The best place to get a sense of the inactivity is the English Channel, now home to a growing fleet of idle cruisers. But as the old adage goes, when one door shuts another opens.

With commendable entrepreneurial flair local resident Paul Derham has begun offering boat tours to anyone interested in getting a closer look at the fleet. A cruise ship veteran of some 27 years, Derham knows the industry and the ships well – he’s the perfect tour guide.

He now runs two ferries from Mudeford in England’s Dorset region, and has adapted his normal schedule (no doubt also suffering from the impact of Covid-19) to include the 2.5-hour ‘cruise ship tour’. It appears to have become a raging success.

This recent image shows some of the world’s cruise ships anchored off the coast of Weymouth – among them Queen Victoria, Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, Marella Discovery, Carnival Valor and Aurora.