City Cruises Poole
Jurassic Coastal Cruise
Reviewed by Clare Robbin
City Cruises Poole offer a wide range of cruises from Poole Quay and Swanage Pier including trips around Poole harbour, sightseeing off the Jurassic Coast, bird watching and evening ‘party cruises’. All are in and around beautiful Poole Harbour, the second biggest natural harbour in the world.
We chose to board the Jurassic Coastal Cruise. The Jurassic coast stretches from Dorset to East Devon and has recently been voted as one of the top five natural wonders in Britain, from the sea you can see history take shape with a variety of stunning natural landforms. The Jurassic Coastal Cruise to Swanage from Poole is a 2 hour cruise, described as fantastic non-landing cruise around Europe’s largest natural harbour and along the beautiful coastline. Breath in fresh air, delight in the view of the cliffs, rock strata and geological fault line whilst we sail along the Jurassic Coast across Swanage Bay and back.
City Cruises Poole have an excellent website, where you can pre-book tickets at a discount, and find information on all the cruises they have to offer.
The cruises can be joined from either Poole Quay or Swanage pier, although in our opinion, Poole is far more accessible and therefore an easier place to start. The quay is well signposted from the major through roads in the area, and there is ample parking within a couple of minutes walk of the quay. We parked in the Quay Visitors multi-story Car Park, Old Orchard, Poole BH15 1SB, which is reasonably priced at about £2.50 for 3 hours.
The ship for our cruise was the “Solent Scene”, which was easy to find on the Quay, and the City Cruises signs also helped us easily find where we were leaving from. Departure was punctual with clear instructions from the crew in terms of safety procedures and on-board facilities. The boat has indoor and outdoor seating, WC facilities and a bar serving hot & cold drinks, snack and alcoholic beverages.
The cruise itself was very enjoyable, with lovely views over the harbour, Sandbanks, Brownsea Island, Old Harry Rocks, the Bournemouth seafront and Isle of Wight in the distance. We had a running commentary from the captain on the various landmarks and history of the area. It took about an hour to cruise along the coast to Swanage where we had a ½ hour stop-over to enjoy the sights of the beach, promenade and views of the stunning Purbeck Hills that overlook the town. The fish and chips were excellent! The return journey repeats the route, but with interesting commentary from the captain ranging from the geology of the cliffs to the Beckham and Redknapp residences on the Sandbanks peninsular.
All in all, this was a really nice way of spending a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, and well worth the ticket cost.
But, on further investigation the cruise we did was not actually one that the company advertise on their website – we thought we were doing the 2 hour non-landing cruise, but as I mentioned, we appear to have got a bonus ½ hour in Swanage. This wasn’t a problem, as we really enjoyed a quick stroll around the pier, but it did confuse us.
We would recommend wrapping up warm, as even on a nice sunny day, it still gets extremely cold when out at sea. Yes, you can stay inside, but it is a much more enjoyable experience out on deck. Also, the steps between decks are steep, so sensible shoes are recommended! We would also suggest checking the weather if possible before you book, as it wouldn’t be so enjoyable in the rain.
The company also reserves the right to cancel or reschedule trips if the weather is bad. We thought this was a really good idea, as the cruise we did went out into the open sea, and would not be nice in rough weather
I would definitely recommend this cruise.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets for the City Cruises Pool Jurassic Coastal Cruise cost £11 (adult), £5.50 (child), £16.50 (family, 1 adult and 3 children) and £27.50 (2 adults and 3 children). Save 10% by booking online in advance.
For more information or to make a booking visit www.citycruisespoole.com.
City Cruises Poole, The Quay, Poole, BH15 | 020 77 400 400
