This year Dartmouth sees the arrival of 12 cruise ships, most of which will be mooring in the mid-river position and so in sight of the town. The season will start on April 25 with the arrival of Hurtigruten's MS Maud - a vessel that has been seen seen many times in the river over the past couple of years.

Maud hit the headlines during the winter, after she was hit by a rogue wave in the North Sea and lost power.

Her voyage was curtailed and she has spent the intervening months being repaired in a German shipyard.

It is expected that she will be back in service for all five of her visits to the town this year.

She was previously called MS Midnatsol and renamed in honour of the ship rhat brought Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen through the Northeast passage.

Maud carries up to 500 passengers. On April 29, Dartmouth welcomes another ship whose company has put the town firmly on their itineraries - Ponant's Le Lyrial. 

A small, modern ship, Le Lyrial appeals to the luxury - expedition market. The majority of its guests are French speakers and with that in mind, it is usual for the Dartmouth  Ambassador Meet and Greet team to have a French speaker amongst them.

She completes a series of four sister ships in the fleet, can carry 244 guests in 122 staterooms and suites.

At time of writing, La Lyrial will spend the evening in the town and depart at approximately 10pm.