those times. Not always possible, but that's the joy of living on an island.
EMMA DRAPER: And you mentioned like the tours and obviously the volunteers who are directing people through the Sea Terminal as well. Do we have set things that people are interested in when they're booking a cruise to come in here? Are they going, we want them to see these sorts of things, or do you put the excursions to them? How does that all work?PETER BASHFORTH: A lot of the cruise lines have been coming for a lot of years now, so they have their preferred tours. Every year, the most popular tour involves the steam train. The second most popular tour is the Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway. By far, the two biggest tours we get are for those, the Heritage Transport. After that, Tynwald Hill gets a lot of visitors, Peel does too, Castle Rushen a lot. We've worked a lot in recent years to try and spread them out around the island. Our current focus is trying to get more going north to Ramsay, so we've been working with Fynoderee this year.We're also talking to Ramsey commissioners and trying to develop new tours for the north of the island as well. Because at the end of the day, the bigger the ships that come in, if we can spread them out around the island, everywhere gets a piece of the action, and that's what it's all about. It's all about bringing money into the Manx economy.
EMMA DRAPER: And you are actually going off Island this morning. So you’re seeing in the passengers this morning, and then you're promptly going off Island. So can you tell us a little bit about what you'll be getting up to today?
PETER BASHFORTH: Yeah. Well, I'm flying off to Gran Canaria, which sounds really lovely. I'm going to Sea Trade Med, which is a cruise trade conference, so the cruise lines will be there. And the aim of that is to have a chat to them. Those that haven't already called to the Isle of Man, we try and encourage them to come. We tell them all the pluses of coming to the Island, especially the smaller, more boutique lines. They do love coming to the Island for what we can offer them. But, yeah, also, it's a chance to review with cruise lines that do come here, how we're performing for them and make sure that we keep improving.