Edinburgh is about to open a new deep water cruise berth at Leith.
Thus some ships which formally anchored at Newhaven or South Queensferry and tendered ashore will now be able to dock at Leith.
The berth has been built for freight purposes mainly, but can be used for cruise as well.
It is important to stress that no extra cruise calls are currently planned, but the ships will now be more visible than they were. The existing terminal at Leith remains open for small ships. Cruise passengers have always been in Edinburgh, bussed up from South Queensferry and lost in the many thousands of visitors in the city.
A Carnival vessel has already used the berth as a trial this week. That caused teething issues with many passengers arriving for the tram at Newhaven, and struggling to buy tickets, as well as overcrowding on the trams. Given that vessels tender ashore at Newhaven then use the tram it is not entirely clear why that happened this week off the new berth.