Last updated 09:40, Tuesday, 26 August 2008

ANOTHER giant cruise liner is Barrow-bound next year with a shipload of international tourists.

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The 25,000 tonne Marco Polo 11 is expected to tie up for almost two days at Barrow at the start of September 2009 while on a tour of the British Isles.

But details of the visit have yet to be finalised with port owner ABP.

Details of the British Isles and Ireland tour, including the Barrow stopover, are already up on the Orient Lines cruise company’s website.

The booking for Barrow follows that of the 30,000 tonne Tahitian Princess which is making two visits to the town’s port within a few days on May 22 and 26 with different sets of passengers while touring between Estonia and Ireland.

Both ships are calling at Barrow for a day so that passengers can be bussed to major tourist attractions in the Lake District.

The Marco Polo 11 will arrive on September 2 at 10.30am and depart the next day at 10.30pm.

Barrow port manager for ABP, Chris Clouter, said: “We have had an inquiry about Marco Polo for September and obviously it would be good to get it into Barrow.

“It is one of the larger ships and was previously called the Maxim Gorky.”

Orient Lines is run by American firm Origin Cruise Group LLC. The itinerary for the recently bought and refurbished Marco Polo 11 was unveiled at an event in New York. The liner carries 650 passengers in 325 staterooms.

Built in 1969 it is famed for being the fictional ship Brittanic in the 1974 film thriller, Juggernaut. Facilities include a indoor spa pool and four separate dining venues, six bars, a show lounge, casino, cinema, library, internet centre, card room, fitness centre, spa and outdoor pool. Cruise prices start at around £1,200. The company said its highlights for 2009 include calls “at the lesser-known ports of Szczecin, Poland; Villagarcia and Bilbao, Spain; Bordeaux and Hornfleur, France; Murmansk, Russia; Sarande, Albania; and Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, UK”.

Passengers can start to book for the ship on September 8.

See www.orientlines.com